Lessons from the Generals

Crises demand bold, decisive leadership.

Daily struggles during the Covid pandemic made ordinary people feel as if their lives were unfolding on a battlefield. People sacrificed freedoms and suffered economic damage. The situation kept changing rapidly and unpredictably. Except for fast economic policy adaptation, the world’s response to Covid has been too slow as the pandemic overwhelmed businesses. Purveyors of groceries, for example, have been on the front line, juggling concern for the safety of their staff members and clients with difficulties maintaining inventories and the specter of an uncertain future for their industry as e-commerce burgeons. 

Military leaders’ training focuses on making decisions amid such uncertainty. The command structure of the military exists to enable rapid response to grave dangers that morph unpredictably. A military approach streamlines decisions by...