Soft Leadership Skills: April 20, 2021
Title: Communicating Strategically: Corporate Communications on the Battlefield and in the Boardroom
Presented By: Mark Kimmitt, Brigadier General, US Army (Ret.); Former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, State Department; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy; West Point/Harvard Business School/School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS).
Description: The goal of this session is to develop a clear understanding of the critical importance of communicating strategically to external and internal stakeholders. Drawing on personal experience with "battlefield communications," both routine operational communications and crisis communications, the session will discuss the instructor's experiences in this field and will share the similarities that face current and future business leaders.
Learning Outcomes:
Participants will be able to:
- Identify elements of effective communication
- Demonstrate an understanding of external and internal audiences
- Explore the differences between informing and defending
- Evaluate the importance of "appearance"
- Demonstrate an understanding of the power and danger of images
- Assess the futility of fighting "conventional wisdom"- ideas accepted whether they are true or not
- Describe examples of good communicators and poor communicators. "What makes them good/poor?"
- Determine criteria for selecting communicators for routine and non-routine/crisis situations
- Illustrate examples of how communicators fail.
Biography: Brigadier General Mark T. Kimmitt, USA (Ret.) served as Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs from 2008 to 2009. In that capacity, he was responsible for State Department political-military policy, with particular emphasis on security assistance and sales of arms around the world, as well as serving as the primary liaison between the Departments of State and Defense. He was also instrumental in recent counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, and negotiated the groundbreaking arrangements for the prosecution of pirates abroad.
From 2006 to 2008, Kimmitt served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy, responsible for defense policy development, planning, guidance and oversight for the region. He was involved in every key defense deliberation during that period, to include the change in U.S. strategy for Iraq in 2006, participating in the Status of Forces negotiations with Iraq and leading DOD efforts to enhance security in the Middle East through the Gulf Security Dialogue.
Kimmitt served for over 30 years as an officer in the United States Army in a wide variety of command, operational, and policy positions with extensive operational experience abroad before retiring with the rank of Brigadier General in 2006. His assignments included Deputy Director of Strategy and Plans at United States Central Command from 2004 to 2006 and Deputy Director of Operations and Chief Military Spokesman for Coalition Forces in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. He has led soldiers and paratroopers at every level of command in the artillery.
Kimmitt is a graduate of the United States Military Academy. He holds a Masters Degree (with Distinction) from Harvard Business School. He also earned Masters from the School of Advanced Military Studies and the National Defense University, and a professional certification as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He also served as Assistant Professor of Finance and Economics in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy.
