Flexible Organizations
The rise of AI assures that Flexibility will be one of the most important skill sets of an organization.
We believe a necessary step is to separate status, pay, and the chain of command from distinct roles.
Reed Hoffman wrote an influential management book called The Alliance , which prodded businesses to rethink how people were hired and managed. He recommended thinking about jobs and roles as a "Tour of Duty" with a specific mission that people are prone to push through and complete.
Flexibility comes from a Separation of Rank & Pay, Role & Duty
In the military, the need for flexibility is life and death. So, it's likely they have figured out things worth taking note of.
The architect of the US Military as we know it was conceived by George C. Marshall, he of the Marshall Plan fame. His ideas were a reaction to the reckless rigidity of senior officers and command structures in World War I, where both sides rigidly stuck to ill-conceived methods of attack, despite the advent of the machine gun. This resulted, from Marshall's view, in the unnecessary deaths of millions of soldiers over a few hundred yards during ill-fated trench warfare. Rigidity, Marshall felt, led to mass scale catastrophe.
One of Marshall's convictions was that if a leader was not being effective in their assigned duty, they must be "relieved" of that duty or command. This is not the same as "firing" or even "laying off" key people. It is simply bringing them back to base and figuring out what role they could be successful in.
[2]
The below ranks came with pay and status. Rank, pay, status, and seniority were not tethered to official roles, responsibilities, or duties.
| Pay Grade | Title | Abbreviation |
| E-1 | Private | PVT |
| E-2 | Private 2 | PV2 |
| E-3 | Private First Class | PFC |
| E-4 | Specialist | SPC |
| E-4 | Corporal | CPL |
| E-5 | Sergeant | SGT |
| E-6 | Staff Sergeant | SSG |
| E-7 | Sergeant First Class | SFC |
| E-8 | Master Sergeant | MSG |
| E-8 | First Sergeant | 1SG |
| E-9 | Sergeant Major | SGM |
| E-9 | Command Sergeant Major | CSM |
| E-9 Special | Sergeant Major of the Army | SMA |
| W-1 | Warrant Officer | WO1 |
| W-2 | Chief Warrant Officer 2 | CW2 |
| W-3 | Chief Warrant Officer 3 | CW3 |
| W-4 | Chief Warrant Officer 4 | CW4 |
| W-5 | Chief Warrant Officer 5 | CW5 |
| O-1 | Second Lieutenant | 2LT |
| O-2 | First Lieutenant | 1LT |
| O-3 | Captain | CPT |
| O-4 | Major | MAJ |
| O-5 | Lieutenant Colonel | LTC |
| O-6 | Colonel | COL |
| O-7 | Brigadier General | BG |
| O-8 | Major General | MG |
| O-9 | Lieutenant General | LTG |
| O-10 | General | GEN |
| Special | General of the Army | GA |
Footnotes
[1] 2022, May 31. "A complete guide to military ranks and insignias" United American Patriots, Blog.