The Unpopularity Contest

I shouldn't write this article. Many of you may not like what I have to say. So, if you remotely like me or my articles and want to keep that feeling (that means you Mom!) perhaps you should just skip this article.

Everyone gone? Good. Now I can write what's on my mind. And fair warning, it is a long one, so buckle in.

The recent events surrounding the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and the former Commanding Officer compel me to share my thoughts on leadership responsibility and accountability.

The most disturbing reaction I observed in this whole fiasco was several well meaning but misguided people on social media using the video of the skipper leaving the Aircraft Carrier for the last time with many of his crew cheering him on (and not social distancing I might add). They would say things like "Look at how his crew loved him, he must be a great leader! The Navy was so wrong for relieving him!"

So my main question to those people would be "Is that what leadership is? Is it just being liked or popular? Is that all there is to great leadership?"

Most, but not all, of my friends who had Command at Sea look at the way Captain Crozier handled this issue as grandstanding and attention grabbing rather than appropriate leadership. So, what is the difference in this thinking? Why is there such a split in reactions to this event?

I think it comes down to how you define leadership and perhaps the context within which that leadership has to be applied. What do I mean?

I have heard some people define leadership as the ability to persuade a group of people to accomplish something they would not have otherwise accomplished. This usually is associated with the concept of a Visionary Leader. You know this leader. They are the "thought leader" who knows how to rally people behind an idea that seems "out of the box" or "visionary". Those types of leaders are typically in the domain of technology start ups or political revolutions. And that can be a very good thing. We need those leaders.

Other people have defined a leader as a person who has (formal or informal) responsibility and will be held accountable for the organization's success. In the military, generally speaking, this is the leader we are looking for. They accept responsibility for the organization's mission and the sailors, soldiers, and airmen under their charge. They are willing to be held accountable for their decisions, both good and bad. They understand their own commander's intent (the mission) and how the risks associated with the situation they are operating in could impact their mission success.

It is in this last context that I offer that, generally speaking, most decisions a Captain makes are not super popular. It's easy to make popular decisions. No Field Days (no cleaning)! Liberty call for everyone! No drills! No training! No underway and no duty! Pizza and poker night every night! I am taking it to an extreme for effect, but you probably have seen these types of leaders. They don't like making an unpopular decision. They want to be liked. (As an aside, I think too many parents fall into this trap too, but I digress.)

So is it wrong for a crew to like their Captain? Of course not. Some great leaders are able to balance making the tough decisions and do so in a way that they are still liked. Some of that is just personality driven. In some cases, the Executive Officer (XO) and Command Master Chief make the tough decisions and the allow the Captain to be the good guy/gal. The crew will always need a "bad guy" to blame for the unpopular decisions and who better than the XO! I tried to do that for my Captain when I was an XO. I figured I would get my time as Captain to be the good guy. And I happen to be particularly good at being unpopular! So much so that I carried that into my command tour as well (all my former shipmates, keep your comments clean, my Mom is still reading.)

But all this discussion about a Leader being "liked" is actually the wrong discussion. My belief is that the goal of the Leader is to be effective and respected. That is how I measure a leader...by their effectiveness at getting the mission accomplished and managing the risks. I measure them by how well they are respected up and down the chain of command. I measure them by how well they take care of the people under their charge. But, do not mistake taking care of the crew with putting the crew's safety above all else. That is not an effective military leader.

It would not be a Bob Koonce article without a reference to a cheesy movie to illustrate my point. So I offer you the great classic "U-571". If you haven't watched this cinematic masterpiece, stop everything you are doing, wash your hands and watch this movie. Do it now while I wait...

Okay good. Did you pay particular attention to when the XO (Matthew McConaughey) has to take over command because the skipper was killed and the Chief of the Boat (Harvey Keitel) gives him a talk after McConaughey shows weakness in front of the crew? (https://youtu.be/IV79EIZVuHQ)

You see, the XO struggles with wanting to be popular with the crew. Earlier in the movie his Captain doesn't recommend him for his own command because the Captain doesn't think he is ready to make the tough decisions a war time submarine Captain might have to make. Specifically, would the XO be able to send one of his sailors to his death to save the ship? Sure enough, later in the movie, we find out if the XO has the courage and wartime leadership character to make the tough decision. I won't spoil it for those of you who didn't watch the movie like I asked. You are welcome.

So, you might be saying "But, Bob, we are not at war. There is no reason to put the crew of the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT at risk." I agree, sort of. I don't want to get too deep into this part of the issue, but an Aircraft Carrier is a national strategic asset. We have 10 of them, but only a few are "forward deployed" at any one time (as the ROOSEVELT is). The work they do is both tactically and strategically important to our National Security. So even in "peacetime", some military operations and "fleet readiness" are absolutely vital to our national security and also protection of our allies. So, the Captain has the responsibility to weigh the risk to his crew from this virus against his responsibility to the Battle Group Commander (Admiral embarked on board) for the mission. All that is the Captain's responsibility as a leader. And of course I believe Captain Crozier knew that. I am not at all disparaging his military intellect or whether he was a "great guy". Of course he cared about his crew.

