How a leader’s reaction to bad news determines whether they ever hear it again. “Progress occurs when courageous and skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” President Harry S. Truman said that, and it has stayed with me because that opportunity almost always begins at an uncomfortable moment. It begins with … Read more
The Real Mutual Accountability Early in my career, not long after I became the Platoon Leader of an armored cavalry platoon with 41 Soldiers and 10 armored vehicles, my Platoon Sergeant (second in command) asked to inspect my fingernails. I was stunned but complied. His name was Sergeant Mac, and he was the kind of … Read more
You can feel the difference here. Most leaders stop too soon. In We’re All In, I described one of the most instructive cultural turnaround stories I have come across: the New Aetna. In the early 2000s, Aetna Healthcare was in serious trouble. It was losing roughly a million dollars a day. Its relationships with customers and … Read more
Your leadership team gets adaptive leadership. They’ve read the books, been to the workshops, had the conversations. They’ve learned about building organizations that practice adaptive leadership for several years now. But understanding something and actually doing it when the pressure is on? That’s a different game entirely. The gap isn’t about knowledge. Your leaders … Read more
The latest Level Five Associates book, “The Power of Being All In,” is now available! One of the key aspects covered in the book is Adaptive leadership … the skill set of taking leadership principles and applying them to the world that we’re in now, not the world that we used to be in. The … Read more
The tools that are in “The Power of Being All In,” are comprehensive. These tools cover a wide range of capabilities. First is setting your Azimuth — your direction, your true north in yourself and in your team … with your mission, your intent, your values, and your culture. The second tool is built … Read more
