On 29 October 2014, LTG Spoehr, Director, Office of Business Transformation gave a presentation titled: "Managing As Well As We Lead: Achieving Best-in-Class Performance" to a group of general officers who are either in installation command or soon will be. LTG Spoehr argued that while Army leaders are traditionally regarded as some of the best leaders in the Nation, we do not enjoy a similarly high reputation as managers--described as utilizing processes and systems to achieve a goal. While leadership will always be the "coin of the realm" in the Army, in a time when resources are becoming more and more scarce, Spoehr stated the Army must pay attention to management best practices to be able to apply maximum resources to our most pressing needs--preparing ready forces for combatant command use.
The presentation went on to describe some of the "best in class" management practices, many of which are already taking place in the Army, but often in isolation and not broadly. A member of the group asked why establish "best in class" as the goal? LTG Spoehr responded that while it might not be realistic for the Army to be the "best" or even "world class" in our management practices without the presence of the "sharpening stone" of closely watched financial metrics and the competitive marketplace within which most corporations operate, but we certainly should seek to be the best in our class--large, governmental organizations. The presentation was well received and the discussion lively.
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