Generations in the workplace and the changing nature of of war

Vietnam was the last great war fought according to the military theory known as Superiority. Under this theory of war, numbers are the key to victory. When we talk of "air superiority" we are saying that we can field a greater number of and/or more sophisticated aircraft than our adversary can, and therefore in a war of attrition, we will ultimately win. Kills are carefully recorded and tracked, for they tell the tale in a war fought under Superiority theory - remember the body counts being carefully reported (and sometimes guarded) during Vietnam?

Superiority theory of war goes back to the beginning of war - Napoleon, the middle ages, the Romans, WW I - all were fought according to this theory, which informed strategy and tactics (which did evolve a lot under this theory).

Then came Gulf I, and things were different. The citizenry no longer had an appetite for wartime losses, to the point that any level of loss was viewed as politically unacceptable. That and a smaller military armed with weapons born of the high-tech, information-based era provided us, the US, with a unique and distinctive advantage, especially in the air but also on the battlefield. And thus was born a new theory of war: Dominance. Under dominance theory each battle is planned and executed with the expectation that the enemy will suffer heavy losses, while we will suffer none. The only way this theory can be realized is if we have a technological advantage that our enemy cannot replicate. For the most part, ever since Gulf I, this has been the case. Stealth aircraft, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), laser-guided precision weapons, GPS, etc. plus the Joint Forces doctrine have all combined to give the US the ability to engage an enemy and, through the combination of maneuver and overwhelming force, completely dominate the battle theatre with a reasonable expectation of zero losses. This is Dominance theory.

So why am I prattling away on this? It occurred to me that in the workplace of today people may be bumping into generation-based issues. Understanding the shift in the theory of war that has taken place over the last 20-30 years may provide some insight into the dynamics that exist between the various generations. Vietnam was the last war that relied heavily on the strict hierarchy on the battlefield, and command and control from the rear. The book, Warfighting, talks about this shift in doctrine. Under the new doctrine (described in Warfighting), initiative needs to come from the front. Decision making needs to be turned over to the soldier with the rifle who is actively engaging the enemy. You combine that with Dominance theory and you have a very different mindset from the Vietnam era warfighter. And it spills over into the public arena, too. Especially the concept of zero-loss, and its heavy reliance on technology and information sharing and collaboration. This is a marked difference from the way combat operations were planned during Vietnam; and the way the general public thought about getting things done.

There is one last dimension of war in today's era that should be considered, and that is the notion of asymmetry. The 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center, the bombing of the USS Cole, and other similar acts against the US performed by terrorists are all examples of asymmetric warfare. The asymmetry refers to the size and scope of the enemy as well as the tactics they employ - the good old days of the US versus the Evil Empire seem to be over. There is no distinct, bounded enemy embodied by a nation state. Instead the enemy is diffuse, and uses tactics that our military was never designed to counter. As a result the terrorists are able to incur significant damage on us. A parallel phenomena is observable in business and is really the basis of the high tech industry: two college drop outs toiling away in a garage with no funding somehow unseat established tech sector goliaths in the marketplace. This is another manifestation of asymmetry.

So how do these new realities shape the way younger people think about work? Strategy? Authority? Hierarchy? Innovation? Information technology? Product life cycles?

By the way, the book, Warfighting, is a military document in the public domain. You can buy it as a book on Amazon, or you can download it as a pdf here: http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/service_pubs/mcdp1.pdf . It is the same text in its entirety. Very good read (I bought and distributed at least a dozen of the books before I found the online version).