Whispers on a Wall
Over the years, I’ve often been asked three questions:
1) Why on earth do you write all those articles and books?
2) Where do you find the time to write?
3) Were you ever concerned that writing/publishing would put your career at risk?
First, the question of why I, or any potential author, would write in the first place. We all begin as readers. I lived in Greece as a child and there was no television in those days, in the early 1960s. I became an endless reader of books, a habit that continues to this day with far too many books in my house – what my wife Laura calls my “gentle madness.” Then something happens and you start to think … you want to be part of the conversation. You step from reading to thinking to talking and finally, writing about books and ideas. And you realize that all that reading and thinking and talking is – in the end – like trying “to nail whispers to a wall” as a writer said once. “Writing freezes thought and offers it up for inspection.”
The second question is where do I find the time to do all this writing? As I’ve written elsewhere, going to sea, for all its busy time, has provided a space for reading, looking at the rolling ocean, and doing a little writing. There were many times after a mid-watch when I wanted to sleep but thought – ah, just a minute or two to jot a line that came to me on a long, quiet steam across the Pacific. I’ve always tried hard to manage my time carefully…to use small bits of time to chip away at important things. If you wait until you have six hours to sit down and write an article, the odds are that you’ll never find the time. But if you write a page or a paragraph here and there—while on an airplane or in a car ride—eventually you’ll have a good piece. Do that in an organized way over a year, and you’ll have a book. What seems like a big commitment in time is so often just a series of small steps.
Now, what about that third question, the one regarding career risk? Quite the dilemma, at first blush. I’ve had two “career ending” moments in my 34 years in the Navy, both of which included a tragic, but thankfully incorrect, statement from a 3-star Admiral to a far junior me, “Stavridis, your career is over!” because I took the risk of articulating an idea in print. On the other hand, maybe somewhere along the way someone noticed something I wrote and thought, “Hmmm, maybe that junior officer is worth taking the time to meet with and talk to.” Some of the best career moments I’ve had came in that positive way – and there were many more of them than the negative.
Photo courtesy Joint Force Command Lisbon
But the bottom line is that your ideas will not go anywhere unless you have the courage to “hang them out there” for others to see. The enormous irony of the military profession is that we are huge risk takers in what we do operationally – flying airplanes on-and-off a carrier, driving a ship through a sea state five typhoon, walking point with your platoon in southern Afghanistan -- but publishing an article, posting a blog or speaking to the media can scare us badly. We are happy to take personal risk or operational risk, but too many of us won’t take career risk.
If you’re thinking about writing and publishing, a few common sense rules apply:
• Be careful of classification.
• Show a draft to your immediate boss, who shouldn’t be surprised when an article comes out.
• Write about what you actually know something about.
• Find the appropriate venue and write as best you can with complete honesty for that audience.
• Don’t attack people personally.
You don’t have to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a Service Chief or a Combatant Commander to get published. The list is long of young officers who have been published in Proceedings, Air & Space Power Journal, The Marine Corps Gazette, and The Military Review over the years and have continued on to success at the highest levels of DoD. After all, just look at some young officers who published early in their careers, names you might recognize: Chester Nimitz, Colin Powell, David Petraeus. Whatever happened to those guys?
One last thought: whether you are brand new to writing for the public or a seasoned pro, technology and access have come together with blogs like this one to support the writer, and even the reader, in a couple of ways. You, the writer, get to hone your writing skills and can receive immediate feedback to your thoughts and ideas while the reader gets more understanding and context to the important work you are doing. As a writer and reader, I look forward to seeing your whispers on the wall!
Adm. James Stavridis
Commander, U.S. European Command and
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
*This blog was adapted from a speech given recently at the U.S. Naval Institute.
Find more blog posts tagged with:
- The Marine Corps Gazette
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- Air & Space Power Journal
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- The Military Review
- General Colin Powell
Comments: 13
Admiral Stavridis, Great article, great advice, perfectly written. Thank you for sharing.
