Corps Business: The 30 Management Principles of the U.S. Marines

by David H. Freedman

Book Overview

Fast. Motivated. Hard-hitting.

That's what every business wants to be. And that's why the U.S. Marines excel in every mission American throws at them, no matter how tough the odds. In Corps Business, journalist David H. Freeman identifies the Marine's simple but devastatingly effective principles for managing people and resources -- and ultimately winning. Freedman discusses such techniques as "the rule of three," "managing by end state,"...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0066619793
• ISBN13: 9780066619798
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Harper Business
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Seek 70% Solution, Don't "Go Admin"

Corps BusinessThe 30 management principles of the US Marine CorpsDavid H. FreedmanFreedman firmly believes Marine methodology creates a strong and effective organization. For those who read this book, you will probably agree. As you might expect from a book that parallels the military and business management, there are many references to training, discipline, order, and sacrifice.However, a vast majority of the book gives a perspective of the US Marine Corps which is radically different than most people would expect.Provided that Freedman is correct in his analysis, the US Marine Corps is an extremely focused group which is both fast, versatile, and effective in complex situations. 1) Marines aim for the 70% solution because in the battlefield, speed and boldness is more important than perfection. Put another way, indecisiveness is a fatal flaw. It is better to make small, frequent, and rapid decisions.2) Marines find the essence of any mission. It should be made very clear. In the process, all the assumptions, boundaries (what shall we NOT do) should be questioned and explored. Dissension is invited prior to the final decision.3) Marines are a capability based organization. They are defined by what they are able to do, and how they do it.4) Marines push decision making to very low levels in the organization. Bureaucracy does not work in the battlefield. To quote. "The best soldiers are ones who follow orders from above, but do not depend on them."5) The Marines are very competitive. Marines hire through trial by fire. Boot camp is a form of Darwinian natural selection. The best and fittest survive. Even after boot camp, many officers leave the Corps because they cannot be promoted, because they are not the best. 6) Leadership is defined as the ability to have others follow you. If a Marine does not follow an legitimate order, he / she can face disciplinary action, but the superior who gave the order will often find their career stop too. (It demonstrates a break in their leadership ability.) 7) Marines glorify the lower levels of the organization. The most training is at the lowest level of Marine leadership - Corporal. Even in the dress, there is little difference in dress from the officers and the privates.8) Marines focus on the end statement. Marine leadership focus on WHAT TO DO (Mission), not HOW to DO (Details).9) Marines reward failure. The best way to learn is through experience, and if someone does not fail from time to time, they are not pushing the envelope. Marines are focused on continuous improvement, and that requires temporary failure.10) The Marines have passion for what they do. The Marines have an expression to describe people who just go through the motions of their job: "Going Admin"

Time to update your image

If you're like most people when you hear military and leadership in the same sentence, you conjure up an image of a ramrod-straight, gray-haired senior officer, the very epitome of command-and-control. Or perhaps a drill instructor wearing a smokey-bear hat with his nose just millimeters away from the nose of a fear-stricken recruit.Based on the reports of David Freedman in Corps Business, perhaps we civilians need to re-think our images. From beginning -- an introduction by former Marine Corps commandant Charles Krulak -- to end, this book tells the story of an organization which could surely set an example for most American business. Says Krulak, "The hallmark of this fertile environment for personal and professional development is pervasive, clearly defined, and universally respected standards of conduct. These standards stress personal accountability, and our faithful adherence to them has distinguished the Corps for more than two centuries. Their influence is escapable and shapes our every action." Here is how this unfolds through the course of the book: Marine units have always gotten and will continue to get wide-ranging assignments. They will be asked to perform critical missions in complex and confusing circumstances. But whatever the mission, the Marine Corps' values as reflected in their standards of conduct will remain constant. Mistakes will be made along the way in dealing with situations involving tension and hostility, but if you fail to meet the standards of conduct you can expect serious consequences.Over the course of two hundred pages, Freedman offers a host of stories and points out incidents which illustrate key lessons. He has distilled these into 30 "principles" such as: PRINCIPLE #1: AIM FOR THE 70 PERCENT SOLUTION which he defines as going for the best possible decision right now given the information at hand rather than waiting for perfect information and forfeiting an opportunity to go forward toward achieving the goals. Here's another principle: PRINCIPLE #13: MANAGE BY END STATE AND INTENT The leaders in the Marines do not want to engage in what we commonly call micro-management (and which is some cases in my experience descends even to nano-management!) Instead they focus on two things. Freedman writes that the commanders endeavor to make clear "first, how they would like the situation to end up, what the Marines refer to as 'the end state'; and second, the broader goals that they would like to achieve through the entire unit's actions, information that Marines call 'the commander's intent.'" How refreshing it would be to work for someone who trusted you and had justifiable confidence in your ability to get the job done within the context of a clear mission!Does the Marine Corps therefore encourage blind adherence by mindless drones? Hardly. Freedman writes, "It's probably not surprising to hear that a Marine who refuses to obey a clear and legitimate order can face severe disciplinary action.

