The challenge for the logistics community in the near and short-term future is creating an education plan to develop leaders who are critical thinkers who see solutions that may be outside the realm of standard doctrine, according to a former Army deputy chief of staff for logistics.Speaking May 11 as the guest of honor at the Association of the United States Army’s Sustainment Symposium and Exposition in Richmond, Va., Lt. Gen. Claude V. Christianson, USA, Ret., said the leaders of tomorrow’s logistics enterprise must be able to understand relationships between processes, organizations and information in ways few can imagine today.Christianson has served as the senior director for the Center for Joint and Strategic Logistics at the National Defense University since late 2009, which has kept him embedded in the logistics community."The purpose of the center is very simple: We exist to shape the development of logisticians," he said.Adding, "Our team has looked at best practices and education. We’ve looked at best practices and how you and other logisticians do your work, and we’ve listened to ideas on how to develop logisticians that can be capable of successfully managing the challenging environments we know they are going to face in the future."Christianson believes the most critical area to improving defense logistics operations is in the collective mind of its leaders."The question is: How do you create leaders who see options that most of us don’t?" Christianson asked the audience. "Now this is a very simple question, but it’s a very difficult question to answer when you talk about education and development."He said it comes down to three fundamental issues. First, senior logisticians from throughout the services, the U.S. Transportation Command, the Defense Logistics Agency, and DoD acquisition, technology and logistics must agree on "what logisticians need to be."Second, he said it’s important to figure out the most effective learning environment for logisticians and establish it in the principles of developing concepts and using student-lead learning in interactive classrooms."Last and maybe most importantly, creating an effective and dynamic learning environment requires an investment in our logistics faculty," Christianson said. "If we want tomorrow’s logistics leaders to benefit from a learning environment that is rapidly adapting to the world as it changes, and reflects the most critical learning outcomes for the enterprise, then we must focus on developing the faculty we need to deliver that environment."Adding, "Our assessment is that these three areas are very under-served in our educational community today, and the focus of the center is in those three areas."Christianson identified three attributes that he thinks a successful leader must have in the logistics community:Influencing "people they don’t control," which requires a development of skills related to negotiating, mediating and facilitating."It’s also important for us to note that in order to be successful in an environment of uncertainty, we’re often going to have to have different relationships between organizations and people than we have today," he said."In some cases, we may need completely new relationships with people and organizations that may not even exist today. This ability can be built on a foundation of humility and introspection, but it’s one that’s critically important."Resisting the natural tendency to only focus on the close-in targets, which can sap resources that focus on long-term strategies."The resistance to change is very deeply embedded when the outcomes can’t be realized during the tenure of the person in charge," Christianson said. "It’s also very difficult when you don’t reward people for long-term strategies. You reward them for delivering."Tight tolerances invite failure."In an uncertain world, if your solution is to apply a fixed template, you’re going to fail," he said.Leaders have to be able to "look at the situation as it’s presented and understand it in the context in which it’s presented and develop solutions and ways to manage the problems in that context. If you try to apply the template to that context, no matter how right it looks, it might fail."That doesn’t mean ignoring all doctrine, Christianson said. There needs to be doctrine to be used as a foundation for developing solutions, but leaders need to be able to understand that they can’t just apply fixed solutions to problems and hope that they work.In summary, he said, "If we don’t invest in our leaders, it will be both a disaster and a misfortune."