The Art of Maneuver
The Art of Maneuver is a series of mini podcasts that demonstrates how to defeat the bureaucracy, using principles inspired by maneuver warfare. Patrick Edwards and Brandon Newell are two thought leaders and veterans of the US military, who are now sharing their earned wisdom of how to take on the bureaucracy - and win - using your best asset: your passion and your authentic self.
Episodes
36 episodes
AoM - The right way to replace a founder
When the time comes for you to leave an organization, don't count on the next person owning your ideas and initiatives the way you did. Don't count on them at all - the bureaucracy doesn't rise to the occasion to replace you well. Designate a n...
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Season 2
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Episode 33
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9:08
AoM - Operate under the radar as long as you can
Don't let the bureaucracy over-invest in you. The bureaucracy will want to kill you. Think of Sun Tzu and the Art of War. Don’t let your adversary know you are it's adversary. Don’t skyline yourself as an innovator, or the bureaucracy will trai...
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Season 2
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Episode 32
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8:14
AoM - Don’t build programs, find innovators and disruptors
Don’t build programs, find innovators and disruptors. Invest in them. You can manufacture them. You identify them. Pour the support you would have had for the founderless innovation office, into the next disruptor.
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Season 2
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Episode 31
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8:08
AoM - Innovation offices eventually become the bureaucracy
“Innovation” offices cannot survive beyond the founders, they simply become part of the bureaucracy at that point. Think of Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. He only invests in companies that still have their founder. His philosophy is that once a F...
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Season 2
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Episode 30
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7:58
AoM - No one can compete with you at being you
Don't try to be something other than what you are. Don’t listen to that voice. It's distracting you from being you. You will be a horrible version of someone else. You're an incredible version of you. If you are truly you, if you embrace your s...
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9:49
AoM - A wolf can never look to the dog for validation
An innovator must be a wolf, bucking the security of the system. A wolf must be a risk taker. A dog has chosen the security of an owner. It will never understand or embrace the actions of a wolf. Don’t waste your time.
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Season 2
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Episode 28
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7:24
AoM - "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time"
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time” - Maya Angelou. You must be able to read people. If they show indicators that they are a bureaucrat, never build a plan that requires them to be innovative, or even...
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Season 2
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Episode 27
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7:07
AoM - Don’t fight human nature, you will lose
People are what they are, especially in a bureaucracy. Don’t expect them to change. When you have an opportunity, but you need a person in a critical position to do something to make it happen, you must take stock of them. Are they the type to ...
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Season 2
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Episode 26
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7:48
AoM - Briefing: build momentum through head nods
Head nods from your audience prove you connected with them over a shared belief, value, or knowledge. Storytelling is all about connecting with your audience. Audience head nods are like the person at Disney Land that boarded a roller coaster. ...
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Season 2
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Episode 25
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10:00
AoM - Briefing: tell stories, not facts
We are educated on facts without context. Your brain can't process disconnected facts, it needs a story arc. Don't let decision or meetings be governed by diving in to standalone facts. Storytelling is leadership, because you're creating struct...
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Season 2
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Episode 24
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8:18
AoM - Narrative is everything
Storytelling is the key to success. Get people to believe with a story. When you're telling a story, everyone can follow the story arc. They can believe their own version of the story, but they can't take your testimony from you. People don't r...
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Season 2
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Episode 23
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6:01
AoM - Wisdom is the judgment of how to apply knowledge
There is more knowledge at are finger tips than ever before. We don’t lack knowledge, we lack wisdom. We hear voices from every direction. You must learn to discern what is wise and what isn't. That’s where your values come in. Look to the sour...
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Season 2
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Episode 22
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8:31
AoM - You must make sense of it in your own mind
You must make sense of it in your own mind, or you will not be successful. People often ask Brandon how he can speak to so many topics of emerging tech in public forums, how does he hold so much information in his mind? The key is how you sort ...
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Season 2
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Episode 21
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10:09
AoM - Order allows you to remove emotion from decision making
Make decision on wisdom, not emotion. Be grounded in some vision of the future that allows you to see your efforts clearly. It's not about removing emotion, but achieving clarity of thought about what our objectives are, what our environment is...
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Season 2
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Episode 20
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7:14
AoM - To lead, you must create order out of chaos
To lead, you must create order out of chaos in your own mind. No one can follow you into the unknown, if they only see chaos. You must think hard to create order when others only see chaos, if you are to lead them. Otherwise they will resist yo...
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Season 2
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Episode 19
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6:48
AoM - Are you improving your position of knowledge?
Every pilot should improve your technical understanding. Are you doing science projects, or are you actually achieving something? Everything sounds good, but is it shiny, or is it worth your effort? It's only worthwhile if there's a catcher's m...
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Season 2
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Episode 18
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5:45
AoM - Don’t sway with ideas, prove with results
Get out there and create something, never wait for permission. If your design has merit and you are wise in execution, then your results will stand on their own merit. The currency in a bureaucracy is words, but out here in the real world, we h...
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Season 2
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Episode 17
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4:59
AoM - When in exploitation, be selfish with your time
You won’t have time to exploit, if you are spending your time exploring. Outsource the exploring. You still want people to know you are open for business, but you can no longer be the greeter at the door. “Be Too Busy to “Do Coffee” from Naval ...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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9:36
AoM - When to explore, when to exploit
Recognize when you should be in the Exploration stage and when you should be in the Exploitation stage. You must go through an exploration stage first, where your knowledge and intuition is built up. But then you must transition to an exploitat...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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4:43
AoM - Let the specific lead to the general
Work on a specific idea or collaboration to find a path forward. Let those specific plans lead to general plans. Too often the Pentagon seeks to make a plan, but they live in the generic. This allows all sorts of “what ifs” and uncertainty to m...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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7:49
AoM - An ecosystem is healthier than a single crop harvest
A single crop farmer must be wise and diligent at every moment. An overseer of an ecosystem uses the laws of nature to his advantage, through the diversity of the yield. Embrace the unknowable yield, rather than myopic single crop harvest. Or y...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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6:43
AoM - Thought leadership is simply tilling the ground
Sometimes that simply prepares you for a later day when the seed arrives. On very few occasions can you till, plant, and water all at once. But if you have tilled the ground, you are well prepared for the future Aha! moment when the seed arrive...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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7:33
AoM - Centralized intent, decentralized planning and execution.
Leadership must give a signal of an “aspirational vision”. That is what unlocks ingenuity, initiative, and opportunity at the local level. But leadership must make it clear they are allowing decentralized execution and planning, or everyone wil...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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7:40
AoM - Designers inspire vision, leaders inspire teams
You cannot walk away if you want to see your vision become reality. Countless times, I’ve setup all parties, shown them the vision, addressed their equities, and wanted to walk away. Everytime, I could not. Instead, I needed to break down barri...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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8:07
AoM - Be the air pocket for others
A friend once told me, that innovating in a bureaucracy is like swimming in underwater caves. When he calls me, it’s like finding an air pocket. You must be creative, be agile, and understand human nature to help others find a path forward. If ...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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5:48