 Well, good afternoon, Naval War College. Absolutely. Wait, let's try that again. Good afternoon, Naval War College. Good afternoon. All righty, all righty. Just making sure you are awake. I am cracking up because this time last year I was literally in an operating room having my Achilles tendon sewn back together. Anybody know that pain? And there's a big, large plate here. And all I'm thinking about is I'm going to trip again. So let's hope that doesn't happen. So because I was not here last year, I ended up addressing your colleagues via pre-recorded video. And much to my chagrin that ended up on YouTube. Not my favorite thing. But so if there's anybody here who may have seen the video, not to worry, just think of this as a live concert version. For those who have not seen the video, it is my sincere hope that you will be boldened and encouraged by what you hear and learn. You say I'm a passionate teacher and educator. And one of the things that has remained most important to me in my nearly five years here at the Naval War College has been enabling and furthering student success. Not only as future strategic leaders, but also in your right now context as service college students. So to that end, I hit upon an analogy while driving through the car wash of all places. So hopefully the analogy will resonate with you and you will find it useful as you begin or in some instances continue your Naval War college journey. Now, I tend to go to the automatic car wash at the local shell station. And like most automatic car washes these days, this one has a large metal unit at the entrance that allows you to swipe a credit card or enter a code for P-payment. This particular car wash also has a speaker where a very pleasant voice comes through the sound box and provides instructions for how to proceed through the car wash. The voice very politely instructs, please put your car in neutral. Remove your foot from the brake and please fold in your mirrors. Now if the instructions are properly followed and you successfully maneuver your car into those rails, which I sometimes have a hard time doing, the car slowly proceeds through a series of car wash stages. The pre-soaked soap, the wash, the rinse, the wax, the dry, all depending upon which level of service is chosen. Ultimately, the expectation is that the car will be in a better state upon exiting the car wash than it was when it entered. So this got me to thinking, doesn't this whole car wash experience describe a year at the United States Naval War College? That is, students enter one way with the expectation that you'll exit a year later another way. But the more I pondered this analogy, what really stood out to me was not so much this notion of entering one way, getting switched around for a while and exiting another way, but rather the criticality of the instructions for proceeding through the experience. Now as you have already heard many times already, one of the primary missions of the United States Naval War College is to develop students into future strategic leaders. And we are most fortunate to have some of the best expert in seasoned faculty to help students do just that. Yet in order to become better leaders, in order to enhance your standing as a member of the profession of arms, there are some things that you as students can do as well. You can put your car neutral, remove your foot from the brake and you can fold in your mirrors. You see there are certain actions and efforts that will enable you as students to contribute to your own learning and to further your own development as strategic leaders. And indeed as expertly argued by Dr. Cooke and articulated by Admiral Klein, it is your professional ethical obligation to do so. So fold in your mirrors. Let's take a look at that last instruction first. Now I would venture to say that most everyone in this room is an overachiever. You can go ahead and admit it. Otherwise you would not be sitting here in Spruant's Hall Auditorium at this amazing institution. Over the course of your careers, you have developed your technical expertise, your tactical competence, specific leadership abilities. Some of you have led soldiers or sailors or teams or forces in very difficult and challenging circumstances, while others have functioned effectively as very significant contributors in your services and agencies. Most importantly, I suspect that each of you has upheld your oaths and your commitments to your respective nations with honor, respect, and integrity. Yet this is not the time to rest on those laurels quite the contrary. The goal here is a strive to become an even better leader to prepare for more complex challenges for higher level decision making and more nuanced ethical dilemmas. You see the evolution into a strategic leader is less dependent upon past successes or how one previously excelled as a leader than it is on the further development of more advanced abilities. To emphasize this point, let me borrow a phrase from a title of a leadership book that you might be familiar with. The title is What Got You Here Won't Get You There. Now, the general premise of Marshall Goldsmith's book is this. As people pursue future and higher successes, they must recognize that certain leadership behaviors and abilities that may have served them well as lower level leaders can in fact become hinderances as senior level leaders. For example, taking a tactical approach and applying it to a strategic issue. Therefore, a complimentary set of new skills is required for effective leadership. So let's apply this line of thinking in the world that Dr. Cook described in our VUCA world, volatile and certain complex and ambiguous. In the VUCA world of global security, those who are positioned to be strategic leaders, that's all of you in this room, must strive to develop more sophisticated skill sets, a higher order way of thinking and broadened strategic perspectives. So where does the folder in the mirror part come in? Think about it this way. The side mirrors on a car are designed to help drivers see what is behind them. They provide a rear view perspective. Yet in order to build upon existing leadership strengths and personal abilities, it is equally important to spend time developing a forward looking perspective. During the Naval War College experience then, there will be occasions that necessitate folding in those rear-facing mirrors in order to develop future-facing windows. Follow? Follow? Okay, just checking. All right. We move the foot from the brake. So along those same lines, when we become wedded to existing knowledge and know-how, in my mind, that's akin to riding the brakes. Just remaining in the same place. But when you remove your foot from the bin there, done that brake, the aperture for learning is expanded. Here's what I mean. When it comes to seminars, for example, some students place great emphasis on how they might be evaluated on their class participation. Now, of course, when you're dealing with a room full of competitive