SECDEF Gates gave two remarkable speeches (and I mean that in an entirely positive way!) this past week, and one of them included this amazing quote from the late Air Force colonel John Boyd. As James Fallows reports, until recently Col. Boyd was considered by the top brass to be precisely the sort of officer they didn't want. But Gates' speeches made it remarkably clear that they had gotten it exactly wrong, and judging from this quote, I can see why:
"One day you will take a fork in the road, and you're going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises, and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club, and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way, and you can do something, something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted, and you may not get good assignments, and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors, but you won't have to compromise yourself. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you have to make a decision: to be or to do."
To be or to do - at some point in our lives, each of us will face that choice, sometimes more than once. Do we do what will be easy, popular, and oftentimes profitable, or do we make a stand and do what is right, consequences be damned? Doing what is right is often far more difficult than being what is wrong. God grant me the wisdom and strength......
UPDATE: Much more context and analysis here and here from two of the best in the business.
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