Leaders Pay Attention to the Little Things

“Don’t sweat the small stuff.” That’s what leaders hear constantly as we’re challenged to keep a strategic focus. It’s generally good advice, particularly for senior or executive leaders, but the maxim to keep your eyes on the horizon is not carte blanche to ignore relevant details. The real trick is to figure out which details […]

Join Me at JETC 2015! – UPDATED

  I’m excited to be presenting at the Society of American Military Engineers’ JETC 2015 next week in Houston, Texas! As a Life Member, it’s a privilege to serve my Society by leading a Speed Mentoring session, moderating a panel on Theater Security Engagement World-Wide in the Contingency Engineering Track, and presenting “The Five Be’s” […]

Creating a Culture of Respect

In my last article at Generalleadership.com, I wrote about how integrity is the very foundation of leadership. Extending that analogy, if Integrity is the “foundation” then Respect is the “walls” of a well-led organization. So, what does “Respect” mean for a leader, and how does a leader create a culture of respect in the organization? […]

Integrity Is The Cornerstone of Leadership

Integrity must be at the core of who we are as leaders if we’re to successfully inspire confidence in our teams. Because leadership is fundamentally about human relationships, integrity must be the very cornerstone of any leader’s foundation. In every aspect of our lives we depend on the integrity of others, and others do the […]

Learning from Starbucks About Mission

One of my core tenets is leaders must give teams a sense of mission: In my book Leading Leaders, I recount the story of a friend of mine who took over leadership of a volunteer re-sale shop. “She and her leadership team began by listening to the volunteers and addressed their personal concerns about the […]

The Five Be’s

I’ve noticed organizations and institutions spend a lot of time telling young people the “don’ts”, we spend very little time telling them the “do’s”, or who we want them to be. The rules are important, everyone needs boundaries, but if we don’t give our young people some positive vision of the kind of people we want […]

Thanks NAVFAC Hawaii!

Thanks to CAPT Michael Williamson, CO of Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii for inviting me to speak during their leadership series yesterday!  Great discussion about my one of my favorite topics: leadership! My host for the day was the XO, CAPT Ed Sewester, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share my perspective on leadership with a group […]

Moral Courage

Most of us will never lead troops in combat or run into a burning building to save someone, so physical courage is not something that will ordinarily be required of us. Moral courage, however, is required of everyone daily. Daily decisions about how to do our jobs and live our lives form us into the […]