Bleeding Talent: How the US Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution

January 2013

Past Event

Bleeding Talent: How the US Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution

Past Event

Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters

January 31, 2013

January 2013

Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

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Speakers:

General Jack Keane

(U.S. Army, retired) Former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and Chairman of the Board for the Institute for the Study of War

Lt. General David Barno

(U.S. Army, retired) Former head of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, and Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security

Colonel Martha McSally

(USAF retired) First American woman to fly in combat, first woman to command a USAF fighter squadron, and a former U.S. congressional candidate

Great leadership is a hallmark of the U.S. military, but today the Pentagon is bleeding talent--externally as top officers quit the ranks in frustration, and internally as those who serve are stuck in a risk-averse bureaucracy that inefficiently matches people with jobs. An exclusive survey of West Point graduates reveals an Army that rewards conformity but ignores merit, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

In Bleeding Talent, Hudson Institute Chief Economist and former USAF intelligence officer, Dr. Tim Kane, offers a blueprint for how the Pentagon can reinvent itself in a time of budget cuts. Just as the military moved from the draft toward an all-volunteer force in the 1970s, Kane argues it should continue evolving toward more autonomy for its workforce. In developing his plan for a Total Volunteer Force, Kane explores the philosophical issues of duty and liberty and draws on the management lessons from some of America's greatest companies.

Author Tim Kane joined with Hudson Distinguished Fellow Christopher DeMuth and a panel of former senior military officers for an eye-opening discussion of the book.

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