I love this story...
I am not sure when this happened. It could have been the Pentagon in 1962 or any desk job Hughie had.
When Hughie was assigned his desk job, he was given an enlisted man as his aide (a secretary, for all practical purposes).
Being a lower-ranked officer, he was inundated with senior officers "requiring" monthly reports for "required" information. (There is a reason for the ""...just keep reading.) Hughie said there were about 30 different "requirements" for monthly reports.
This is where some great leadership occurred and which I followed my whole working life:
Hughie, in his vast wisdom, stated that they would do none of them...until the senior officers returned and wanted to know where their report was. Those would be the ones they would completed and submit.
Sure enough, at the end of the month, of the 30 initial "required" reports, two - count 'em, two - of the senior officers inquired about the reports they had ordered. Hughie told them they would have their report by the end of the day. Those were the officers who really needed the information.
Those were the two - count 'em, two - reports Hughie and his enlisted aide submitted in his tenure behind the desk.
He was a pretty wise guy.
*****
*Side note: for anyone who has worked for the government or been to a government office, you either had one of these desks (above) or saw someone using one.
