The After Action Review: Learning Without Blame

Early in my career as a Major in the U.S. Army, I had the privilege of serving as aide-de-camp to General Crosbie Saint, then the Commander in Chief of U.S. Army Europe. We spent most of our time together in helicopters and jets, moving constantly across Western Europe and back across the Atlantic for meetings … Read more

Level 1: The Nametag Culture

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

Compliance or Commitment: Understanding the Cultural Breakpoint

One gets people to show up. The other gets them “All in”. I grew up in a Culture of Compliance. As a young West Point cadet in the early 1970s, I had only a vague notion of what culture even was. We had a set way of doing things called “the military way.” Compliance was … Read more