“We need to believe in ourselves and our future but not to believe that life is easy. Life is painful and rain falls on the just. Leaders must help us see failure and frustration not as a reason to doubt ourselves but a reason to strengthen resolve…Don’t pray for the day we finally solve our problems. Pray that we have freedom to continue working on the problems the future will never cease to throw at us.”John W. Garner On Leadership (New York Free Press 1993), 195, xii
Leadership
Real Leadership
Basic Army Leadership
This post is less about army leadership and more about finding a better way to share content. The embedded presentation is hosted on www.slideshare.net.
Basic army leadership
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Look at Me
I’ve never felt okay ignoring people who are putting themselves out there for my protection. Several airplane flights ago I gave in tomy unease and started watching the flight attendants during their safety brief. Along the way I began noticing something peculiar…they never make eye contact.
This was confirmed when during a very rare first class flight (I’m usually in coach) I was clearly the only one among the 16 passengers watching. The attendant acted like a husband who wants to make sure his wife knows he is not looking at the attractive girl walking by. He looked in every direction but mine. Read more →
Just Do Good Work
“Just do good work. Work, and do it well. Don’t put too much thought into what it is and what it can do for you and how it will be perceived before you even make it. You don’t have control over those other things. Learn your stuff. Do it well. Show up on time. You’ll work”. Actor Steve Zahn quoted in the May 2011 American Way magazine describing advice from older actors he’s worked with including Tom Hanks.
Put People at the Heart
Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. What happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning – Warren Bennis
Wisdom Over Rules
At work I am often asked to write policy letters to cover every possible contingency of human behavior. These policy letters are reviewed by lawyers to ensure every lawsuit is avoided, operations officers look for the impetuous for action, the employees immediately look for a loop hole which, when found, prompts more policy letters. ENOUGH! You can’t write a standard operating procedure for common sense.
A recent presentation by Barry Swartz at the TED conference struck a cord with me. In it, Dr. Swartz describes practical wisdom as defined by Aristotle as the “combination of moral will and moral skill.”
Are You a Leader or a Tyrant?
When we as leaders get in the habit of thinking that other people are there to support our success, we’re actually notleaders, we’re tyrants. Only when we go through the emotional, psychological and spiritual transformation to realize our role is to serve others, do we deserve to be called a leader. - Dee Hock, founder and former CEO of VISA
Truman’s One Sentence Success Formula
Work hard, do your best, keep your word, never get too big for your britches, trust in God, have no fear and never forget a friend. Harry S. Truman
Herbert Hoover on Prayer and Fishing
“Next to prayer, fishing is the most personal relationship of man.”
“To go fishing is the chance to wash one’s soul with pure air, with the rush of the brook, or with the shimmer of sun on blue water. It brings meekness and inspiration from the decency of nature, charity toward tackle-makers, patience toward fish, a mockery of profits and egos, a quieting of hate, a rejoicing that you do not have to decide a darned thing until next week. And it is discipline in the equality of men – for all men are equal before fish.”
“There are only two occasions when Americans respect privacy, especially in Presidents. Those are prayer and fishing.”
