From Strategy Bridge: " In the military, human interactions carry tactical and even strategic significance. Whether leading a team, planning with a staff, or partnering with a foreign force, so much of our success hinges on our ability to communicate, understand, learn and grow with others. Encounters like the one with my crew chief are commonplace in our personal and professional lives. Yet the messages we send to others with our actions and words are often lost in translation. When this happens—when we sense a breakdown or a void in communication—both parties in the interaction are left with a choice. Explore or retreat. Learn or guess. Play tennis together…or walk away from the court. As we describe below, to “play tennis” is to deliberately engage in interpersonal learning. Understanding how to promote a healthy tennis match and the power and limits of interpersonal learning can add productivity to our interactions with others and nuance to the ways we address and solve tough problems."
From Patricia DeGennaro, Small Wars Journal: “Understanding and engaging in the human domain is essential if you are trying to change, inform or shape human behavior. In this context, the Secretary of Defense reminds us that, “We must recognize that the essential ‘key terrain’ is the will of a host nation’s population…[This] permits us to gain the trust of skeptical populations, thus frustrating the enemy’s efforts.” The world’s populations are becoming more interactive which can potentially help or harm international security. With ever increasing information mediums and venues, previously unconnected persons can connect and act in seconds. Interaction between people ignited the Arab Spring, allowed the Islamic State (IS) to boost recruiting efforts worldwide, and sparked further fragmentation in Iraq after the U.S. intervention. These emerging human geography trends, responses to social and cultural grievances, adversarial patterns, and diverse community reactions continue to cause problems for U.S. forces and mission success. Knowing the human domain, therefore, gives commanders the ability to see, sense, anticipate, and maneuver through the complexity of peoples.”
From Mick Ryan, Modern War Institute: “In 1962, the renowned solider-scholar Sir John Hackett noted in his Trinity College speeches on the profession of arms that “the bearing of arms for the purpose of fighting is found as far back as we can see. It has become profession, not only in the wider sense of what is professed, but in the narrower sense of an occupation with a distinguish-able corpus of specific technical knowledge and doctrine, and an educational pattern adapted to its own needs.” While Hackett’s words may be half a century removed from the contemporary world, they remain highly relevant to current and future military leaders.”