overachievers, just saying, that's to be expected. So what sometimes happens is students scope out the topics in which they are most familiar and most confident and then actively engage in those particular seminar discussions while also reverting to and camping out on those same topics whenever possible. Now, hey, it's a good strategy. Don't get me wrong. Such contributions are absolutely central, if not vital to the seminar experience. At the same time, however, absorbing and synthesizing new information that is elevating the level of learning requires unlocking the mindset beyond what is already known to allow for the fruitful engagement to fill in the gaps for what is not known. Now, I know that might seem intuitive. So let me give you an example of what I see as putting on the learning brakes. Now, I along with my colleague, Captain retired John Meyer, big tall dude sitting up here in front, wave Captain Meyer. Captain Meyer and I teach the critical thinking for adaptive leaders elective. Now, the course is specifically designed to push students out of their thinking and learning comfort zones. The goal is to further develop students' cognitive abilities and mental agility in order to prepare them for the next higher level of leadership. It's a challenge. The course uses a particular instructional method and teaching process that requires students to be open to learning and thinking in new ways. I recall one student officer in particular who had an impressive academic and professional background who just seemed to be fixated on demonstrating his existing wealth of knowledge. So much so, he would turn in assignments not in the way instructed, but in the way he thought the assignment should have been given in the first place while also waxing eloquent, I promise you, I'm not making this up, while also waxing eloquent on tangential subjects. During class participation, he would at times flatly reject the directed discourse and offer unrelated inputs. Now, arguably, there is a distinct difference between showing initiative to push the learning envelope and simply being resistant to learning. I can think of another student who had a very difficult time pressing the I believe button unless she was provided with irrefutable proof, presented according to her expectations and based on how she thought the course should be taught. In both instances, these students seemed so resistant to learning in a new way and being challenged to think contrary to expectations that not surprisingly, they got very little out of the course and perhaps, disappointingly, their overall Naval War College experience. I would argue that these students essentially slammed on the brakes for developing any further as a member of the profession of arms. And I have to tell you, as a passionate educator, as are many of my colleagues, that's a really hard pill to swallow. Opening the aperture for advanced and expert learning allows for learning environments that might be different from what you're accustomed, or subject matter that might be familiar or even uncomfortable, or perhaps even the reconsideration of certain tactics and techniques that have previously proven successful. Another student from the same critical thinking course wrote this on a course evaluation. This class requires an open mind and a student willing to surrender his way of thinking to learn even more. I love that. I still remember when the student offered similar remarks during one of our class sessions. I remember applauding his insight and also recognizing that this was an important learning moment for him because he definitely resided in the, I'm not pressing the believe button cam. But I also remember thinking at the time, what a brilliant, brilliant piece of wisdom. You see, what the student hit upon was that in this challenging naval war college learning environment, surrender equals trust, not abandonment or loss, that is trusting the process for an outcome that might not be immediately evident. Think about it this way. The car wash is specifically designed to keep the car on track and carry it forward. When we release the gears and put the car in neutral, we are trusting that the car wash is going to carry us forward to the desired end. And so it is with the naval war college experience in surrendering students listen to learn rather than listen to refute. A student becomes a sponge rather than an impermeable surface. In surrendering, a student suspends judgment, challenges his or her own assumptions and recognizes his or her own biases. In surrendering, naval war college students become victorious because there is so much to be gained from this war college experience. Now, consider this. As one approaches the end of the car wash and if you selected the drying option, a big red light flashes and the forward movement slows as the car pauses. In some instances, the car even comes to a complete stop before proceeding through the car wash. As the car is paused, giant blow dryers flow over the car. Wait for it. In terms of the naval war college experience, think of this as an opportunity to pause and reflect and let flow over you all that you have learned and how you might apply it. Taking time for reflection is critical to the learning process. Otherwise, you just end up with a bunch of spots all over your newly cleaned car just saying. Importantly, naval war college students, you need not wait until the end of your war college journey to begin to engage in reflection. Indeed, one of the things that we in the College of Operational and Strategic Leadership here over and over again in our leader development work with flag and general officers is the importance of building in reflection time or white space into their regular battle rhythms. I challenge you to do the same. Keep track of what you are learning, how you are being challenged in areas in which you might improve. I guarantee you it will in fact make you a better leader. So now that I've gone completely overboard with my car wash analogy, let me offer just one last piece of car wash wisdom and that is this. The state in which one exits the car wash also depends upon the level of service chosen upon entering the car wash. If one selects only to be rinsed, then the exiting state is likely to be only marginally different. But if one chooses the full service soak scrub wax and dry, then the exiting state is likely to be considerably better. And most certainly it is the full service options that will enable you as naval war college students to enhance your standing as a member of the profession of arms. It is the full service option that best prepares you for senior leadership responsibilities. And it is the full service option that will allow you as future strategic leaders to fulfill your professional ethical obligation to be as prepared as possible to meet the needs of the nations you serve. Have fun. Enjoy this journey. This is your year. Seize this opportunity. A great, great and invaluable experience lies ahead. Thank you very much.