The military is tasked with conducting highly complex operations in a life and death environment. Lessons learned since 1775 have evolved the way the military conducts mission command, an evolution that no amount of civilian theory can replicate. When reading military doctrine substitute military lexicon such as commander, mission, and warfighter with the civilian equivalent of your culture...
Leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization. An Army leader is anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals. Army leaders motivate people both inside and outside the chain of command to pursue actions, focus...
Without a clear understanding of what the boss wants, organizations will inevitably fail to achieve it. Without the gift of mind reading, success depends on the boss clearly communicating what he wants. This holds true regardless of the nature of the organizations, its size or purpose. Church leaders, business executives, managers, and heads of families could take a lesson from an enterprise that...
“The very essence of leadership is [that] you have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”— Theodore Hesburgh
Every office has a ritual that is as important to the health of the organization as the business meeting…the ritual of dropping in on and catching up with co-workers and bosses following a lengthy holiday. I was reminded of this today as I returned to work following a week off for Christmas and the New Year celebrations. My goals were to finalize my calendar for the coming weeks and clear...
Lessons from the U.S. Army War College: God created in us the ability to think, reason, and decide (free will). As we grow from infant to adolescent that ability both matures but never reaches our full potential. Our reasoning naturally narrows as our point of view is informed by our culture, religion, and parents to name just a few. Maturity brings complex problems which requires reasoning...
Lessons from the U.S. Army War College: Rote learning is good for beginning learning on basic academic subjects, but rote learning fails with time and increased complexity of problem. There comes a time in every life when a person must learn to think critically and explore new ideas without the goading of a teacher, boss, or test. The person who fails to achieve this state is destined to struggle...
“ . . . the Chinese symbol for crisis is the merging of two signs, one meaning ‘danger’ and the other meaning ‘opportunity.’ A crisis has the potential to transform or destroy. And what is the tipping point toward transformation in the face of crisis? The choice is either to cower in fear or to step forward with courage.”
— Dr. Dan B. Allender, American author, educator, therapist
At work I am often urged 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...