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Hayden Invited to U.S. Army War College Colloquium

Dr. Gregory Hayden, professor of economics at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business Administration, received an unexpected call late last year from former student, Col. Craig Strong ‘95. Strong, attending classes at the U.S. Army War College (USAWC), told Hayden he wanted to nominate him to participate in a capstone colloquium which concludes each graduating class year.

Strong, who received his master of arts in economics and later a juris doctor from UNL, became intrigued with how often the AWC curriculum intersected concepts he learned from Hayden during his graduate studies. He believed Hayden would be uniquely qualified to provide insights to fellow students at the USAWC.

“Dr. Hayden’s work in institutional economics aligned with the Army Design Methodology (ADM),” said Strong. “ADM provides a methodology for applying critical thinking to understand, visualize and describe unfamiliar problems and approaches to solving them. I kept thinking it looks a lot like what I learned from Dr. Hayden.”

Hayden with U.S. Army War College Certificate of Leader Development
Hayden with U.S. Army War College Certificate of Leader Development
Indeed, when Hayden studied the material taught at the USAWC, the instruction paralleled his social fabric matrix research he uses in classes to analyze complex institutions. Ultimately, Hayden received a confirmation letter to participate in the colloquium from Maj. Gen. William Rapp, Commandant of the USAWC.

“The presentation I put together for the Army War College basically consists of what I give to my class,” said Hayden. “To see my talks looking like what the Pentagon uses in their readings confirmed their application across various institutions.”

He discovered the similarity was not coincidental. His own research drew from some of the same sources the Pentagon used. The social fabric matrix studies system environments by attempting to understand cultural values, social beliefs, personal attitudes and other factors that make up a social institution.

“The Army studies social beliefs because they are dealing with either trying to change their enemies, or at least come to an understanding of various foreign belief systems with which they interact. Whether the emphasis involves military institutions or economic institutions, you have to first understand your problem to know what is relevant. You cannot do anything in a social institution like the military without taking into account the entire ecological system,” he said.

Each morning at the colloquium, top geopolitical people from around the world lectured to USAWC students. Then everyone would retreat to afternoon seminars where Hayden served as a discussant to rigorously address the topics of the day. He appreciated the historical significance of teaching at the USAWC, originally built in 1757 as Carlisle Barracks to train British officers coming in contact with Native American cultures.

“Even back then, they were dealing with different cultures and trying to learn something about culture and social beliefs to bring into their planning,” said Hayden. “Today ecological and behavioral economics make up a large part of what I teach. How do social beliefs operate in a system? The military surpasses economics in studying these areas – they have to because their job is life and death.”
Published: November 8, 2016