Crimes are Not OK. Ever.
In last week’s post I discussed an example of an “honest mistake” using an example from an HBO dramatization of the Apollo Moon program in the 1960s. Today, we discuss crimes.
Category: Practical Leadership
Honest Mistakes Are OK, But Crimes Are Not
Recently, the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church many of us thought was behind us has been thrust back into the spotlight. According to what I’ve read, it was brought about largely because men in positions of authority either lacked the moral courage to act or worse, condoned the behavior of men committing crimes against […]
And the First Day it Rained
This week I’m pleased to bring you my guest post on The Outbound Collective. Be sure to click the link and show them some love! My mom was a prolific writer and tried mightily to get her short story published about the vacations she used to take with her 4 siblings and her mom and dad […]
The Stories in Stacks of Business Cards
This week I’m pleased to bring you my guest post on the Society of American Military Engineer’s Bricks & Clicks Blog. Be sure to click the link and show them some love! Every time I come back from the Society of American Military Engineers Joint Engineer Training Conference (“JETC”), I find myself sorting through a […]
How Not to Get Unfriended
I don’t need to tell anyone that sometimes people with–shall we say strong political views?–have difficulty communicating below the 100 decibel level, especially on social media. Navigating the office and social media environment in the age of the 24 hour news cycle while maintaining your sanity and your friendships is not as easy as it once was. But […]
Continue the Mission: The First 100 Days
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days . . .nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin. -John F. Kennedy My first month as Mission Support Group Commander at the Air Force Academy was […]
Continue the Mission: The First 30 Days
When things go wrong in your command, start wading for the reason in increasing larger concentric circles around your own desk. – General Bruce D. Clark Standing on the platform in front of troops and family for the fourth time to take command, this time of a Mission Support Group, I was following a popular […]
Your First 100 Days – Achieving Your Goals
Every four years or so we grade our leaders on their “First 100 Days,” but other than watching pundits debate on TV what does that mean for us? It’s an opportunity for us to take a look at our own progress toward our goals. We’re certainly not going to have Bret Baier talking about our […]
Continue the Mission: How to Exit Gracefully (and Why You Should)
Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time. -George W. Bush This month, I continue my series on successful leadership transition. If you missed the first part, you can go back and read it here. When we accept a leadership position we accept two things: […]
Transitioning Leadership – When You’re the New Guy and a Repairman
It was the second time I’d been sent to fix a broken unit, only this time the unit didn’t know they were broken. The team had all the externals of a high performing team, but only on the surface. Below the surface, they were dysfunctional and broken. The organizational chart bore little resemblance to […]
Transitioning Leadership – The Exchange of Flags
The military change of command ceremony is rooted in centuries of tradition back to the time of Frederick the Great. In the days before radio communications, the unit’s commander used his flag as a symbol of command and to signal movements on the battlefield. Leaders would physically hand the unit’s organizational flag from the outgoing […]
Continuing the Mission – Leadership Drives Culture During Transition
A change in leadership is not a change in mission. -Military maxim The focus of January is the transition of leadership in the White House, so it’s a good time to talk about how successful leaders transition. I believe we do leadership transition well in the military, so there’s some lessons there for others. Every […]
Transitioning Leadership – The Outgoing Executive
I tried to stay out of sight, but I just had to return the car keys. Calling my now former deputy, I asked him to meet me in the parking lot so I could return his car keys. “Why don’t you just come up?” he asked. “I’ve already said my good-byes,” I replied, “it would […]
Respect and the Power of Nice: Setting the Example
There has been considerable talk in the press and in the blogs on the importance of people treating each other with respect. It’s a subject I write about often because it’s central to leaders inspiring people to be their best, and groups forming into high performing teams. Whether it’s travelling, shopping in a crowd, or […]
Five Simple Ways to Develop Your Employees – And Why You Should
Ask any HR professional and they’ll tell you how recruiting quality people and then developing them is much more a cost-effective business model than constantly seeking the perfect match. When Tom Landry and Tex Schramm led the Dallas Cowboys, they rarely recruited players for a particular position. They went looking for the best athlete they […]
Good Feedback Gets High Performance
I missed the block. The defensive end was my guy to block and I missed him, so our quarterback, Louis, ended up on his back. Again. I felt terrible—we were already struggling and now I’d made a mistake that cost us another 10 yards and Louis some undeserved bruises. Finally, I couldn’t hold it back […]
Dynamic Dozen: People Need a Purpose, Not Just a Paycheck
“A man has integrity if his interest in the good of the service is at all times greater than his personal pride, and when he holds himself to the same line of duty when unobserved as he would follow if his superiors were present” – General S.L.A. Marshall It was very dark and cold on […]
Advice that Sticks with Me
I don’t know what it is that I’m doing, but I sure as heck keep doing it! – Gilligan If you’re a member of a certain “experienced” generation—ahem, mine—then you’ll remember a television show called Gilligan’s Island. It was one of my favorites, and there was often a lesson in the antics of the hapless […]
Throwback Thursday: What 100 Miles Taught Me
In 2013, I completed a personal goal of riding in the Honolulu Century Ride, 100 miles through the beautiful Hawaiian countryside and back to Honolulu. It’s a great lesson in goal setting. In 2013, I accomplished a personal goal by completing a “century” bicycle ride. On hundred miles in six and a half hours flat on […]
What Got You Here Won’t Make You Successful Here
When I was going through the executive leadership curriculum at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (now the Eisenhower School), speakers and readings continually repeated the notion that executive leadership was different; that the skills we learned as majors and lieutenant colonels would not make us successful as colonels and generals. At the time, […]