Admiral, We have forwarded this posting to our command and staff students for their reflection. Here is something else your posting caused me to write: Admiral James Stavridis' recent blog post about writing is full of insight for naval officers contemplating expanding their intellectual horizons. By implication he advances the notion that higher levels of command should not be impediments to intellectual development and that such development is in some senses an obligation that officers, by the very nature of their service at these levels, owe the nation. Thoughts? vr, John T. Kuehn Department of Military History US Army Command and General Staff College
What a wonderful question, YN2. I begin with an idea, sort of the way a scuptor begins with a picture in his mind and a big block of stone. Then I start chipping away and shaping into the right kind of structure to project the idea. Some ideas are big, chewy, things -- say "What should the policy of the U.S. be in Latin America and the Caribbean." I know that has to be a book, because it has so many different parts to it. Other ideas are just quick hitters -- "How did my trip to Russia turn out?" That can be the subject of a blog (and will be next week). Or they might be an OP-ED in a newspaper, like, "Why I think We Are Making Progress in Afghanistan." Many ideas are kind of in the middle -- too long for a typical blog and far too specific for a book. Those become articles for journals (print or on-line both) -- see my recent piece "Taming the Outlaw Sea" about piracy operations in the Naval War College Review. And tweets are the easiest of all!
Admiral - Thanks for the sage advice. I would add a minor point taught to me long ago by an officer-mentor who walked comfortably with his (often tricky) native tongue: "Write 'word pictures, with careful attention to each stroke of the pen(cil). With practice and labor, you will advance from elementary messy fingerpainting to Chekhov or Faulkner, depending on your natural gift. But -- practice! You'll see steady improvement. Even if you do not equal Kipling or Goethe,you'll find command of the language opens many doors." V/r, Steve Myers, CAPT USN (Ret.) in Bedford, PA PS: If you REALLY want to move the linguistic Forward Line of Troops (FLOT), try fiction. Better still - poetry.... PPS: Mike Lambert and I pulled decades of "cryppie" duties together; I read his blog avidly.
Sir, Great post. In particular, I liked your Nicholas Basbanes reference. V/R, LT Christopher Nelson, USN
Admiral, It is a scary thing to write when junior. I've had the honor to post at USNI for a few months now. When I do post, I try to talk about things outside of my immediate purview. So that if I say something outlandish, I can be dismissed without anyone being motivated to take action against me. Though, there have been some instances where I have posted regarding things that could be considered a reflection of my chain of command (after which I watched with bated breath to see if anyone said anything negative to me). Though, I also do not make it known (my parent command is a known-known. Though, the unit I was IA with I never mentioned. Nor has the command I am PCS'ing to in a month or so) who I work for. When I was approached to post at USNI, I was given the option to stay anonymous. But, I decided it was better to write under my name. Posting has been harder, but it also has been more satisfying and my writing improved (I think). V/r YN2(SW) H. Lucien Gauthier III
Its like you learn my mind! You seem to grasp a lot about this, like you wrote the e-book in it or something. I think that you can do with some % to force the message house a bit, however other than that, this is magnificent blog. A great read. I will definitely be back.
Admiral are doing a great job , you inspire people in this way . Great advice Sir ! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Admiral, You're an inspiration to me. Even more, thanks for sharing it. Sincerely, Chito
Admiral Sir, I've recently discovered your blog and I feel very lucky that I have the chance to contact with you directly. Your writings are a great inspiration for me and for many of my coleagues in Hellenic Navy. Your books in particular "Command at Sea" and "Destroyer Command" assisted me in having and enjoying a succesfull frigate command. I can only say "Keep Writing" Sir. V/R Cdr Georgios Floros HN
Writing and publishing is extremely rewarding when you find out your article actually helped someone.
Great post, Admiral. A real inspiration to me! Your common sense rules make a lot of sense. I just worry my supervisor might find it tedious to look over every blog post I want to put online. I guess I will try to explain the merits of writing and my willingness to put my ideas out there as compensation for the review. V/R, Lt Steve Tomaszewsk, USAF
Admiral, How do you find your thoughts changing when you write them down? Especially in respect to different formats and media. As I mentioned, I have some experience with blogs. But, none with professional journals, or in writing speeches. Does an idea written into a speech take on a different connotation (of sorts) than it would if written into an article for Proceedings? Does one, in a sense, need to write the same idea into various formats and media to full develop it? V/r YN2(SW) Gauthier