Setting the Azimuth takes a fair degree of hard work, and keeping it alive is a discipline that goes on every quarter after. Speaking of hard work, here’s an example of true dedication in leadership: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition ship Endurance became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea in January 1915, and despite … Read more
A coral reef is one of the most beautiful and complex structures in the natural world. It is an entire ecosystem, alive and self-sustaining, every part depending on every other. And here is the amazing characteristic about a coral reef. No one built it. It occurred. You cannot commission a coral reef or draw up … Read more
Integrity is not what you say in the boardroom. It is what you do when no one is watching. When I was a young lieutenant in Germany, I had a platoon of about 41 Soldiers. We patrolled the East and West German border, and when we weren’t out at the border outposts, we worked on … Read more
The Army taught me a phrase early, and it shaped everything I have done since. Be the Standard. Know the task and the duties of your profession. Then do them, every day. You represent what right looks like. Be, Know, Do. Three words, and the order matters. Being comes first. Before you know anything technical and … Read more
As I’ve described earlier, West Point and the Army made deliberate decisions to move from a culture of compliance to a culture of commitment, from measuring who could survive to investing in who could lead. That is a culture turnaround. It is one of the most transparent examples I know of what large-scale culture change … Read more
When people show up but never buy in, and the clock is already running. In We’re All In, I described several case studies where cultures had decayed to the point of causing serious harm — not just to their bottom lines, but to real people. One of them was Barclays Bank. Barclays was among the leading … Read more
