In the middle of an emergency operations center exercise, all the landline telephones stopped working. The entire base staff immediately stopped being able to coordinate response actions. My cellphone rang, and I learned that the main telephone switch had lost power. My Marines did not know if the switch would survive the power loss. We waited as the switch began to reboot, with non-operational telephones and the exercise in shambles. In this moment, I found myself unable to lead. I did not possess the technical knowledge to effect positive change.
A common thread throughout Marine Corps warfighting philosophy is the subordination of the technical competency (the “how”), to commander’s intent (the “why”). While there is never a complete or clear separation between these two concepts in any action, the “mission tactics” leader who represents the prioritization of why over how often is not the optimal leader in the information environment.