Defense sector

Leadership is often presented as an abstract undertaking, a matter of vision and values rather than practical details. But in the author's world, the...

Unmanned aircraft are creating a new civilian industry.

The game has changed in military leadership. Earlier this week, The Washington Post published a fascinating account of the recent firing of Gen. David...

Cumbersome old Pentagon procurement processes are falling away, and VCs are paying attention.

One assumption at the core of this blog is that military service-particularly service in the crucible of combat-is exceptionally effective at developing...

Control your narrative.

The armed services have been in the business of leadership development much longer than the corporate world has. Today's military leaders need tools and...

The world economy has entered a new era of industrial competition. Every major advanced industrial nation—and a growing number of developing ones—are all competing in the same crucial technologies. A 1989 “Critical Technologies Plan” published by the Department of Defense identified 22 technologies essential to future military security, but the technologies are also indicators of […]

The U.S. Navy operates on the front lines of climate change. It manages tens of billions of dollars of assets on every continent and on every ocean, which...

According to long-held U.S. Army tradition, leadership is based on a rigid hierarchy. Are you a young officer not sure what to do? Look one level up....

Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War, by Eliot A. Cohen and John Gooch (New York: Free Press, 1990), 296 pages, $22.95. In 1950, Chinese forces staged a surprise attack on U.S. forces stationed along the Yalu River in Korea. Everyone knows what happened next: suicidal waves of fanatic Chinese troops drove the American […]

Author’s note: Alistair Hanna, Michael Reopel, and Stuart Flack, all of McKinsey & Company, contributed to this article. The U.S. defense industry is struggling to reorganize itself for growth, if not for survival. The disappearance of the communist threat and the desperate need to revive the U.S. economy have taken the defense industry for a […]

Business has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years. So has warfare. Every executive knows firsthand the daunting challenges of the 21st...

The U.S. Army's Opposing Force (OPFOR) is a 2,500-member brigade whose job is to help prepare soldiers for combat. Created to be the meanest, toughest...

Six ways to get started.

Charles-Edouard Bouee, COO at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, applies "light footprint" military doctrine to management.

Leadership is often presented as an abstract undertaking, a matter of vision and values rather than practical details. But in the author's world, the...

The 75th secretary of the U.S. Navy writes about how to lead a large, complex organization that is interdependent with other large and complex entities....

Eight lessons from some of history's greats.

The battle plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom called for a rapid, responsive force capable of identifying and removing threats immediately. Commercial supply...