MR’S 75TH ANNIVERSARY able to effectively navigate the inter- guy I would want to have put in charge are accepting that change is constant – serves. All of which ? ts into his mantra agency territorial and political squabbles of coming up with the solution that that “the status quo is an oxymoron” - that “great leaders are great learners.”that seem to engulf every incident where would keep the stakeholders engaged, and adapting; listening to diverse voices; Take social media and the 24/7 news missions overlap. His ability to listen en- participating and focused on the chore at being transparent; and continually learn- cycle. Allen notes there will never be abled him time and again to ? nd com- hand,” says Loy, now a senior counselor ing. Allen often points out that when it another major event in the country that mon ground between warring factions, at the Cohen Group in Washington. comes to dealing with change – resis- won’t involve public participation. He is and get everyone focused on the same tance is futile. The better tactic is to ac- said to be the ? rst of the military branch goal – what he calls “unity of effort.” “The status quo is an oxymoron” cept it, look ahead and develop strategies commanders to launch a blog, iCom-“If I was confronted with a multi- With patience in his pocket, the foun- to deal with it and make it work to the mandant, for the purpose of daily com-stakeholder nightmare, Thad Allen is the dation pieces of Allen’s leadership style bene? t of his personnel and the public he municating with his organization, further enhancing what he calls his transparency. Part of his legacy will be the complete overhaul of the Coast Guard’s aging command and logistics organization, which brought it into the digital era. As he told Congress during his nomination hearings,” We are nothing without our people, and our people cannot be effec-tive without the right tools.” “Twitter, smartphones, blogs, any-thing that allows people to aggregate and produce social effects when they are not in each other’s presence – in my view have fundamentally changed our lives,” says Allen [See Q&A Page 32]. It’s criti-cal for leadership to understand the day’s technology, how it is changing and that it must evolve with it. Technology and so-cial media have to be managed, and used as tools to present your message and to keep people informed, because the pub-lic is going to be using those tools, and that participation can signi? cantly dis-rupt the team’s “unity of effort” - as Al-len found out most especially during the BP Oil spill. Job No 1 – Not as obvious as it seemsIn a crisis situation, Job 1 is ? guring out what the actual problem is, according to Allen. It might not be what it seems. Allen is fond of explaining that every-one went into Katrina thinking the prob-lem was the hurricane. Once he realized that the ? ooding and lack of government had become the issues, he completely changed his approach and priorities to the betterment of the operation. Only after pegging the problem, he believes, can you effectively lead change by then getting everyone on the same page, com-mitted to the same values, working to-ward the same goals.As he explained in a widely cited inter-view with the Harvard Business Review, “You have to understand at a very large, macro level what the problem is that you’re dealing with, and what needs to be done to achieve the effects you want, and you have to be able to communi-cate that. You also have to create a set of shared values that everybody involved can subscribe to.” Part and parcel to that effort is transparency and communica-tion. It is critical, he said, to “lead from everywhere.” That means being visible, 38 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MARCH 2014MR #3 (32-41).indd 38 MR #3 (32-41).indd 38 3/4/2014 10:55:21 AM3/4/2014 10:55:21 AM