Don’t get us wrong. We don’t mean to imply that tactical excellence (as the United States had in Vietnam) is unimportant. It’s essential, but it should be within the context of a clear overall vision. Vision, then strategy, then tactics.

To be truly SMaC involves four basic elements:

1. Specific, replicable processes and mechanisms that create tremendous consistency

1. Checking and cross-checking systems to prevent catastrophic mistakes

1. Rigorous thinking to consider a wide range of contingencies and backups

1. Continuous evolution of SMaC based on understanding the why behind SMaC processes

This last element—understanding the why so that you can update and change the what—is the crucial element that distinguishes an advanced SMaC mindset from mere procedures and bureaucratic policies. If people in your enterprise begin to say to new members, “That’s just the way we do things” instead of saying, “This is why we do things this way,” your enterprise is degenerating from a culture of discipline into a bureaucracy. If mindless adherence to procedure erodes a true SMaC mindset, your enterprise will fail just as surely as if it had no SMaC in the first place.

And therein lies the essence of tactical excellence: people caring about their work because they see its importance.

Often our conversations go like this: How are you? Fine. How are you feeling? Fine. How is work, school, your relationships? Fine. A psychologist friend has suggested that FINE could be an acronym standing for “feelings inside not expressed.

Effectiveness lies in the balance—what I call the P/PC Balance. P stands for production of desired results, the golden eggs. PC stands for production capability, the ability or asset that produces the golden eggs.