Leadership Lessons for Uncertain Times with Eric Rosenbach

Published November 7, 2024

Course Mentioned in this Post: Strategy Execution for Public Leadership

“Strategy without execution is hallucination,” Eric Rosenbach says. “It's essentially the idea that a good idea is fine, but if no one's actually going to execute on it, it doesn't matter, and you're not going to make any difference.”  

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In this 45-minute webinar, Eric Rosenbach, former United States Pentagon Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security, shares critical leadership lessons that can be applied in your workplace and daily life. He addresses themes like maintaining strategic consistency, adapting to unpredictable challenges, building and maintaining trust across your organization, prioritizing team development, and balancing risk and accountability. You can find the full webinar discussion here: 

Watch | Read | Listen

Don’t have enough time for the entire discussion? Check out our recap of the Q&A's key takeaways below. 

Key Takeaways from the Q&A

Question 1: What are some of the unique challenges of implementing strategies in government, given your prior experience at the Pentagon? [04:10]

Highlights from Eric Rosenbach's Answer:

• The biggest challenge is getting people to recognize and execute strategy through multiple layers of bureaucracy in the world's largest public sector organization.
• There's a constant need to balance ongoing crises and headlines with longer-term strategic goals.
• Creating public value is more challenging than private sector work because you're not working for profit, and you face greater public scrutiny while managing taxpayer money.

Question 2: How do you stay on track with longer-term priorities when you have to deal with the crisis of the day and very big crises of the day?  [13:15]

Highlights from Eric Rosenbach's Answer:

• Maintain internal and external consistency in your strategy, even during crises.
• Don't change course on long-term vision when crises emerge.
• Remain consistent in both external communication and internal messaging to the team
• Keep the team oriented toward a north star and vision while maintaining a small set of supporting goals.
• Accept that resource allocation may need to shift, but don't let crises completely derail the organization's direction.

Question 3: How do we rebuild trust, especially given the all-time low in public trust in government?  [29:10]

Highlights from Eric Rosenbach's Answer:

• Focus on execution and delivering actual public services to people who need help.
• Move beyond political talking points to demonstrate tangible benefits.
• Show people that their lives are better through concrete actions and results.
• Trust is rebuilt through operational excellence and leadership-intensive efforts, not just abstract concepts. 

To continue learning about how to develop strategies for public leadership success with Eric Rosenbach, apply for the Strategy Execution for Public Leadership course.

Eric Rosenbach is a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and is the Director of the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Rosenbach teaches graduate courses in policy development, strategy execution, and national security.  As Pentagon Chief of Staff from 2015–2017, Rosenbach led and managed the execution of dozens of high-profile strategic initiatives for the largest public sector organization in the world.  As Assistant Secretary of Defense, Rosenbach was responsible for developing and executing the strategy for all aspects of the Department’s cyber activities and other key areas of defense policy. In the private sector, he led the cybersecurity practice of a global management consulting firm, advising the executives of Fortune 500 companies on strategic risk mitigation strategies.