[May 7, 2025] During the 1980s, the nuclear arms race between the United States and the USSR was frightening, complex, and potentially deadly for millions of people. The stakes were high, the issues multifaceted, and solutions were hard to come by. Ultimately, the U.S. President and USSR leaders agreed to put some controls on nuclear weapon development. U.S. President Ronald Reagan agreed and eventually developed the concept of “trust but verify” to ensure that the USSR upheld its part of the bargain.
When working at the senior level, we can find ourselves involved in highly complex and difficult-to-manage situations (or problems)1. The risks can be enormous: the lives of people, the failure of a large company, etc. The mark of a successful senior leader is first understanding the core issues in a complex situation. Understanding it is hard; communicating it to others and offering solutions can be even harder.
I have seen far too many leaders, especially those at the senior leader level, fail to know that they are in a state of affairs that demands their attention. Usually, these situations are new and come as a surprise, stretching their leadership capabilities so much that some leaders have either overlooked the problem (very likely) or have chosen to ignore the problem. Leaders, oftentimes, do not have the relevant experience to recognize and act on the issue. And frankly, that is irrelevant. Their job is to solve problems.
Therefore, leadership failure to understand complex situations is usually an outgrowth of leaders’ inability to bring the issue within their minds, think about it, put it into perspective and define the problem. This is why so much literature on complexity focuses on identifying the problem and why we are so often surprised by it.
In my experience many pertinent factors go into understanding complex situations. There are two important factors in my personal experience in understanding complex situations:
- The senior leader himself must be capable of visionary judgment. The leader must be able to look into the future and keep the organization on its mission.
- The leader’s team/staff must develop and provide the relevant experience needed to begin understanding the issue by putting it within the context of their organization.
Understanding complex situations also means being able to simplify them so that they can be communicated to others. President Reagan was able to do this with this “trust but verify” policy on nuclear weapons.
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- For this senior leader characteristic blog, complex situations (or problems) mean that something may be difficult to define and may change in response to some solution; may not have a single “right answer” or any answer; has many interrelated causative forces; has no (or few) precedents; has many stakeholders, and is often surprise-prone. Often, we know that a complex situation or problem exists, but it is not clear what the problem is. Some people call this a “mess.”
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Gen. Satterfield is doing more than developing this idea that real leaders, the best among us, have a well-seasoned ability to look at the future and determine what or where we will be with his organization/club/service. And, then put that into words that even the most basic, low ranking member can understand and be happy about. Remember that the best leaders are those who can convince others to do things they would not ordinarily do and do it because they want to do it. Shout out to Gen. Satterfield for his insights.
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Well said, Pumpkin Spice.
We call this “foresight” and not a new idea.
Gen. Satterfield has done it again and now we are hearing that great leaders are more than just leaders but ones who must be able to see the future and come up with a plan to deal with it, and, of course, to be able to explain complex issues in an easily-understood manner.
Sir, excellent thinking here. Too many leaders simply don’t have the ability nor do they care whether they have the ability to lead and see or have a vision.
Just recognizing you have a problem is the first step. And that is where most senior leaders fail. They also fail to identify those who are creating the problem in the first place. For example, both Gen Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin as SecDef could not see that China was a rising problem for the US and for the world. They cozied up to China. Did they take bribes or get somehow paid off? That we may never know. But what we do know is that both of these weak men were compromised and thus completely untrustworthy. One day, I do hope they get the punishment that they deserve for their gross incompetent failures and helping to destroy the combat readiness of our military by introducing Marxist ideology in the form of DEI and Wokism. Some say they are traitors. Maybe. But they are certainly on the borderline of being traitors.
Army Vet, BTW, great comment, and I always look to your comments on military and leadership matters due to your experience. Also Gen. Satterfield’s experience is something not to sneeze at, for he has 40 years on the job. But I agree that we need a little more in-depth thinking on what “complex situations” are and are not. We can put together indicators of what they might be and that is how we can measure “success” instead of just talking in generalities. Just me thinking.
v/r
American Navy Vet
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Navigating complex problems is the hallmark of a good leader. Those who are able to “navigate” the problem by providing a clear vision and simple explanation on how that will be done, brining in the staff and subordinates is how to be a great leader. Remember that the best leader is the person who can get his folks to get the mission done because they WANT to get it done.
Jack, got that right. This is a take off of how Gen. Satterfield distinguishes between good and great leadership. To me, that is the absolute minimum.
“1. The senior leader himself must be capable of visionary judgment. The leader must be able to look into the future and keep the organization on its mission.“. Let’s not overlook or oversimplify this comment as most do, who write about leadership. How exactly does someone obtain this ability to “ look into the future” and “keep on mission?” That is indeed a mystery.
Great thinking. A must for leaders.
If anyone new here wants to get a great sense of how to be a better person or better leader, then read Gen. Satterfield’s book “55 Rules for a Good Life.” A great, underrated book.
Exactly. Go to this link for that book that tells all.
https://www.amazon.com/55-Rules-Good-Life-Responsibility/dp/1737915529/
BEST BOOK OUT THERE.
I agree, great book that condenses the greatest rules of successful living from the ancients to the US military, all wrapped up in one short book. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of it NOW before they run out. And the costs plus tax is small, less than $12 or $14. You won’t be disappointed or unhappy with it. And once you’ve read it, get another dozen copies to give away.
You’re spot on, Tom.