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All that may be true, and hopefully the comment I referenced was not, in fact, expressed anything close to what was actually said. However, the “I am in charge” is seriously about the worst mistake a new leader to ANY organization can make.

Suppose you are on staff and have no idea who this person is or what his background is. Your first thought is what?

OR, he comes to you individually, to your office or cube, asks to sit down or whatever, starts talking to you about your family, what you do for the organization, what things you like, what you don’t like, etc.

Who do you want to bust your ass for?

And yes, you have plenty of time for the latter. If you don’t, you don’t know what the hell you’re doing, regardless of your past experience.

A good leader has plenty of time to figure out who the malcontents are and deal with them appropriately. The military may have a good leadership model for war time or times of emergency, but trying to throw your weight around, especially off the bat, will ALWAYS be counterproductive.

Being a professional is no doubt important, but it is only one part of the equation. Plus, a professional doesn’t say, “I’m in charge.”

In normally functioning organizations, you're right. But in a dysfunctional organization where people are leaking things to promote their own agenda, and to engage in intra-staff turfwars, you may very well need someone to come in and "end that "sh*t."

In any case, I think the chances of anyone wondering "who is this guy" before Kelly was made COS are nonexistent. He was already a key member of the cabinet, and well known by all the major players.

Gen. Kelly has a lot of experience in "Chief of Staff" type of functions, and will take the approach this particular staff needs.