Mentorship, Communication and Balance Inform Carter’s Leadership Philosophy

Story by Paul Lagasse

Medical Research and Development Command

FORT DETRICK, Md. – Col. Robert Carter III traces his interest in medical research all the way back to his childhood in Lake Charles, Louisiana. His career began early – in the 10th grade, in fact, when he was accepted into the inaugural summer research program at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine in Baton Rouge. Under the mentorship of veterinarian Dr. Dennis French, Carter learned how to perform liver biopsies – and proved so adept that soon French had him teaching third-year veterinary medicine students how to perform them. French even invited Carter to join his research team studying the effect of magnesium on pregnancy in dairy cattle, which led to his first co-author credit before he had even graduated high school.

“Where I am now was largely shaped by that summer experience,” says Carter, Medical Research and Development Command’s new chief of staff. “I learned the importance of mentorship and the positive effect that one person can have on an individual’s life. I always tell my friends and colleagues that you never know the impact that you’re having on someone, so you want to be a hundred percent with every engagement.”

Mentorship is one of the key components of Carter’s leadership philosophy. In the 22 years since he began his active-duty military career, he has had many opportunities to mentor those he served and studied with in military and academic settings, as well as to benefit from the mentorship of others. Carter says that mentorship is an important component of any successful team in a high-performing organization.

Carter has made it a point to develop mentor-mentee relationships throughout his career, which has taken him to Grenoble, France, where he served as the science attaché and exchange scientist at the Centre de Recherches du Service de Santé des Armées; to Stuttgart, Germany, where he served as the Army Research Development and Engineering Command’s technology and acquisition advisor to United States Africa Command; and to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he served as the medical operations officer and acquisition advisor to Combined Joint Task Force Paladin. In the United States, he served in the Office of Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology at the Pentagon; as the White House social aide to the President; and at the Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation. He is also no stranger to MRDC, having held positions at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center and the Institute of Surgical Research. He also served as MRDC’s liaison officer and acquisition advisor to Army Futures Command.

Most recently, Carter – who, along the way, carved out time to earn master’s degrees in public health, epidemiology, biological sciences and strategic studies, and a doctorate in biomedical sciences – served as Joint Project Manager for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Sensors at the Joint Program Executive Office for CBRN Defense. It was there that Carter saw firsthand the benefits of effective strategic communications, which is another critical component of his leadership philosophy. The organization was undergoing an organizational transformation, combining several product offices into a single unit. Internal communications were essential for ensuring everyone understood what was happening and why, and what their roles would be in the new organization.

“I took away from that experience the importance of bottom-up communication,” says Carter. “What I mean by that is that every person within the organization not only understood the commander’s intent and the mission and vision, but also got behind them and shared them.”

Carter says that effective “bottom-up” communication requires a clear message from the top that is then shared at each leadership level throughout the organization. As MRDC’s chief of staff, he sees one of his most important roles as operationalizing the mission and vision for the organization being formulated by commanding general Maj. Gen. Paula Lodi and deputy Dr. Carrie Quinn, which will ensure MRDC integrates smoothly into its new role in the Defense Health Agency – which means ensuring that everyone understands how their work contributes to that mission and vision.

“In the high-performing organizations where I have worked, from the moment people fired up their computers or made their first phone call, everything they did was aligned with improving the organization in some tangible way, one minute at a time,” explains Carter. “So much of that is people knowing where we’re going so they can actually get behind it. And I think that starts with a clear message and with each leader within the organization amplifying it.”

Another key component of Carter’s leadership philosophy is balance – or perhaps more accurately, the strategic use of imbalance. His appreciation for this comes from his family life, rather than from his military and command experience. Carter, his wife and their daughter have all earned black belts in the martial art of taekwondo, in which balance plays an important part.

“When you’re in a sparring match, speed is important, but the fastest person will never win without timing and distance and continuous movement,” says Carter. “Sometimes your opponent will put you in a situation where you become imbalanced, and you have to be prepared for it. When you’re falling, there’s a period of uncertainty. But if you prepare yourself for it, you’ll always recover.”

The same applies to organizations, Carter believes. If an organization is prepared – that is, if people understand and have confidence in its mission and vision – then, when it is buffeted by uncertainties and unexpected changes, it will be able to recover quickly and regain balance and continue to move purposefully forward.

“The best institutions in health care delivery, like Harvard and the Mayo Clinic, are great because they also do great science,” says Carter. “They translate science into medical practice. And it’s the same for us. That’s why what we do is so important. At the end of the day, we’re all supporting the development of a world-class organization that we can all be proud of.”