Own the Night

Unique Leadership Axiom: Acquire the tools that give you vision to win.

“Own the night” is jargon which came from “WE OWN THE NIGHT”, a slogan. Slogans are another layer of jargon; they are the public face of the private language.  Often the public face is specific in its significance. In this case the public face is both a boast and a recruiting slogan. A boast about the night vision goggles equipment used on the battlefield.

With this equipment, a soldier no longer must move blindly and depend solely on his ears to detect the enemy. Now any visible light, no matter how small will be amplified by the night vision goggles. Now the soldier can see the enemy when the enemy is not able to see him. Now our soldier Owns the Night!

Now he owns the night because America made major economic and industrial investments to develop this technology, supplying soldiers with the ability to see in the dark.

What about the jargon private language? What is the meaning to the soldier’s jargon “own the night”? It is about not being blind. Not physically blind, but personally, professionally, and morally blind.

This is one of many attributes of the organizational structure followed by the military. The Army’s organizational structure is a repeated template at each level. This fractal like structure makes it possible for soldiers at all level to see what is going on at all other levels. It produces what politicians promise but never deliver: TRANSPARENCY!

This is the true meaning of “own the night”. Personal, professional, and moral visibility for all soldiers of any Army is the key to winning.

Leadership Focus

Vision is the real issue in

• The Economy,
• Politics,
• Leadership, and
• Whom we follow.

My Take

All human processes are subject to a lack of vision. It is up to us to ensure that we have the capability of seeing what the enemy is doing. Often economics and politics and industrial weakness are areas where vision in advance would have eliminated losses. Our mission is to have vision, not just with the aid of special equipment on the battlefield, but with our minds and our discipline and our behavior and our responsibilities.