Page 204 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

LEADERS ARE PROBLEM SOLVERS

“Four, sir.” I felt myself withering under the general’s glare.
“Lieutenant, if you want me to do your job, what do I need you for?”
General Galvin asked disapprovingly. “You’re dismissed.”
I turned around and quickly headed for the door with a sinking feeling
in my stomach. I was certain that before the day was over I would be
shipped off to a military base in Timbuktu and would be forced to
admit that I was a dismal failure in my first few days on the job. However,
as I was reaching for the doorknob to leave, General Galvin shouted,
“Lieutenant Garcia.”
I turned around quickly in sharp military fashion, clicking my heels
and coming to attention with a loud “Yes, sir.” To which General Galvin
replied, “Don’t bring me problems,” he said with conviction. “Bring me
solutions.”
I spent the next few days hammering out a solution to the general’s
assignment. When I presented my solution to him, he still wasn’t satisfied.
He adjusted his glasses, abruptly stood up, strode around his desk, and
towered over me again. I braced myself for a sharp barrage of criticism.
However, this time General Galvin patiently described exactly what he
expected me to do. “Never bring me just one solution. Bring at least three
so I know you are actually thinking. Then tell me which one is best and
why,” he explained. “If you discipline yourself to think of at least three
different ways to solve a problem, you will be forced to look at things from
a different perspective and you’ll never grasp at the first solution that comes
to mind.”
Later that evening, as I was reflecting on General Galvin’s words, I
recalled the first book my father ever read to me many years before: A Mes-
sage to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard. The story was set during the Spanish-
American War of 1898, and it centered on the story of U.S. Army
Lieutenant Andrew Summers Rowan, who was sent on a seemingly impos-
sible mission by President McKinley. The young lieutenant was ordered
to deliver a message to General Calixto Garcia, the man in charge
of the Cuban insurgents fighting for their country’s independence from
the Spaniards and to bring back Garcia’s response, which would help the
United States develop its strategy for facing the Spanish Army. There was
a problem, though: No one knew exactly where in Cuba General Garcia
and his men were hiding. Rowan was told only that General Garcia was
deep in the Cuban jungle.

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