Posts with the ‘General Jim Anderson’ tag
Early in my leadership career in Corporate America, I followed the pack. I did what others did. I remember watching my sales manager lead a certain way, and I emulated what he had done. Unfortunately by following what was commonly done, my teams consistently had very common results. Like many people, being common was never […]
She looked me in the eyes and said, “I am not having any fun.” Sandy was obviously frustrated while trying to lead her peers. Sandy was trying to lead them through a leadership “ropes course”. I smiled at her and said, “It’s not supposed to be fun for you. You are the leader.” Sandy learned […]
I’ve been that guy. I wanted everything to run smoothly so I would do as Nancy Reagan did and “Just Say No.” Years later, in my rearview mirror, I realize by saying “No” too quickly, I damaged my team and the individuals on my team. I missed opportunities to develop better decision makers and therefore […]
Painful Tests = “Someone is going to get hurt.” In a nutshell: Inflicting pain on myself or someone else is a test of character and courage. There are some decisions I make in leadership, I know are going to hurt. They may hurt me, or they may hurt others. In these situations, it may not […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Leadership is a blend of competence and character. BG (Retired) Jim Anderson, my father, taught me that. In 41 years in the Army, including two tours in Vietnam, he saw a lot of great leaders and a lot of leadership failures that formed his philosophy. I started this website with this post. I have learned […]
“I’ve seen it all. I’ve read it all. I’ve sat through more leadership seminars than you can imagine. Everything I see these days is just a repackaging of someone else’s work.” Kurt’s reaction to the company’s latest leadership initiative did not surprise Judy. In her first six months as VP of the division, she quickly […]
Today, I was thinking about what I dislike about meetings. It was a huge chunk of my morning. I obviously dislike meetings a lot! The scary thing is, I thrive working in a group environment. I figured out that it was not being in a meeting I disliked. It was how people run them.
