What Are You Blathering About?

Random musings and key points populate a fun podcast

I had a fantastic opportunity last week to visit with Chris McGhee, Esq. on the 20 Years Done podcast.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable, ranging, and vibrant conversation between two Air Force veterans with overlapping experiences, common perspectives, and common goals. And who both, at many points in time, have thrown a wrench at least 50 yards into the night sky between fits of profane rage.

The discussion tended to revolve around but was not limited to the Air Force. We elaborated with one another on the story arc of what had me wringing my hands a decade ago and how those issues have or (in most cases) haven’t changed. I’m in the stride of writing a book about what happened to Big Blue in the key years of 2008-2016, and where the reckless control inputs of those years have led us to.

We also talked about the life cycle of the John Q. Public blog as well as my current project here at The Radar, both of which we could have said a lot more about and will cover in detail in a future interaction.

While this talk was more of a 30,000-foot survey of a bunch of stuff, there were some themes which stuck out prominently.

• Executive presence and theatrics vs. actual leadership.

• Hidden motives for policies and (in)actions, and how toxic an environment becomes when front is employed to swerve a real debate, usually in order to obscure controversial but cherished resource imperatives.

• The shocking dearth of quality investigative reporting of the military services by major media. The access dilemma which sets this up and how unaccountably defunct the services have become as a result.

• The USAF’s suicide problem and its relationship to personnel shortages and policies of the past two decades.

• Lack of Congressional accountability and proper oversight of suicide and other people issues.

• The important leadership skill of creating self-limiting mechanisms which create self-limited organizations.

• How corporate culture views people as a costly imposition on the balance sheet rather than the source of organizational value, and how this ethical and logical affliction doesn’t care whether it infests public or private organizations.

• Erosion of the self through workplace moral compromise, which is also both a military and non-military thing. You can read more about this concept here.

The overarching theme, if there was one: words and policies don't solve anything. Fixing any problem takes resources.

Military leaders are not alone in pretending to care without actually changing the conditions ... it's the "straight talk" problem I wrote about last week, and it's everywhere.

But the good news is, you don’t necessarily need to be steeped in any of these issues to enjoy the show. Chris does an expert job of fostering an authentic and fun conversation.

Have a listen, and if you find yourself nodding along or learning something, check out the 20 Years Done blog and podcast series Chris has put together here.

He is advancing several important conversations with his work, with a rare passion and commitment I really respect.

TC is an independent writer, speaker, and consultant who specializes in leader and team development, organizational culture, and navigating the realities of organizational life. He is a close observer and expert on the journey of the US Air Force.