Category Archives: leadership

The ‘Softer’ Skills are Just as Important…Maybe Even More

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think” – Albert Einstein

“No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought.” – John Stuart Mil

As I write this week’s leadership message, I sit 30,000 feet above the ground on a flight to Washington D.C.  I’ve been invited to participate in a series of workshops tomorrow with The Hope Street Group, an initiative chaired by the U.S. Department of Education that strives to bring together the right institutions towards the common goal of developing tools and solutions at the complex intersection of workforce supply and demand.  In other words, The Hope Street Group wants to develop a better way for our country to both understand the specific skills needs of our employers while bridging the gap for the development of the proper skills of potential job candidates in our communities. Continue reading →

Authenticity in Leadership

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” – Norman Schwarzkopf

Last night I found myself in front of the TV watching NFL football games I cared nothing about, when one of my friends sent me a text and suggested I watch the movie “We Were Soldiers” (it was airing on TNT).  I’d seen the movie before, but since my Texans had already lost their game and my Saints had pulled out a win in theirs, I figured it was worth watching again.  I’m glad I did.

“We Were Soldiers” is a 2002 film that dramatizes the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14, 1965 (during the Vietnam War).  In this battle, 400 American soldiers were dropped in to a battlefield to secure a position, only to find out the location was the base camp for a veteran North Vietnamese Army division of more than 4,000 men.  After several days of fierce battle, the US soldiers had defeated an enemy ten times their size – but at a significant loss.  A hollow victory for sure, but one which reflects the nature of that horrible conflict. Continue reading →

The Most Important Member of the Team is the Team

“No one person, no one alliance, no one nation, no one of us is as smart as all of us thinking together.” – Admiral James Stavridis (Ret), US Navy, and former Supreme Allied Commander Europe

“[In medicine,] we have trained, hired and rewarded people to be cowboys, but it’s pit crews that we need.” – Atul Gawande, author of ‘How Do We Heal Medicine?’

“A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of the others.” – Norman Shidle

You may recall from my last message two weeks ago that my father was involved in a motorcycle accident and suffered a serious brain injury.  Fortunately the EMT’s identified the signs of injury quickly enough and had him airlifted from the scene of the accident to the nearest trauma center – San Antonio Military Medical Hospital (SAMMC).   It is there I spent a week in the ICU unit watching over my father’s recovery.  It is there I watched his strength, courage, and dogged determinism turn the situation from a tragedy into a miracle in the making.

Afraid of the Difficult Conversations

“We’ve all been there: We know we must talk to a colleague, our boss or even a friend about something we know will be at least uncomfortable and at worst explosive. So we repeatedly mull it over until we can no longer put it off, and then finally stumble through a confrontation when we could have had a conversation.” – Douglas Stone

Have you ever a situation where the action of one of your team members has a negative impact on the rest of the team?  You know the kind of situation I’m referring to – when one of your team members isn’t carrying their weight.  Or fails to follow through on their commitments.  Or whose behavior is offensive, disrespectful, or simply counter-productive. Continue reading →

Looking forward to speaking on industry trends at the ManpowerGroup Supplier Diversity Roundtable Oct 7-8. #SuppDivRTable

A Note on Supplier Diversity

A Child’s Perspective on Business

“There is only one boss.  The customer.   And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton

I recently had the privilege to speak to a group of young African American boys about leadership and what it takes to be successful.  This particular program (put together and hosted by our own Rick Rodgers) was designed to help these young boys develop the skills necessary to become tomorrow’s leaders.  It included a number of presentations with respected business leaders in the community (CEOs, CFOs, etc), as well as a group project to develop a business plan for a potential endeavor.  In short, it was a multi-day course that will no doubt enrich the lives of these young boys. Continue reading →

Why Does a Tree Grow?

Trees

“The power to learn is present in everyone’s soul, and the instrument with which each learns is like an eye that cannot be turned around from darkness to light without turning the whole body.” – Plato

“To know that light falls and fills, often without our knowing, as an opaque vase fills to the brim from quick pouring, fills and trembles at the edge yet does not flow over, still holding and feeding the stem of the contained flower.” – Will Rogers

“If you want to be truly successful, invest in yourself to get the knowledge you need to find your unique factor. When you find it and focus on it and persevere your success will blossom.” – Sidney Madwed Continue reading →

Don’t be a Dysfunctional Team

“Like so many other aspects of life, teamwork comes down to mastering a set of behaviors that are at once theoretically uncomplicated, but extremely difficult to put in practice.” – Patrick Lencioni

“Success comes only for those groups that overcome the all-too-human behavioral tendencies that corrupt teams and breed dysfunctional politics within them.” – Patrick Lencioni

Our company recently developed a new leadership program – the Diversity Leadership Advantage Program (DLAP).  The program was designed to help us further invest in the development of our top leaders, but with a focus on encouraging diversity both in terms of participants and their perception on how to become a more effective leader. Continue reading →