"If You Want A New Idea, Read An Old Book"
The Corporate Staff Ride evolved from the training tools originally conceived by Prussian General Count Helmuth von Moltke (1800-1891), genius of the 19th century German General Staff. The first Staff Rides were conducted at sites chosen for their potential in wargaming hypothetical operations against potential enemies. The old battlefields near France were a favorite location. The very near success of the opening offensive of World War I - the subject of numerous staff rides in the years before 1914 - is just one sobering example of just how effective the staff ride can be.
Staff rides were promoted in America by Colonel Arthur L. Wagner (1853-1905), a prominent author, teacher, and one of the “fathers” of modern military intelligence. His critique of the Army’s educational system was confirmed by his observations in both Cuba and Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War which revealed weaknesses in preparation among the American officer corps.
Among other suggested remedies, he believed in the constant, systematic and practically-oriented study of military history, especially the use of a staff ride at a Civil War battlefield.
US Army Command and General Staff School
In July 1906 Major Eben Swift, the assistant commander of the Staff College (forerunner of today's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, took twelve student officers on a two-week tour of the Civil War battlefields between Chattanooga and Atlanta. For the next several decades, the staff ride played an important role in the Leavenworth curriculum and gradually spread to other Army educational institutions.
During the World War II period and afterwards, the staff ride gradually lost sponsorship and virtually disappeared from the military cirriculum. In the late sixties and early seventies, at the height of the Vietnam War, the Army restored the battlefield staff ride as an advanced leadership training tool. Since then, the Army War College, Command and General Staff College,
United States Military Academy at West Point, and
Center of Military History have all contributed to the creative utilization of this training technique at every level of command, from ROTC cadets to the top ranks of the Defense Department.
Army War College
By analyzing past examples of decision-making under crisis, concrete lessons emerge applicable to other spheres - including business and social enterprise - where such lessons can be applied for success. One result of the staff ride is the realization that the continuing study of applied history - especially through the CORPORATE STAFF RIDE experience - is not merely engaging, or the pursuit of “history buffs”, but can be the source of on-going, professionally rewarding, career-development and training tools.