My critique is in the manner in which he dealt with his decision. He clearly felt his chain of command was not doing enough to support what he believed was the right action. By sending an unclassified message (I believe via email) to a broad number of people instead of using his chain of command and the security of a naval classified "personal for" message, he almost guaranteed this issue would go public and draw great attention - and I believe he knew this. Why is that bad? It's bad for three reasons: 1) The ROOSEVELT's "readiness" is now a public topic and known by our potential adversaries (if you think potential adversaries don't exist, I can't help you) 2) the senior leaders above the Captain now have to deal not only with the COVID-19 issue across the entire Navy, but they are having to allocate extra resources to deal with the public side of this issue taking away from all the other commands and 3) when individuals take disagreements with their chain of command out into the public it breaks down good order and discipline.

Good order and discipline? Come on, Bob, you sound like you are straight out of a 1943 war movie. Well, imagine if every officer and sailor in the Navy decided that every time they disagreed with their chain of command's decision, they would send out a public email. Imagine in your company if the Vice President for Operations sent an email to the Board of Directors and to the local newspaper every time he or she disagreed with the actions of the Chief Executive Officer. Can you operate an organization under these circumstances and lack of trust? Not for long.

So, you may be asking, "Bob, what would you have him do if his boss was not responding in the way he wanted?" Well, I would say that his duty in the face of a situation where he has made his position clear to his immediate superior and that he disagrees with the chain of command's response, is to accept the situation and work within his "sphere of influence" or resign.

He could have sent a classified Naval Message and requested relief from his command due to his position that the decisions and actions by his chain of command were inadequate. That would have certainly gotten everyone's attention inside the Navy Chain of Command. That would have made sure his concerns were at least evaluated and addressed by the leadership above him. He may or may not have been relieved if his concerns were valid. His crew would certainly have gotten the attention they needed but outside the public limelight.

The only caveat I offer to this solution for resigning is in the case of truly unethical behavior. If the Captain knew of unethical behavior by his superior then he should take that up with his superior's boss after first talking to his boss about it. For example, if the Captain's boss was "pigeon holing" the Captain's recommendations and not forwarding any details up the chain of command or distorting the factual details in reports off the ship then perhaps he needed to go around the boss. But, I still would not go public even in an unethical situation until I had exhausted the chain of command and any "whistle-blower" programs (yes, the Navy has whistle-blower programs).

Whether or not the Captain thought the actions of his boss were unethical can be a point of discussion because when it comes to this virus, everyone has a different view of ethics. Some talk about the "cure being worse than the problem" are already making their rounds on social media.

My current position on the Captain's actions (given my experience as a Commanding Officer who had H1N1 on a nuclear submarine on deployment (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/swine-flu-pig-boat-bob-koonce/) is that based on what we know about this virus and its effects, the situation on the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT was far from a crisis point that required the drastic public action the Captain took - primarily I am referring to the "shotgun blasted" email outside the chain of command. My position which is based on my current knowledge of the facts which I admit are limited (testing is showing only 155 people out of the 5000 crew members have so far tested positive - none hospitalized) is that he over-reacted. However, I admit that this point of how bad the virus was spreading can be argued. I am not a doctor.

The critical difference with H1N1 and COVID-19 is that COVID-19 can spread asymptomatic. So, COVID-19 was going to spread and could not realistically be stopped where as I could contain H1N1 to some degree. This is because the H1N1 symptoms allowed us to identify those infected as they were becoming infectious. So, I give that point to Captain Crozier. And, his letter is well thought out and makes valid points. It was only the manner in which he communicated his concerns that is the mistake in my humble opinion.

I am sure lots of hate mail is coming my way. It will start with "If he even saved one life...he is a hero." Okay, I get it. Let's shut down all human activity, because if we can save just one life...for crying out loud people. We have pizza joints and liquor stores open as "essential operations" but we want to shut down a nuclear aircraft carrier that is forward deployed. And don't try to tell me there is no way to social distance on an aircraft carrier. These combat ships are supposed to be trained and equipped to handle biological and nuclear warfare. I have been out to sea on many of them and I had a similar virus on a submarine so I have personally led a command at sea through this in much tighter quarters. It can be managed and the mission can continue.

Facts may come out soon that will make what the Captain did correct and prove that I am wrong. We will see. But, I think the principles of leadership that we can learn about and discuss from this incident are valuable regardless. Perhaps you can use this situation to have discussions with your team on how to handle organizational disagreements or as part of leadership training for your future leaders. If nothing else, it creates a lot of food for thought.

Speaking of food, I think it is time for some popcorn. I want to go watch me some U-571. Harvey Keitel as a Chief of the Boat? YOOHAH!!!

If you want to hear more about this topic, please consider joining me and Captain USN (retired) Lee Hankins on Thursday April 9th for a discussion about this issue. Sign up here:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MqLZiAjkSyuBmXV2T574Cg

Bob Koonce served for over 20 years in the U.S. Submarine Force and retired from active duty in 2011 after commanding USS KEY WEST (SSN 722), a nuclear submarine based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Bob frequently speaks and writes on Operational Excellence and High Reliability Organizations based on the leadership and culture of the U.S. Nuclear Navy. He is co-author of Extreme Operational Excellence: Applying the US Nuclear Submarine Culture to Your Organization available here. You can learn more about High Reliability Group by visiting www.highrelgroup.com.