Chief of staff

“ As chief of staff of the brigade which I had the honor to command at the late battle at Hatcher’s Run, you in no small degree contributed to that success which won for our brave troops the encomiums of the generals commanding. To the consciousness of having faithfully discharged your whole duty, which you will carry with you to private life, I desire to add the assurance that you also have the confidence and kindest regards of your old comrades in arms, who still hope, at no very distant period, to welcome you again to the tented field. ”

“ THE CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF
In the best work the man is more than the school. An ordinary man gives out no more than has been put into him. All his performances can be explained by his antecedents. But the best workers contribute from themselves an element which no analysis can adequately explain. A Newton or a Columbus, a Stanley or a Whitworth, has some unseen spring of force and insight.
A man of this stamp is required at the head of an army, and above all at the head of the organization entrusted with the design of operations. ”

“ Requests the Secretary-General to consider, with the Chief of Staff, the best ways of strengthening the Truce Supervision Organization and to furnish such additional personnel and assistance as the Chief of Staff of the Truce Supervision Organization may require for the performance of his duties ”

“ Then word it like this: 'The chief of staff is commanded to make known to the King's forces in garrison and in the field, that the General-in-Chief of the Armies of France will not face the English on the morrow, she being afraid she may get hurt. ”

“ Though the president and minister of war are the nominal heads of the army, its immediate direction is concentrated in a general staff comprising six service departments, at the head of which is a chief of staff. ”

“ He will be appointed, not by seniority, but by reason of the confidence he inspires. The general-in-chief will always have, as compared with his adviser, the infinitely weightier merit of having assumed the responsibility of executing what he advises.”
Thus the chief of the general staff is defined in the British Field Service Regulations as the general's “responsible adviser on all matters affecting military operations, through whom he exercises his functions of command and by whom all orders issued by him will be signed.” ”

“ If I were asked to{362} sum up, in a few words, the things that differentiate a well run from a poorly run institution I should say, first, the existence of a staff composed of persons of this third variety, and secondly a chief executive who appreciates and uses them. A progressive executive with a staff of assistants who faithfully obey orders and do nothing more will not go far. ”

“ Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, who shall serve as Vice Chair; (iii) Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy; (iv) Counsel to the President ”

“ If I were your president I would ask authority of the board of directors, a staff body, to say, as a line officer, to you, also of the line, that as chief operating official you are the only passenger conductor with whom the executive and staff departments will normally deal; that your tenure of office depends quite as much upon your ability to prevent stealing as to prevent accidents. To the auditor I would say that he is responsible for certifying to the integrity of all components of your operations by proper examinations after the fact ”

“ The Chief of Staff sha1l be empowered to organize and establish such special and advanced school for the special training of officers of the technical and supply sections and services, and for the advanced training of selected officers for field, staff, and command duties. ”

“ They are his creatures, and are responsible only to him and only for the due performance of the tasks assigned them; and they need know only so much as will enable them to give ready and intelligent support to the moves made by their chief from day to day. The members of the staff are his employees, and their first duty is a loyal obedience; and for the competitive good of the concern they must utter no expression of criticism or unfavourable comment on the policy, actions or personal characteristics of their chief, so long as they are in his employ. ”

“ I have organized my staff as a sort of Cabinet. We meet every day. We go over everything conceivable that we may do or try to do. We do good team work. I am not sure but I doubt whether these secretaries have before been taken into just such a relation to their chief. They are enthusiastic and ambitious and industrious and—safe. There's no possibility of any leak. We arrange our dinners with reference to the possibility of getting information and of carrying points. Mrs. Page gives and accepts invitations with the same end in view. We're on the job to the very limit of our abilities. ”

“ With the organization of the staff there is equal cause to be satisfied. By the concentration of every branch with its chief in this city, in the presence of the Department, and with a grade in the chief military station to keep alive and cherish a military spirit, the greatest promptitude in the execution of orders, with the greatest economy and efficiency, are secured. ”

“ The internal affairs of the army are indeed one department, but the position of head of that department, while it could properly be filled by a Commander-in Chief, is not and cannot be identical with that of the minister who personifies the Cabinet in relation to the army. ”

