Organizational Growth:
A system left to itself tends to break down.
– 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
My dad, General (retired) James L. Anderson spent 24 years as the Master of the Sword at West Point. He currently speaks on leadership at the Lincoln Leadership Institute in Gettysburg, PA. He has dedicated his life to developing leaders of character wherever he serves. Click here to learn more about him.
The two of us will be sharing a father-son perspective on the leadership lessons he taught me, the lessons we both learned at West Point, and the unique perspectives we each have based on his lifetime in leadership in the Army, and my 20 years in the business world.
“Anderson! You have to be like Gumby! Come up with a new plan and do it quick or your men will die!” These words echoed through the woods as I stood confused during my first attempt leading an infantry squad during Cadet Basic Training at West Point.
The staff sergeant wasn’t going to allow me to implement my plan when the circumstances had changed. It was a lesson I would be taught often as a cadet and as a young officer.
I couldn’t wait to be promoted. I knew all the things I wanted to accomplish. I was also looking forward to the perks of leadership. In the Army we used to say, “Rank Has It’s Privileges (RHIP).”
But, years later, I realized that these sentiments were naive. They seem real to someone who has not held a position of leadership. But, once I earned that promotion, I learned that my assumptions were far from reality.
With every new class I teach, comes new leaders with the same assumptions.
This is a repost from April 2012.
I blame the movie Patton. In today’s business world, people assume autocratic, top down leadership prevails in our military and that military leaders are not prepared for the less rigid world of business leadership. This is a myth!
Just like all civilian business leaders are not like Michael Douglas in Wall Street, all military officers are not like George C. Scott in Patton. Many business leaders without a military background have bought into the way Hollywood portrays military officers. Continue Reading…
There is a lot of discussion of the word integrity in business books, in politics, in universities…in every walk of life. I read about it all the time. But, my father, General Jim Anderson, the former Master of the Sword at West Point, taught me more about integrity than any other source. He says:
INTEGRITY requires three steps:
Understanding integrity is foundational to our character development. The more I speak on the importance of character, the more I see that integrity needs defined.
This is reposted from March 2012.
Continue Reading…
They just stood there. It was funny. It was sad. It was telling. When the captains left the court, none of the other players stepped forward to lead. Communication broke down and chaos ensued.
I was watching a high school girls sporting event. Unfortunately, I have seen this in the business world too. When the leader is gone and nobody steps forward, a bump in the road can cause a relatively smooth running team to end up in a ditch. Continue Reading…
I’m an idea guy. I love to brainstorm and come up with ideas on how to make things better. I am also someone who can ignore the details or forget about them quickly.
The more I work with leaders the more I realize I am not alone. All of us have strengths that can also be our weaknesses. They are two sides of the same coin. Our strengths often turn into weaknesses when they are misapplied or taken to an extreme. Continue Reading…
“What do you think of your team’s execution?” Coach John McKay was asked. “I’m for it!” McKay replied. The expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished that season winless and McKay captured the hearts of coaches everywhere with that comment.
Whether it is in sports or in business, leaders often spend endless hours preparing strategies to insure success, only to see those plans fail due to poor execution. Whose fault is it? Is it the players’ fault? Is it the leaders’ fault? Continue Reading…
I agreed to talk to the boss. Three of my peers approached me about a sales campaign that they thought missed the mark. It was our boss’s idea, but it wasn’t a good one.
Over time, I became the person my peers came to when someone needed to confront our boss. I accepted that role and felt comfortable doing it. I just wish my peers would have spoken directly to our boss themselves instead of going through me. Continue Reading…
I took a week long vacation recently in Puerto Rico. I got a massage while I was there. As I was lying on the table during my session, I realized the therapist was really not doing a good job.
I longed for the person who I use close to home. She does a great job. She knows my problem areas and gets after them. The guy who was working on me in Puerto Rico was just not cutting it.
The guy in Puerto Rico worked like an average manager. My favorite masseuse at home works like a great leader. Continue Reading…
When everything began to unravel for Pete, I knew I was going to have fire him. I took it personally. Like most leaders, I rarely lose sleep over the technical issues of my job. It is the people who give me insomnia. In this case it was Pete.
I hired Pete. He had all the promise in the world. But, he turned out to be a bad hire. He lied to me. He didn’t work hard and he pulled the wool over my eyes for longer than I wanted to admit. Continue Reading…
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