PROFILES IN INNOVATION
One on One continues
Memorial Institute. He has also served on two commissions to assess the United States space program, and was in the running to be NASA Administrator be- fore bowing out to focus on his corpo- rate and consulting work. Most recently, Lyles led a commis- sion created by Congress to examine a puzzling lack of diversity atop the U.S. military—an organization long hailed for its successful diversity efforts. The Military Leadership Diversity Commis- sion laid out a series of recommenda- tions for how the Pentagon can improve
become more acute as the … makeup of the United States continues to change.” U.S. Black Engineer and Informa-
tion Technology magazine recently caught up with Lyles to discuss the report and other matters. USBE: The diversity report said
that 75 percent of young people are ineligible to join the military because of physical, educational or criminal shortcomings. Is that number higher than it was years ago? Gen. Lyles: I don’t think people kept good statistics on that years ago. In all
“The first place that everybody in the world, I think, looks toward for bringing that support and help is the United States. And where does the United States turn? It turns to the mili- tary. Our size is greater than most countries, but more importantly, what is expected of us is far greater.
–—General Lester Lyles
the promotion of women and minorities at a time when the nation is expected to become increasingly diverse. “The armed forces have not yet succeeded in developing a continuing stream of leaders who are as demo- graphically diverse as the nation they serve,” the report says.
The disparity between the numbers of racial and ethnic minorities in the military and their leaders “will become starkly obvious without the successful recruitment, promotion, and retention of racial/ethnic minorities among the en- listed force,” it continues. “Without sus- tained attention, this problem will only
6 USBE&IT I WINTER 2011
honesty, when we had a draft I don’t think that was something people kept close tabs on. It is more of a question mark today when we have an all-volunteer force. If you consider the percentage of people who meets the criteria, and qualifications for even getting into the military that limits who can even volunteer if they want to volunteer. So it is very, very much of question mark in today’s society that was not even considered back when I came into the Air Force. USBE: We hear so much about the military being an exemplar of equal opportunity in our society. This is a place where affirmative action
worked. This is a place that is a true meritocracy. Why, then, are minorities underrepresented in the top leader- ship ranks? Gen. Lyles: That was obviously the focus of this military leadership diversi- ty commission that I chaired. And it was the question posed by Congress. It was a question mark as to why there is such a disparity when we historically have an organization that is supposedly noted for equality, for opportunity for all. Our rather exhaustive study pointed out several things, not the least of which is mentoring, or lack of mentoring across the board for all people in the military. It is something we think needs to be done more so than anybody considered in the past. A lack of role models. People not seeing those who are like them assimi- late to the highest ranks of the military and opting to do other things and get out. You can’t blame a person for want- ing to do something like that if they have some other opportunities. There are no biases or prejudices that we can find in the institutions themselves. But there definitely was a situation where there needs to me more done to provide guidance, particularly to women and minorities, about the opportunities that they have ahead of them. USBE: Some people also say that minorities often lack combat lead- ership experience and that combat leaders rise to the top ranks of the military. Is that accurate? Gen. Lyles: Yes. That is part of the mentoring aspect that we pointed out. Of making sure that guidance is given to people—literally everybody, not just women and minorities—as to the career path that they might want to choose, the career paths that have the greatest chance of allowing somebody to get to the most senior ranks. The career paths that might be desirable for somebody’s personal interest—you never want
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