“ The importance to the Army of a competent Staff can be judged from the above account of their duties. The Staff forms the nervous system of the Command. The better trained the Staff, the more free will the General be to concentrate his attention on the situation, and his Subordinate Commanders to carry out his plans with co-operating intelligence. Good Staff Officers, it has been well said, are eyes, ears, and hands to their Chief. ”

“ A camp of tents for men was set up, and as many as fifty or sixty guests could be accommodated at a time. Much of the success of the School has throughout been due to Miss Mary Hankinson, who from nearly the beginning has been a most popular and efficient manager. A director is selected by the Committee to act as nominal head, and holds office usually for a week or a fortnight; but the chief of staff is a permanent institution, and is not only business manager, but also organiser and leader of excursions and a principal figure in all social undertakings. ”

“ The Cabinet is a committee of peers and members of Parliament selected by the leader of a party from among his followers. The bond between its members is a party bond, and their necessary main purpose is to retain their majority in the House of Commons. A military Commander-in-Chief means an officer selected as the representative, not of a party, but of a subject. ”

“ I've asked Cabinet secretaries and agency heads to name a chief operating officer, who will be held accountable for the performance of that agency. These officers will make up the President's Management Council, to build a leadership team that listens, learns and innovates. ”

“ Departmental chiefs can be made responsible for their work only by being subordinated to a chief executive whose duty it is to keep his eye on his subordinates and who is accountable to the people for the efficient conduct of all the administrative offices. ”

“ Each head of the nine executive departments in Washington is a line officer running his own department. At the President’s cabinet table he becomes a staff officer deliberating upon the problems of all. ”

“ The organization of such a department depends entirely upon the number of applicants and employees with which it must deal and the character of the work to be done. Suppose, for example, we have a factory with two thousand employees, seventy-five per cent of them skilled, fifteen per cent of them unskilled, and ten per cent office employees. The work of such a department could be very well carried on by one employment supervisor, one assistant supervisor, one clerk and record-keeper, and part of the time of one stenographer. The employment supervisor is a staff officer. ”

“ The Chair, after consultation with the Vice Chair, shall designate an officer or employee of one of the member departments or agencies to serve as the Executive Secretary of the Working Group. The Executive Secretary shall head any staff assigned to the Working Group and any subgroups thereof, and such staff shall consist exclusively of full-time or permanent part-time Federal employees. ”

“ EXECUTIVE OFFICER.— The term `executive officer ́ means, with respect to an enterprise, the chairman of the board of directors, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, president, vice chairman, any executive vice president, and any senior vice president in charge of a principal business unit, division, or function. ”

“ The Executive Department.—Legislative bodies occasionally take vacations; the executive is always on duty in person or through his subordinates. Popularly considered, the executive department of government consists of the president, the king, or the prime minister; actually it includes an advisory council or cabinet, which is responsible to its chief, but shares with him the task of the management of national affairs. ”

“ Numbers of zealous, meritorious, and valuable officers have made the duties of the general staff objects of special study; have embraced the staff as a branch of the profession in which under existing laws they are entitled to promotion for merit and long service, just as the line officers have a right to promotion in their branch. ”

“ A little careful consideration, a little lively debate on a committee report, may be a healthy check.
While speaking of military organization, let me impress upon you that in the army the line always commands the staff. A staff officer cannot command troops except by express direction of the President. Enlisted men and junior officers must show a staff officer the respect due his rank, just as our conductor is respectful to the division freight agent, but when it comes to taking orders, that is another question. ”

“ For these reasons, although the innovation has not been sanctioned by any law, or any standing rule of the War Department, and although its propriety is discussed by many, the custom of assigning officers as chiefs of staff has become universal, and will probably be permanent. ”

“ In addition to such suggestions for improvement of the mechanism of maintenance, we would urge the importance of placing the responsibility, under the Director-in-Chief, for the maintenance of grounds and for those cumulative improvements in detail which are inseparable from maintenance, upon some one first-class superintendent having the necessary technical skill and ideals, and the peculiar qualities needed by one who is to be at once a good executive and leader in his own department, a loyal subordinate to the Director-in-Chief, and a sympathetic collaborator with other specialists. ”