[December 8, 2024] From my earliest memory as a child, I remember my dad kicking the tires on our old car. “Why do you do that, Dad,” I asked, completely clueless. “Well,” he said, “that’s how you check to make sure the tires don’t fall off when driving.” Dads are always right, of course, so that’s always what I thought until I bought my first car around the age of 15 or 16.
Kick the tires is an old idiom meaning to inspect to ensure standards are met before committing to purchasing or otherwise using an item, like an automobile. It no longer means to literally to inspect a vehicle’s tires for defects. Good leaders kick the tires to ensure their organization remains in good working order.
In early 2003, a young U.S. Army officer was ordered to take command of an armor company on short notice. The unit was loading their equipment on railroad cars to ship them out to the U.S. National Training Center in California. For the next month, the officer was getting to know his unit and later said he was very fortunate to have had the chance to command it in training. In effect, he was going to “kick the tires” of the unit and gain important knowledge; knowledge that he could command the unit and the unit could meet the requirements of combat.
Whatever we call it, the best leaders are the ones with a hands-on approach. They know the benefits of pushing limits, stressing procedures, and testing the ability of teams to perform to standard. This is a purposeful decision; otherwise there is no expedient way of knowing their capabilities and capacities. It allows the leader to see into the organization much faster than otherwise would happen and convince oneself that it can achieve its mission.
On March 19, 2003 the armor company commander was the lead tank in a coalition attack on Saddam Hussein’s military with the mission to outflank the enemy and force the surrender of the Iraqi Army. The officer later won the Silver Star for bravery while in contact with the enemy; parts of an Iraqi armor brigade that outnumbered his unit by about 10 to 1. His men performed admirably, far beyond his expectations and to everyone’s delight.
Fortunately, he had the opportunity to see the unit in action earlier – training action at the NTC in California – and to gain something that cannot be achieved by inspecting or walking around and talking to unit members. Nor can it be gained from studying past performance; something counter intuitive. The fastest and most effective way is to actually run the organization. This can be done in either a training environment or underway in accomplishing its mission.
Always be prepared, just like the Boy Scout motto reminds us. The best way is to kick the tires.
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Please read my books:
. . . . . and light the FIRES . . . . .
Good one, sir! Your website is an inspiration for me. I am creating my own site and if you don’t mind, when it’s done, I’ll be back to give you the link. In the meantime, I’ll try to find ideas here from you and maybe you could write an article for my site.
EXCELLENT ….. KICK THE TIRES
Kick the tires, and light the fires. Oh, an old Air Force saying.
If you don’t “kick the tires” then expect for it to fail one day and that failure is going to cost you. I remember in Gen. Satterfield’s book “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” one of the surprises he came across was that the Iraqis did believe in doing maintenance on their equipment, plus they never checked it out before using it. Their equipment broke down often, they would run out of gas, and they could never figure out why they were always getting their butts kicked in war. Go figure. So, what is the lesson here? Even when equipment – or other people are very reliable – always check it/them out beforehand, else you will fail. At some.
Point you will lose simply because you don’t take the time to do things right.
This is why “maintenance” is key to all military training events. Maintained becomes part of your culture in the military. I know from long experiences.
“ Wear Your Helmet, Clean Your Rifle”
https://www.theleadermaker.com/wear-your-helmet-clean-your-rifle/
This is, I think, the article Good Dog speaks to. The idea is to keep your equipment close by, maintaining them, and making sure you know how to properly wear and care for them. Plus, and this is crucial according to Gen. Satterfield, be sure to always check it to ensure in good working order.
🪖 👍🙏💯✌️
Be prepared.
Check out your equipment before using it.
I seem to recall that Gen. Satterfield has written about this in the past.
😃
I always wondered why people said this. My grandfather would sometimes take me car shopping and kicked the tires on new cars. I asked him why he did so, and he said there was no reason, except that was always the way he had done it … kind of like a habit. His dad had done it, so he did it too. I don’t kick the tires but I do know that it means to check things out before you use them.
Seems like the habit runs in the family.
Too good. Thanks guys for making my day. Each day now, since I discovered Gen. Satterfield’s website, I’ve enjoyed each and every article. I’m now reading his book, “55 Rules for a Good Life” and find it hard to put down.
https://www.amazon.com/55-Rules-Good-Life-Responsibility/dp/1737915529/
If you’re smart and want to give a useful present for Christmas, then buy extra copies of this book.