Defining a Great Culture

What really motivates your teammates? The answer is complex, but the Level Five leader would say that an organization’s culture must include dignity and respect at or close to the top of the list. Read on to understand what this means and how you might recognize it in your organization.

At Your Service

Throughout the course of a recently completed 18 day trip to India, Vietnam, and China, I (Robert) had a unique opportunity to visit/meet with a dozen different companies and their leaders, and also observe their cultures…what struck me above all else was their concept of customer service. To be sure, they had distinct differences in their … Read more

Have you created a “bias for action”?

How does your organization communicate your direction, your azimuth? How do you set your teammates up for success?  How do you set the conditions to encourage initiative?  How do your team members respond to the question, “In my company, is it better to ask forgiveness or permission”? Do you create a “bias for action” in … Read more

Are Your Ends, Ways, and Means in Balance? Planning and Strategy

Planning and strategy is always vital. As the old saying goes, ‘If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.’  You and your team don’t want to find yourselves on the ‘bus to Abilene’, as introduced by Jerry Harvey in his 1988 article, The Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement.  … Read more

Go Tell The Spartans

In one of the most storied battles of ancient history, some 300 Spartans fought to the death to hold a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece for 3 days against over 10,000 Persian attackers in 480 B.C. Their King, Leonidas, perished with them, and the amazing thing about this display of courage is that the … Read more

Why Personnel Development Matters

In this 13-minute video, Randy MacLean and U.S. Army Major General Robert Mixon talk about how the Army uses a continuous personnel development model to prepare people for the next level job they’ll move into. This vital process is too seldom utilized in private businesses, where people unprepared for the bigger jobs flounder, hampering the … Read more