·:[ Sound and Fury ]:·
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Last month, General Peter Pace was nominated as the first Marine Corps General to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And others, particulary Blackfive had quite a bit to say about it. At the same time, Admiral Giambastiani was nominated to succeed him as the Vice Chair. This left the Joint Forces Command position vacant.

And then, almost quietly, JFCOM Deputy Lt Gen Wagner was nominated to be the Army Special Ops commander. Riddle me this, Batman, why would an experienced manager (like Sec Rumsfeld) move the number one and number two guys at the same time?

Answer: Because you want the next JFCOM commander to be an Army General, and he can’t be if the Deputy is Army.

So, next question, which Army four-star will be the next JFCOM? And when will it be the Air Force’s turn?

UpdateFor those keeping track, I got this wrong. The Air Force’s turn was sooner than I thought. Congratulations to Gen Lance Smith. The Army got the number two spot, with LTG John R. Wood.

Interesting nonetheless. Perhaps the first time in this command’s history that a naval officer is not in charge. The old Atlantic Command is dead. Long live JFCOM.

One of the joys of living in the DC metro area is access to the Smithsonian programs. Last week I attended a day-long seminar on organizational story-telling.

Storytelling is one of the most enduring ways to transfer knowledge, within an organization and without. Vibrant characters, funny punchlines, memorable morals all combine to create and perpetuate stories that carry knowledge.

Here are some of the resources they mentioned:
Steve Denning, author of “The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling”.
http://www.stevedenning.com/

Annette Simmons, author of “The Story Factor”
Tons of free articles, book excerpts, work sheets:
http://www.groupprocessconsulting.com/
Great excerpt from book:
http://www.storytellingcenter.net/resources/articles/simmons.htm

One of the organizers:
Golden Fleece, Storytelling in organizations
http://www.storyatwork.org/

Two more speakers came from the Center for Narrative Studies:
http://www.storywise.com/

Another collection I’ve found:
http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~brooks/storybiz/storytelling-business.html

It was a great day. //Diane