Engineer Memoirs
It's no different from the way the Navy operates aboard ship. They have an executive
officer. He's the one that deals with the crew. The captain remains a little aloof. There
is no question in the minds of most people aboard ship that the captain's the ultimate
authority and that the executive officer operates under the guidance of the captain.
This is a very important point which I mentioned to Nancy, and she's always kidding
me about it. If you're in a negotiation, it's far better to send in somebody who isn't the
ultimate authority, because if you sit down at the table and you have the power of
decision, then you're under all kinds of pressure from the other negotiators to give way.
But if you're there on instructions and the guy keeps putting heat on you, you can say,
"Well, I'll have to take that back."
So, it's an interesting phenomenon. But life is one big negotiation among people. So
very often, it's much more effective to deal with an issue with somebody that doesn't
have the authority. Send him in. The psychology is that he can deal with it, he can talk
it over. "Well, yes, we'll have to take that back and we'll discuss that." Whereas if he's
the deciding authority, he's sitting there and the guy says, "You know, I want to do this
thing," what are you going to do? "I'd like to think about it overnight." That really is
the image of a guy that's indecisive.
But if the guy that's sitting at the table says, "Well, I don't have the authority, I'm
going to have to go back--" So it all depends. If you're at Gettysburg and you have to
decide on Pickett's charge, you can't operate that way. So I'm not talking about what
applies to combat. But I'm saying in the day-to-day, week-to-week give-and-take,
sometimes a negotiating posture where the guy that's doing most of the contact work
doesn't have the authority may be an advantage.
Q:
Did you fill that disciplinarian role when you were deputy?
A:
Yes. I dealt with a lot of issues. Jack and I talked things over. Sometimes he wanted to
handle things. But a lot of things, I handled for him. That was fine. That's what I felt
was my job. I think that's the way the Chief ought to operate.
Q:
I remember when you were talking about General Lee when we first starting talking
about World War II that that was the role that he filled on Ike's staff.
A:
Yes, but I think that was a little different. He had his way of handling things. But I'm
not sure there was the same understanding between him and Eisenhower that that was
the job that he was doing.
Q:
I see.
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