Vietnam in the 20th Century By your own orientation to cooperative work in a mission-driven organization like the armed forces, do you consider yourself to be a strategic thinker, a tactical planner, or a logistician? How do you determine that, and how does your own daily life and work demonstrate that?

Just as people wear different hats as they go through their interactions with other people, including family members, friend, co-workers and others, people also engage in all three types of thinking as they plan these encounters and how they will negotiate the day-to-day challenges they face. The same issues apply to leadership styles, with some approaches being more suitable to certain situations than others. In some cases, strategic thinking is the most appropriate approach to these encounters and this approach might be used to achieve personal or professional goals over the long-term. In some cases, all three styles might be used. In this regard, Dorff suggests that strategic thinking can be viewed as "a comprehensive appreciation of the synergistic interdependence of the parts and the interactions among them -- the effects they have on one another in the past, present, and anticipated future" (2009, p. 124). Tactical planning would help provide the general framework that could be used to implement the "nuts-and-bolts" of the strategic plan that was developed (Thierauf 1997), and the logistics perspective would help identify what resources were required for the initiative...

These issues apply to everyone, but those who seem to succeed more consistently appear to understand that some methods are more effective in certain situations than others, and using the optimal approach can help deliver optimal results.
Then, with your own understanding of what cooperation and support you need from others involved, what do you need from others in their roles to accomplish your own work successfully?

It is reasonable to suggest that everyone thinks their jobs are the most important in the world and that they are the most important people doing them. In the armed forces, the hierarchy is clearly delineated, but in the civilian world, lines of authority may be less readily discernible. Therefore, by understanding that others view themselves in the same high regard as anyone else, it is possible to interact with others in the ways most conducive to achieving one's own goals. This does not mean that someone has to be dishonest or officious in their interactions, but it does mean that it is important to try to understand any exchange from the perspective of others so that an informed and crafty compromise can be reached when conflicts exist and the individual's goals can be achieved most effectively. Beyond the need for personal rapport, establishing networks of contacts in organizational areas that are frequently consulted can help facilitate the exchange of information. This is an important…