Falling off the Edge

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Falling off the Edge
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Leadership

• .the means of influencing the community to
  face its problems.
• . mobilizing people to tackle the tough
  problems.

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Technical Work
Influencing the community to follow the leaders
vision Leader carries the full weight Is the
sole decision maker
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Adaptive Work

• Learning the heart of the situation
• Determining values
• Bridging the gap between opinions
• Look beyond authoritative solutions
• Requires change

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President Lyndon BJohnson
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Autocratic Work

• Sole decision maker
• Absolute authority
• Authoritarian behavior domineering
• Leader fully responsible for decisions

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Lyndon B Johnson

• Golf of Tonkin, authorization from
  Congress
• Operation Rolling Thunder troop levels reach
  200,000
• MLK against the war, Macnamara says bombing
  ineffective
• MLK Robert Kennedy assassinated, LBJ wont
  run, Nixon elected, Paris Peace talks begin
• 1969 Operation Breakfast, announce Policy of
  "Vietnamization"

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Authority as a Resource for Leadership

• Holding Environment
• Command and direct attention
• Access information
• Control over the flow of information
• Power to frame the issue
• Orchestrate conflict
• Choose the decision
• making process

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Holding Environment

• Johnson failed to create a holding environment
  because
• Level of distress wasnt productive
• Didnt have discipline attention
• Unable to distribute responsibility
• Failed to use dissenting voices for
  insight and options
• Viewed Vietnam as a technical problem
• Vietnam called for adaptive work

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Hidden slide
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Command and Direct Attention

• Johnsons Adaptive Options
• Set tone of discussion
• Set parameters for success
• Prepare population for sacrifices
• Johnsons Autocratic Actions
• Thwarted cabinet public discussion on war
• Limited spotlight of issues away from war
• Hid or lied about all war policy decisions
• Quieted all dissenting views in Congress
• Indulged in personal need to dominate issue

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Access to Information

• Johnson failed to create a productive flow of
  information.
• Failed to inform public of his intentions
• Downplayed his preparations for war
• Remained uneducated about Vietnam
• (its history, terrain, and psychology)
• Discouraged debate in public or Congress
• Lied to public about his actions
• As a result, he lost control over how Americans
  learnt about the war. This vacuum was filled by
  the media (TV).

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Control over the flow of information

• In the early stages, Johnson controlled what the
  Public knew.
• Not providing American people with evidence
  supporting war
• Quieting Congress or scaring them
• (Gulf of Tonkin)
• Deflected media attention away from war
• But, eventually he lost control and his ability
  to set the tone for the debate.

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Power to frame the issue

• By diverting attention and withholding
  information, Johnson
• Allowed the media to frame the issue
• Ignored obvious signs of distress
• Created Johnson's war
• Pacing turned to avoidance

Reasons for pacing Delay distress, conflict
and learning required to do adaptive work No
immediate threat Challenge might overwhelm
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Orchestrate conflict

• For Johnson, war was not an appropriate topic for
  public debate
• Leadership style differed with foreign and
  domestic affairs
• Technical approach only way to answer
  logistical issues
• Autocratic authority
• Placing oneself for conflict
• Circumvention
• Frontal Challenge
• Riding the Wave

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Hidden SlideThree places
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Choosing the decision making process

• Johnson was caught by
• Limited optionspressure to fight communism
• Historical responsibility of Presidents to set
  wage war
• Treating it as technical problems (closed
  debate and alternate possibilities)

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Technical Reasons for Autocratic Actions

• Unity
• Dispatch
• Expertise
• Negotiating Authority
• Secrecy

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Hidden Slide Justify why technical reasons
didnt work
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War is not Autocratic Action
Sustained unity Not split second decisions Not
always technical questions Need the support of
many Complete secrecy is not required
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President Richard Nixon
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LBJs Legacy to Nixon

• 1970 US Troops fall to 280,000
• 1971 Pentagon papers published, Nixon announces
  plans to visit China
• Troops reduced to 70K, secret peace talks
  revealed, Watergate, Bombing of Hanoi and
  Haiphong
• 1973 Cease-fire signed in Paris , end of Draft
  announced, last American Troops leave Vietnam

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Richard Nixon

• Following in Johnsons footsteps
• Deceptive, lied
• Dissenters as enemy
• Viewed public debate as a threat
• Only technical expert
• Contrary to the will of the people

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Hidden slide, notes
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President Jimmy Carter
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Jimmy Carter

• Heightening crisis
• Increased stress beyond tolerable levels
• Gave people too much work
• Created unstable leadership base
• Did not share information

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Falling off the Edge

• Johnson Administration
• Failure in foreign affairs
• Averse to Adaptive Work
• Autocratic Action
• Nixon Administration
• Personal Professional demise
• Carter Administration
• Failure to create a holding environment

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Summary

• Presidents neglected Resources for Leadership
• Defined differences in Technical and Adaptive
  work
• Discussed when each approach is applicable
• Placing oneself

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Is this Bushs War?Is Vietnam Arabic for Iraq?

• Holding Environment
• Command and direct attention
• Access information
• Control information
• Power to frame the issue
• Orchestrate conflict
• Choose the decision making process

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Questions?