First Line Leaders Get it Done
Strategy is fine, but if tactical leaders aren’t brought in the endeavor is doomed.
Tag: CEO
What Is Courage? (Part II)
Mickey is moving his household from Hawaii to Texas. While he’s moving, please enjoy these posts from last year, and remember “The Five Be’s” Second Edition comes out in September! Last week, I brought you Part I of a discussion of courage from my book, The Five Be’s. This week I conclude with some stories about […]
What Is Courage? (Part I)
Mickey is in the midst of moving his household from Hawaii to Texas, so please enjoy this “classic” post from 2016. Original posts will resume in September. Also, don’t forget that The Five Be’s Second Edition goes live on Lulu and Amazon next month!! In the film, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, the Task Force Commander, Admiral […]
Leaders are Readers – Your Summer Reading List
Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers. -Harry S. Truman As a student at both Air Command and Staff College and National Defense University’s Eisenhower School, I was privileged to hear dozens of accomplished national leaders speak. Generals, Supreme Court justices, Congressional representatives and senators, leaders in industry. We even heard from […]
On Civic Virtue, Respect, and Followership
Ever work for someone or have to be deferential to someone you didn’t respect or didn’t like? Fortunately for me, all the men and women I reported directly to were people I did respect. Civic virtue demands we understand how to respect the office rather than just the office holder. Respect the Rank and the […]
What is Synchronized Leadership?
“The single most important element of success in war is leadership.” Gen David Goldfein, USAF As a young officer our formal leadership training consisted largely of learning our military specialty and a few vague lessons about balancing “mission and people.” They were lessons born of, simultaneously, thousands of years of military tradition and 20th century […]
Synchronize Leadership to Achieve Agility
Take a look at any photo of industrial production during the Second World War and think about the scale and volume of it. Any way you slice it, it’s impressive! Millions of workers producing millions of items from bombers to Liberty Ships to trousers. The emphasis then was on process efficiency and so we developed […]
“Sync To Swim”: The Synchronized Leader Model
Twenty-first-century business requires agility–from teams, from institutions, and from leaders–and that agility comes from synchronized leadership. Despite the radical change in the environment, many institutions still cling to Twentieth-century management models. Those Industrial Age management models are ill-suited to guide leaders in the Information Age. Perhaps the “king” of management models from the last century […]
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 […]
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: […]
Overcoming Barriers to Change
One of the highest barriers to effecting change is getting enough people to change their thinking from “the way it is now” to the way you want to operate. In fact, many people are very resistant to change–I call that resistance “institutional inertia.” The most successful companies are able to help their teams and their […]
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 […]
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 […]
Leading Teams to Greatness – Part 3 – Executing the Plan
Planning is very important, but just like the surfer sitting in the lineup at some point you have to actually drop in and ride the waves. For leaders, this idea means we have to carry out the plans we make. Perfect plans don’t accomplish anything–implementing them does! That surfing maxim came home to me in […]
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 […]
Leading Teams to Greatness – Part 2 – Making a Plan
“A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” General George S. Patton After all the instruction and practice on the beach, it was time to actually put my board into the ocean and paddle out to the break. I knew how to surf—well, I knew what my instructors taught […]
Monday Motivation – Let Purpose Arise from Relationship
Mickey believes everyone can reach high levels of performance if inspired and led. During his 28 year US Air Force career Mickey commanded thousands of Airmen, managed portfolios worth billions of dollars, and worked with military, civil, and industry officials around the world. He is a Distinguished Graduate from the Eisenhower School at National […]