The Edge

Six Golden Rules for Media Interviews

Media content is being consumed and produced in greater quantities than we’ve ever seen. That means your chances of being asked to step in front of the microphones and cameras are growing. This article provides six golden rules to assist those in Defence if they find themselves fronting the media.

A Year in the Life of a Staff Officer and a General

Many field grade officers will serve as a Staff Officer / Military Assistant during their career within a single service, joint headquarters, or in an interdepartmental position. This article offers our perspective on the working relationship between Staff Officer and General. We hope it will be useful to those who are stepping into these roles in the future.

Workplace Flexibility in the ADF: anathema or panacea?

Discussions about ‘flexible work’ in Defence have brought with it questions about what ‘work’, rather than ‘service’, looks like within the organisation. Yet what ‘flexibility’ means for Navy, Army and Air Force members, what ‘flexible work’ looks like, and what its implications are for capability remain contested.

The Australian Military and Logistics: When Preparedness Equals Survival

The material comprises a 2014 interview with Air Vice Marshall John Blackburn (Retired), in which he poses a number of questions relating to the resilience of Australia’s Defence logistics capabilities. The questions and tacit solutions he proposes have become more relevant given recent instability in the South China Sea and the current shifts in US foreign policy.

Teaching Guidelines – A Criticial Thinking Model

Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his/her thinking by skilfully analysing assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It assumes (or takes for granted) agreeance to rigorous standards of excellence and careful (mindful) command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism (or group egocentrism).

The Chiefs: A Study of Strategic Leadership

In 2007, a research project was undertaken by Dr Nick Jans, Jamie Cullens and Dr Stephen Mugford, analysing the process of top-level strategic leadership in the Australian Defence Community.