Max McKeown Quotes
Strategy was first used in Athens (508 BC) to describe the art of leadership used by the ten generals on the war council. Some argue for the more creative, human side, while others argue for the more analytic side of strategy.
McKeown, Max. The Strategy Book. Pearson, 2011.
Written when he was forced to share command with General Francois Kellerman.
Rumsfeld wanted Defense Department people running and controlling the civilian government of Iraq after our invasion. General Garner, who was the American appointee to run the civilian government until the Iraqis could have elections wanted State Department, Justice Department and other non military personnel run Iraq.
The General refused. He had already achieved a strategic victory and it was only a matter of time when the Dutch would withdraw on their own as their supply lines were cut off and the populations wanted them out.
He was objecting to the current crop of senior military officer who have little experience in fighting and much in academic, strategic and technical training. Many however see him as a dinosaur who does not realized the complex nature of the modern military missions. In general, we have won almost all of our fighting battles but often failed in our maintaining civil society, occupation, nation building, military procurement, preventing sexual assault of our own troops by our own soldiers, assuring mental health of our soldiers. Hackworth, detractors argue, wants to change what already works and ignore what does not.
Max McKeown is an English writer, consultant, and researcher specialising in innovation strategy, leadership and culture. He has written six influential books and conducts research with Warwick Business School (Young, 2008). He is a fellow of the RSA. He served on the Advisory Board for the Rollins Center for eBusiness. He earned his Masters in Business Administration and PhD from the Warwick Business School under the supervision of Professor David Wilson and Professor Sotirios Paroutis, who was in turn supervised by Andrew Pettigrew.
