On the Psychology of Military Incompetence

On the Psychology of Military Incompetence
Author: Norman F Dixon
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 0465097812

A classic study of military leadership uncovering why generals fail The Crimea, the Boer War, the Somme, Tobruk, Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs: these are just some of the milestones in a century of military incompetence, of costly mishaps and tragic blunders. Are these simple accidents—as the "bloody fool" theory has it—or are they inevitable? The psychologist Norman F. Dixon argues that there is a pattern to inept generalship, and he locates this pattern within the very act of creating armies in the first place, which in his view produces a levelling down of human capability that encourages the mediocre and limits the gifted. In this light, successful generals achieve what they do despite the stultifying features of the organization to which they belong. On the Psychology of Military Incompetence is at once an original exploration of the battles that have defined the last two centuries of human civilization and an essential guide for the next generation of military leaders.

Military Incompetence

Military Incompetence
Author: Richard A. Gabriel
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 230
Release: 1986-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 0374521379

Since 1970, American forces have been committed in five operations ... and in each case they have failed.

Someone Had Blundered-

Someone Had Blundered-
Author: Geoffrey Regan
Publisher: B. T. Batsford Limited
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1987
Genre: History
ISBN:

Krimkrigen; Spansk-Amerikanske krig; 2. Verdenskrig; Eden, Anthony; Nasser; Ægypten, 1956; 1. Verdenskrig; Atlanterhavskonvojerne; Store Hærførere; Store Slag og Kampe; Balaclava; Amerikanske Borgerkrig; Fredericksburg; Goose Green; Jutland; Narvik; Pearl Harbor; Somme; Verdun; Admiral Beatty; Buckingham, George Villiers; General Burnside; General Buller; Chamberlain, Neville; Churchill; Napoleon; Percival, A.E.; General Lee; Kitchener; Admiral Jellicoe; Hitler; Earl of Essex; General Grant; Haig, D.; Earl of Leven; Rommel; Stopford, H.; Wellington

The Peter Principle

The Peter Principle
Author: Dr. Laurence J. Peter
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 0062359495

The classic #1 New York Times bestseller that answers the age-old question Why is incompetence so maddeningly rampant and so vexingly triumphant? The Peter Principle, the eponymous law Dr. Laurence J. Peter coined, explains that everyone in a hierarchy—from the office intern to the CEO, from the low-level civil servant to a nation’s president—will inevitably rise to his or her level of incompetence. Dr. Peter explains why incompetence is at the root of everything we endeavor to do—why schools bestow ignorance, why governments condone anarchy, why courts dispense injustice, why prosperity causes unhappiness, and why utopian plans never generate utopias. With the wit of Mark Twain, the psychological acuity of Sigmund Freud, and the theoretical impact of Isaac Newton, Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull’s The Peter Principle brilliantly explains how incompetence and its accompanying symptoms, syndromes, and remedies define the world and the work we do in it.

Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?

Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?
Author: Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2019-02-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1633696332

Look around your office. Turn on the TV. Incompetent leadership is everywhere, and there's no denying that most of these leaders are men. In this timely and provocative book, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic asks two powerful questions: Why is it so easy for incompetent men to become leaders? And why is it so hard for competent people--especially competent women--to advance? Marshaling decades of rigorous research, Chamorro-Premuzic points out that although men make up a majority of leaders, they underperform when compared with female leaders. In fact, most organizations equate leadership potential with a handful of destructive personality traits, like overconfidence and narcissism. In other words, these traits may help someone get selected for a leadership role, but they backfire once the person has the job. When competent women--and men who don't fit the stereotype--are unfairly overlooked, we all suffer the consequences. The result is a deeply flawed system that rewards arrogance rather than humility, and loudness rather than wisdom. There is a better way. With clarity and verve, Chamorro-Premuzic shows us what it really takes to lead and how new systems and processes can help us put the right people in charge.

Fiasco

Fiasco
Author: Thomas E. Ricks
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 524
Release: 2006-07-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1101201401

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize • One of the Washington Post Book World's 10 Best Books of the Year • Time's 10 Best Books of the Year • USA Today's Nonfiction Book of the Year • A New York Times Notable Book "Staggeringly vivid and persuasive . . . absolutely essential reading." —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "The best account yet of the entire war." —Vanity Fair The definitive account of the American military's tragic experience in Iraq Fiasco is a masterful reckoning with the planning and execution of the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq through mid-2006, now with a postscript on recent developments. Ricks draws on the exclusive cooperation of an extraordinary number of American personnel, including more than one hundred senior officers, and access to more than 30,000 pages of official documents, many of them never before made public. Tragically, it is an undeniable account—explosive, shocking, and authoritative—of unsurpassed tactical success combined with unsurpassed strategic failure that indicts some of America's most powerful and honored civilian and military leaders.

Snafu

Snafu
Author: Geoffrey Regan
Publisher:
Total Pages: 314
Release: 1993
Genre: History
ISBN:

Winning Westeros

Winning Westeros
Author: Max Brooks
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2019-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1640122389

Set in the fictitious world of Westeros, the hit television series Game of Thrones chronicles the bitter and violent struggle between the realm’s noble dynasties for control of the Seven Kingdoms. But this beloved fantasy drama has just as much to say about the successful strategies and real-life warfare waged in our own time and place. Winning Westeros brings together more than thirty of today’s top military and strategic experts, including generals and admirals, policy advisors, counterinsurgency tacticians, science fiction and fantasy writers, and ground?level military officers, to explain the strategy and art of war by way of the Game of Thrones saga. Each chapter of Winning Westeros provides a relatable, outside?the?box way to simplify and clarify the complexities of modern military conflict. A chapter on the doomed butcher’s boy whom Arya Stark befriends by World War Z author Max Brooks poignantly reminds us of the cruel fate that civilians face during times of war. Another chapter on Jaqen H’ghar and the faceless men of Bravos explores the pivotal roles that stealth and intelligence play in battle. Whether considering the diplomatic prowess of Tyrion Lannister, the defiant leadership style of Daenerys Targaryen, the Battle of the Bastards and the importance of reserves, Brienne of Tarth and the increased role of women in combat, or dragons as weapons of mass destruction, Winning Westeros gives fans of Game of Thrones and aspiring military minds alike an inspiring and entertaining means of understanding the many facets of modern warfare. It is a book as captivating and enthralling as Game of Thrones itself.

Preparing for War

Preparing for War
Author: J. P. Clark
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2017-01-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674545737

The U.S. Army has always regarded preparing for war as its peacetime role, but how it fulfilled that duty has changed dramatically between the War of 1812 and World War I. J. P. Clark shows how differing personal experiences of war and peace among successive generations of professional soldiers left their mark upon the Army and its ways.