WARGAMING RISK: What Military Leaders Bring to the Table: Planning for unexpected situations--any and all--gives boards an advantage in crisis.

• Author: Hall, April
• Position: THE AGE OF RISK: Wargaming

When the going gets tough, it's easy to fall back on language that refers to war. Often people are "on the front line," or taking on a challenge is a "battle." Over the years, the United States has waged war on drugs, poverty and, most recently, the coronavirus.

The military is known for discipline, strategic planning and impeccable attention to detail. It's no wonder that some of the country's top military leaders have been asked to bring their experiences into the boardroom.

Those close to military combat missions are familiar with the term "wargame," a process in which the military runs a number of potential scenarios for contingency planning. The goal is to cover any possible outcome and to have a way to address it. Each decision is pressure tested and, if the solution is found wanting, the simulation is run again until the decision-making process is smooth--nearly automatic--in the face of crisis.

Michael Montelongo, a director of Herbalife Ltd. and private companies Larry H. Miller Group of Companies and Exostar LLC, is a retired Army Airborne Ranger who, among other positions, served from 2001 to 2005 Asssistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller.

Montelongo says he has not come across wargaming in his board meetings, but he sees the value in it as someone who has experience with the practice.

"In a tabletop [exercise], it's like a script. Each actor has his or her lines, in a manner of speaking," he says. "A simulated situation is thrown at you and you basically input the decision-making process you go through and the decision you make."

"I would absolutely endorse wargaming," Montelongo says. "I think it's an excellent way to bring to life plans in place to mitigate risk inherent in any organization."

Issues are the same in the military as in business, he says, rattling off potential questions for a boardroom wargame: '"Here's a potential risk. What's our plan to mitigate that threat? How confident are we about that plan and the assumptions embedded in it?'

"When you test business continuity and crisis management, [the processes] are the same. They're basically scripts."

Retired Admiral Michael Mullen, top military adviser to President George W. Bush and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during former President Barack Obama's first term, says wargaming is one of the most effective ways to work out problems and to build contingency plans.

His degree in operations research from the Naval...