CFFC & the Art of the Brief

Oh goodness. 

I had heard about the new CFFC's brief - but until you see it, you can't really understand what those subjected to it are talking about. 

Style? Substance? "Atmospherics?" What are the most important parts of an effective brief - especially from a senior officer? Hard to say - but having seen Admiral Gortney's brief to the Fleet, I think it is safe to say he failed on all three. 

For starters, the jumbled and patched together format. Editing errors. Background pictures of things not even in the Fleet anymore. That is just the style. There is also an inappropriate level of detail here for a 4-star IMAO, and it is WAY too long. Go through the brief and see for yourself. 

I actually feel bad for him, as he has unquestionably lost some face out there with this brief. My first instinct is to ask, "Where was his personal staff?" Did the Chief of Staff or at least his Flag Secretary get an eye on this brief? This PPT only made it on the screen for one of a few reasons. Either his Staff saw it but didn't see a problem; saw the problem but did not feel that bringing it to NOO's attention was a good idea; N00 refused to share his brief with his Staff ahead of time. Any of the above is bad. 

A Staff's job is to make the Admiral look as good as possible from a superficial basis at a minimum, and improve the substance as well. Norfolk, we have a problem. 

I don't know - I'm kind of at a loss with this. It does not bode well. CoC Leadership Brief FFC