They become the problem-solver-in-chief, exercising capabilities that may have helped them land the corner office in the first place but are not adequate for leading the entire enterprise.
He relinquished CGRM/COMUKAMPHIBFOR in June 2006, succeeded by Major General Garry Robison, taking a staff post as Chief of Staff (Capability), before appointment to Chief of Staff (Operations).
The combination of these challenges tests steel's two chief but conflicting capabilities: its flexibility and its hardness.
"You get people who want to sell $15 billion aircraft carriers, and his vision is not so compelling," said Shane Deichman, chief of the capabilities department for the U.S. military's Joint Forces Command, in Norfolk, Va., which has incorporated Barnett's ideas in future planning.
Since not all Web sites have "https" capability, Bill Pennington, chief strategy officer with the Web site risk management firm WhiteHat Security in Santa Clara, Calif., said: "I tell people that if you're doing things with sensitive data, don't do it at a Wi-Fi hot spot.
"This is a revolutionary capability," said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder in a statement.
The acquisition "perfectly fits our strategy, significantly increasing our integrated geology and geophysics, reservoir characterization and development capabilities," CGGVeritas' chief executive, Jean-Georges Malcor, said in a statement.
"We think this is a business that aligns well with ConAgra Foods' strategic priorities and capabilities," Gary M. Rodkin, chief executive of ConAgra, said in a call with analysts.
"Unlike a commercial business, we don't have an option to say we don't carry that part any more," said John H. Christensen, chief of the industrial capabilities division of the Defense Logistics Agency.
They zero in on the two or three capabilities a chief executive needs to succeed at that particular firm (the "pivot" on which the succession decision turns), keep an open mind about where the best candidate will come from, go deep to understand who is the best fit, and allow for imperfections.
"I am in favor of cyber offensive capabilities," Joseph Carson, chief security scientist at Thycotic, told VICE News.
