Seek Commitment over Compliance
The first slide boldly asked, “Are you committed to our company?” This was one of the first questions I was asked during my onboarding in one of my first post-military jobs. I had just completed committing 25+ years of my life and my family’s life to the United States Air Force. We were no strangers to the dedication this lifestyle required to…
Plan or Strategy – Short-Term Gain or Long-Term Pain?
The Unspoken Superpower In Business
Mange the email monster and make more time for personal connections
We each have our own “special” relationship with email. That relationship can change over time with each message and the volume of emails both sent and received. Nonetheless, email is a fact of business and professional life, and therefore we must learn to manage email and not have email manage us. In a recent study about email, 86% of professionals say that emails are their preferred method of communication. That same study concluded that, on average, each person checks their email over…
Being Present
Developing your leadership philosophy and team expectations
The most important leadership attribute
The Best Leaders Ask Great Questions
Everyone Has a Plan… and then, Boom.
Before his bout with Evander Holyfield, a reporter asked Mike Tyson if he was concerned about his opponent’s plan for the fight. Mr. Tyson famously responded, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Everyone chuckled. I chuckled and went about my business. Then I got “punched in the mouth.”
Preparation is Overrated
Leadership is about relationships, not power
I really like Stephan Pastis’ comic strip “Pearls Before Swine” because it’s clever and funny when he isn’t making horrible puns. The strip has it’s main characters like Goat, Rat, and Pig but there are some other characters that occasionally make an appearance like The Wise Ass on the Hill. The character is, you guessed it, the proverbial wise person sitting on a hill dispensing wisdom to those willing to make the journey. The insights from the Wise Ass are normally enough to make me smile though I occasionally cringe because he hits too close to home.
Setting up your leaders to fail…just not catastrophically
Goal Setting vs Trend Setting
Taking the Time to Coach: Coaching and Honing Written Executive Communications Skills
CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLACE TO BE AT THE RIGHT TIME
Early in military service, leaders teach and reinforce the concept of service members showing up to the right place, at the right time, in the right uniform, with a good attitude. This simple method of discipline is so essential to an effective (note not efficient) military organization that it is universal across initial training. In many cases, instructors…
