Principles of War in Business: June 11, 2021

Title: The Principles of War to Improve Global Business Strategies

Presented By: Francis H. Kearney III, Lieutenant General, US Army (Ret.); President of Inside Solutions LLC; Former Senior Special Operations Forces Commander, Center for Naval Analysis; Former Deputy Director for Strategic Operational Planning, National Counter-Terrorism Center.

Description: 

The Principles of War are millennia proven maxims or principles advising military and political leaders throughout history.   The earliest known Principles of War were documented by Sun Tzu around 500 BC and Machiavelli published his General Rules in 1521.  Other military theorists have published as well:

    • 1644   Henry, Duke of Rohan, Guides for War
    • 1778   Marquis de Silva, Principles for War
    • 1781   Henry Lloyd, Rules for War and Axioms for War
    • 1805   Antoine-Henry Jomini, Maxims for War versions 1 and 2
    • 1812   Carl von Clausewitz, Principles of War

There are no common agreed upon Principles of War across the world’s militaries but many are similar and are built upon the military theorists works over history.   Clausewitz principles have influenced US and North Atlantic nation’s doctrine the most. 

An abbreviated description of the United States 9 Principles of War follow:

    1. Mass-Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time
    2. Objective-Clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective
    3. Offensive-Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative
    4. Surprise-Strike the enemy at time, a place or in a manner for which they are unprepared
    5. Economy of Force-Allocate the minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts
    6. Maneuver-Place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power
    7. Unity of Command-For every objective ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander
    8. Security-Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage
    9. Simplicity-Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear and concise orders to ensure thorough understanding

The period of discussion will discuss the application of the principles to current business strategy and market environment.   Breakout groups will explore the concepts and identify where their own organizations can employ these time proven principles.   A pre-read will be given, authored by LTG (Ret) Kearney and MG (Ret) James Marks which discusses each principle and its application in the current business environment.  A second break out session will discuss whether Machiavelli’s axiom that positive ends justify the use of any means to achieve objectives is relevant today and whether Sun Tzu’s quote “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.  Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” rings true in the participant’s experience.  

Learning Outcomes:

  • Participants will be able to understand the application of the principles of war in their business strategies in today’s complex and fast-paced operating environment.
  • Participants will be able to debate the use of Machiavellian principles in a values-based market environment.
  • Participants will be able to analyze the strengths or weaknesses of an aspirational strategy without a concise plan of execution as well as tactical plans to pursue short-term opportunities unguided by a strategy.

Biography: Lieutenant General Frank Kearney retired on 1 January 2012 from the United States Army after more than 35 years of service.  His final active duty assignment was Deputy Director for Strategic Operational Planning at the National Counter-Terrorism Center in Washington DC.  General Kearney now serves as the President of his own consulting company, Inside-Solutions-LLC focusing on leader development in organizations. Most recently he served as the Interim CEO and President of Draper Laboratories in Cambridge MA from March to mid October 2020.

He works routinely with Thayer Leadership at the Thayer Hotel at West Point, NY and with military and corporate groups to assist in improving organizational performance through leader development.  In this capacity he has worked with leaders in 7-11, Deloitte, Mercedes-Benz USA, General Electric, USAA, Novartis, Madison Square Garden, China-Europe International Business School, Morgan Stanley, Lord Abbett, BorgWarner, Synchrony Bank and many others.  General Kearney serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Board for Team Red, White and Blue, a non-profit that helps reintegrate wounded warriors into their communities through physical and social activities, as well as on the Board of Directors for Draper Laboratories, and the advisory boards for Red Gate Group, Xtreme Precision Firearms, Reperi, Westport Construction, and Academy Securities.

General Kearney is a routine speaker on Terrorism, Interagency, Defense and Security issues.  He was a congressionally appointed member of National Defense Panel to assess scenarios, recommendations and conclusions for the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). General Kearney also serves as a Distinguished Faculty Member of the Joint Special Operations University at USSOCOM and as a mentor to the Department of State Foreign Service Institute in Washington DC.  He is a Senior Special Operations Fellow at the Center for Naval Analysis, an FFRDC in Washington DC.

General Kearney is a 1976 graduate  (BS) of the United States Military Academy and a 1985 graduate (MEd) of the University of South Carolina.  He is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College as well as the United States Army War College. He has served in operational and command assignments at every level with combat tours in Grenada, Panama, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, including combat parachute assaults into Grenada and Panama.  General Kearney’s most recent assignments at the strategic and operational level focused on Special Operations and Counter-Terrorism.  He planned and participated in the opening campaigns of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and commanded all Theater Special Operations forces in the middle-east including OIF and OEF from March 2005 to June 2007.  General Kearney also served as the Deputy Combatant Commander for United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) from 2007-2010 and insured that the 62,000 operators of this command were properly trained and equipped for their global special operation’s missions.  General Kearney oversaw the SOCOM requirements process, the execution of a 10 billion dollar budget and led the SOCOM Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) team for the 2010 QDR.

General Kearney also sat on the DOD Ballistic Missile Defense Review Committee and the Deputy Secretary of Defense’s Advisory Working Group managing the Defense Department’s annual budget approval and execution.  Finally, at the National Counter-Terrorism Center, General Kearney worked with 16-29 different cabinet level agencies in the US government to plan and coordinate the whole of government efforts to achieve the goals of the Obama Administration’s Counter-Terrorism strategy.  His team coordinated key implementation plans against terrorist groups and assessed the efforts to achieve stated goals as well as provided input to the Office of Management and Budget on funding priorities for the national counter-terrorism budget.