Role Model: Mac McCallister

Friday, September 28, 2007


I’m finally getting around to an article (“To Understand Sheiks in Iraq, Marines Ask ‘Mac’) written by Greg Jaffe in the Wall Street Journal that appeared in its September 10 issue. It is about a former Marine Corps officer, William “Mac” McCallister, who has created a role for himself as the Marine Corps’ expert on tribal culture in Anbar Province and as an advocate for incorporating these insights into the military strategy for stabilizing Anbar Province and the country overall.

Mac comes across as a great role model for “leaders” of any stripe who are looking to achieve challenging results within an unfamiliar or complicated organizational culture. For example, his curiosity about the origins and dynamics of tribal culture, as compared to early American administrators who downplayed their importance, seems to have played a key role in his success to date. But curiosity without humility usually shortchanges the learning process. This doesn’t appear to have been the case with Mac. It appears he recognized his ignorance in the beginning, which fueled his desire to fully understand the situation, no matter what uncomfortable path he ended up following. Contrast that with the “I know what I know and full steam ahead” mindset of the initial American strategy or of business leaders who either ignore or downplay the power of an organization’s culture.

I was also glad to read that people recognized how valuable context is when dealing with a fragmented and foreign situation. As Marine Brigadier General John Allen (deputy commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq) says in the article, “virtually everything Mac said added context to things we had been learning ourselves.” Context pulls everything together and gives it meaning. Without context, actions and words can come across as random events that prevent participants from drawing meaning and patterns, dooming them to a predominately reactive strategy.

Something else that caught my “OD” eye was the quote from Montgomery McFate, a cultural anthropologist with a doctorate from Yale whom the Army hired last year to help draft its new strategy for battling insurgents. Dr. McFate, who the article says has helped mentor Mac, has this to say about her charge. “Mac does exactly what good anthropologists do: He enmeshes himself in foreign societies, and attempts to see the world from their point of view while retaining his own objectivity.” Given how the article describes Mac, it would appear Dr. McFate is on target. But what I would add to her assessment of Mac’s skills is that of a change agent. Mac seems to be going beyond just an advisory role. I suspect because of his Marine Corps background and sense of duty, he is determined to influence and change the U.S. military strategy in Iraq. And I think he has a good shot at success for the reasons described above and for one more reason – he is able and willing to work within a framework rather than ignoring or trying to change the framework. In other words, as he learned more about the tribal culture, his conclusion wasn’t the culture was wrong or outdated or in need of change, rather -- it is what it is. Because of this, he wisely shifted his effort to changing the military strategy. And because he is working within an institution he is very familiar with and which views him with a fair amount of credibility, there is a greater likelihood they will listen and take in what he has to say.

If you’re interested in seeing an unclassified version of Mac’s PowerPoint presentation that he gave to Marine Corps brass this year on the tribal culture and implications for the military strategy, click on the this link.

http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2007/07/coin-in-a-tribal-society-1/

I particularly found his comparison with the Marine Corps culture to be very interesting. Even without his speaking points, you can get the gist of his argument and insights.