Practical ways to lead change and people

Until now, I've had only one book to recommend on change management, the excellent, Managing at the Speed of Change by Conner. With Corps Business, a wonderfully practical book, I have two recommendations. As a human resources professional working in the education industry, I was especially struck by the practicality of how the Marines plan, manage and lead change (especially when you have to change course, turn on a dime, and move in a new direction), develop decision making ability in Marines by making every decision making experience a learning experience, and by the leaders' commitment to leading, not managing. If only I could clone Colonel Davis! I have given copies of this book to people who direct business components -- from IT to R & D to Sales. It's a quick read, but the principles linger; I've found myself thinking of ways to apply the principles outlined in this book. It's also a chastening read for any manager whose staff is choking on management and starving for leadership. Well done!

The Marine Corps as Model

Now retired after 30 years and three combat tours and serving as a management consultant with an emphasis on organizational integrity, it is a real joy to see works such as this one and a related book, "Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way," attempt to distill the Marine Corps leadership experience.Though it is tempting to read the books for the principles and practices they disclose, the real value, in my view, resides in seeing the Marine Corps model as a metaphor for an organization adept at preserving its purpose and core values while consciously evolving to meet the challenges of dealing with a complex, often chaoic environment. In my experience over the last few years, I am only now beginning to realize how unique the Marine leadership experience is. The notions of leadership at all levels, end state and commander's intent-based mission orders, and task organization are conspicuous by their absence in many organizations. Hopefully these works will serve to enter the notions into the common organizational vocabulary.As checklists, both books distill basic principles and describe practices that will be of great use to leaders and managers for organizations of all stripes. "Corps Business" does an excellent job of setting forth principles. It does make a number of inaccurate statements, none of which strikes to the core of its principles. For example, lawyers in the Marine Corps are not called Judge Advocate Generals, but Judge Advocates. The discussion of task organization is very weak, unfortunately. This is not surprising for one who hasn't lived the structure of the Marine Corps and how it organizes. For example, a MAGTF would not draw on "infantry, logistics, and air support groups" to form a "minature version of a regiment" or "combine groups from several regiments to form a division-size unit." A Marine Division Commanding General would be surprised to learn this. The division commander owns the regiments. Other generals own the air and logistics units. The division is one of the principal sources from which units are drawn to form a MAGTF. The other two principal sources are the Marine Air Wing and the Force Service Support Group. They together source the four elements of a MAGTF (below the level of a MEF): Command Element, Ground Combat Element, Air Combat Element, Combat Service Support Element.Despite such shortcomings, "Corps Business" is a very valuable work. It captured a number of concepts that I had never stopped to think of consciously. They were just the way we did things. I recommend both books highly. Semper fi......Kenneth W. Johnson Colonel USMCR-Ret.

Excellent source of insight for business readers

As a civilian, and not a former marine, I would like to say a few words of praise for this exceptionally wise and well-done book. First off, I would respectfully suggest that readers (whether marines past or present-or not) who are seeking a book whose sole focus is the marine corps will obviously find fault with Freedman's effort. There's a simple reason why: this book seeks to find managerial lessons from the Marine Corps. It's not an exhaustive history or study of these soldiers. Big difference. Second, I particularly enjoyed this book because it so successfully meets its core objective. In fact, I would venture to guess that a true marine would admire how well the book adheres to the principles it outlines (primary among them being "Establish a core identity.") The 30 managerial principles are sharply drawn and eminently useful. The book is lively and instructive. I enjoyed learning about the Marine Corps from a veteran journalist who knows how to distill a complex story into useful managerial reading, and recommend this title to others who are looking for insight from surprising sources.