"Best-practices" be damned

For an organization that prides itself on Standard Operating Procedures and "best-practices" in everything it does, down to the tiniest detail, this seems like a rather haphazard way of choosing the top of the CF organization chart (for a non-subscriber copy, check Army.ca). Of course, it's not the CF that does the choosing, it's the politicians and bureaucrats:

In interviews with every officer who has held the office since its establishment in 1964, the usual response to the question "Why were you selected as the CDS?" is simply, "I have no idea." Officers did sometimes speak about the circumstances of the day, the "luck of the timing" in the sense that they were in an advantageous position when the incumbent stood down. But all agreed that the selection process had no set criteria and no predictable outcome.

Read the rest. It will leave you shaking your head.

(By the way, I know a senior management consultant with solid CF and Public Service experience who might be willing to lend a hand setting up a procedure if he were asked nicely. Just sayin'.)