Latest news with #SamPaparo
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
A top Navy commander says there's a clear trait of a good leader: They eat risk instead of leaving it to middle managers
Adm. Sam Paparo says leaders need to assume risk for their teams if they want to move fast. He said they can't rely on middle managers, often blamed as the 'frozen middle,' to decide. Leaders wanting change should give their teams official leeway to 'go break the rules,' he said. A leader's job is to take responsibility for risks, instead of leaving middle managers to shoulder the question of whether to try new things, a top Navy commander said. Speaking during a Saturday Q&A at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Adm. Sam Paparo said the US military needs to abandon its work culture of "operating at the speed of committee instead of the speed of combat." To do that, he told delegates and reporters, the military needs someone to take innovative risks. "And if we are putting that risk on middle management and expecting them to take that risk, then, you know: We're not leading," said Paparo, who is the commander of US forces in the Indo-Pacific. The admiral said middle managers are often blamed for a resistance to change. "This is how the young people and the old people gang up on the middle-aged people, by calling them the frozen middle," said Paparo. But leaders need to be the ones to "eat risk," he added. "So, if you are in a leadership position and you want your team to innovate faster, to move fast, and to break things, you have to assume their risk. You have to eat it," Paparo said. "Give them some letter that has your name on the bottom of it that allows them to go break the rules and do this thing." The admiral was addressing the topic of how the US military — America's single largest employer by far — was now taking on new technologies from private venture-backed research and development, instead of the traditional defense acquisition model. Palmer Luckey's Anduril, for example, recently announced a joint effort with Meta to create extended reality headsets for the US military. The firms said development would be funded by "private capital, without taxpayer support." At the panel, Paparo repeatedly warned that the US military must radically speed up its processes and decision-making to succeed in the next few decades. Washington's main concern in Paparo's jurisdiction, the Indo-Pacific, has been China's rapidly advancing and expanding military. Paparo didn't specifically name China as a threat at the panel. But earlier that day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had publicly warned at the same conference that China's military build-up signaled that it could go to war soon. "Nobody knows what China will ultimately do, but they are preparing, and therefore we must be ready as well," Hegseth told military leaders and representatives of 47 countries. A rear admiral from China later said Hegseth's statements were "groundless accusations." Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
A top Navy commander says there's a clear trait of a good leader: They eat risk instead of leaving it to middle managers
A leader's job is to take responsibility for risks, instead of leaving middle managers to shoulder the question of whether to try new things, a top Navy commander said. Speaking during a Saturday Q&A at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Adm. Sam Paparo said the US military needs to abandon its work culture of "operating at the speed of committee instead of the speed of combat." To do that, he told delegates and reporters, the military needs someone to take innovative risks. "And if we are putting that risk on middle management and expecting them to take that risk, then, you know: We're not leading," said Paparo, who is the commander of US forces in the Indo-Pacific. The admiral said middle managers are often blamed for a resistance to change. "This is how the young people and the old people gang up on the middle-aged people, by calling them the frozen middle," said Paparo. But leaders need to be the ones to "eat risk," he added. "So, if you are in a leadership position and you want your team to innovate faster, to move fast, and to break things, you have to assume their risk. You have to eat it," Paparo said. "Give them some letter that has your name on the bottom of it that allows them to go break the rules and do this thing." The US military has to speed up The admiral was addressing the topic of how the US military — America's single largest employer by far — was now taking on new technologies from private venture-backed research and development, instead of the traditional defense acquisition model. Palmer Luckey's Anduril, for example, recently announced a joint effort with Meta to create extended reality headsets for the US military. The firms said development would be funded by "private capital, without taxpayer support." At the panel, Paparo repeatedly warned that the US military must radically speed up its processes and decision-making to succeed in the next few decades. Washington's main concern in Paparo's jurisdiction, the Indo-Pacific, has been China's rapidly advancing and expanding military. Paparo didn't specifically name China as a threat at the panel. But earlier that day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had publicly warned at the same conference that China's military build-up signaled that it could go to war soon. "Nobody knows what China will ultimately do, but they are preparing, and therefore we must be ready as well," Hegseth told military leaders and representatives of 47 countries.
Al Arabiya
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
US shifts Patriot missile defense system from Asia to Middle East
The general in charge of the US military in Asia said that a Patriot missile defense system was recently moved to the Middle East from the Indo-Pacific region. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) chief Adm. Sam Paparo told lawmakers this week it took 73 C-17 cargo planes to transfer one Patriot to the region. This comes on the heels of the increased military force posture ordered by the Trump administration as the US president threatens to strike Iran's nuclear facilities and continues to launch daily attacks on Houthi targets inside Yemen. Other air defense assets deployed by the US recently include Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) systems, reportedly to Israel. A second US aircraft carrier also arrived in the Middle East, the US military said on Thursday, equipped with its air wing of F-35C fighter jets. The USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group is now accompanying the USS Harry S. Truman, which has been in the region since December. The bombing campaign against the Houthis escalated on March 15 after President Donald Trump ordered a more aggressive approach to pressure the militant group to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea. The Carl Vinson was also shifted from the INDOPACOM area of responsibility. The Truman is expected to return to her home base in the United States for regular maintenance in the next few weeks.
