Discuss 'Eyes on the Horizon' by General Richard Myers

Eyes On the Horizon: A school leadership perspective

On page 286 Gen. Myers describes the war this way:

Fundamentally, this is a struggle for legitimacy to rule between usurpers (embodied in such global terrorist movements as al-Qaida) and existing authorities—the definition of an insurgency. Because of the movement’s goals, its conception of the entire world as a legitimate field of battle, and the wide reach of its methods, the insurgency is global in scope. Although the fight is not primarily about the United States, we cannot avoid it. We must win, and we must win on our terms.

In this description, he gets the reader to think beyond the idea of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and think globally. I agree with his assessment that the insurgency goes far beyond terrorists attacking America; it is a fight to determine who the legitimate governing authority is of each nation in the world. He goes on to describe the adversary and what it will take to win this war, moving far beyond the historical battlefield.

Throughout the book Gen. Myers describes leadership activities that can be adapted to any organization. He describes the problems with “stovepipe” bureaucracy, where all communication is vertically aligned, so to get across departments takes a lot of time. He also discussed the need for transformational thinking as the military changed to a 21st-century mindset. Wars will no longer be World War II-type of wars with well-defined battlefields, large forces being deployed, etc. Both of these ideas are directly applicable to the education setting. Schools should not be run today as they were even 20 years ago since the technology we have has changed, and with it so has our culture. We must be working collaboratively both internally and externally to develop the best opportunities possible for students to succeed. Gen. Myers spends much time discussing the adversary and the need to develop a comprehensive strategy to defeat the adversary. Of course, this is part of the job description for senior military and governmental leaders. They have the resources (personnel) to assign to work on these tasks. In education, we spend too much time thinking about the next day or even the next year to begin thinking about what we really need to accomplish and how we can incorporate all available resources to meet these goals. We do a poor job of defining the “adversary”, defining the strategic objective, and looking beyond our own resources to find those we can integrate with to achieve our goals. This requires transformational, 21st-century thinking, and educational bureaucracies do not generally allow for deep, fundamental changes.

I liked this book, and in looking at it from a leadership perspective, especially within the realm of education, I think anyone can benefit from reading it. In reading other books by military leaders such as Eisenhower, Powell, and Franks, I have always gained insight into characteristics of good leadership. General Myers reminded me that loyalty always runs not only vertically, but also sideways. I also appreciated the opportunity to look at how strategic decisions were made during the War on Terror during Myers’s chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs. It gave a perspective which is otherwise not available. And finally, the challenge to view the War on Terror as a matter of a global insurgency against governing authorities worldwide will help me be more aware of what is really going on in the world.