There is a long history of business looking to the military for inspiration [think Sun Tzu and the Art of War]. The link between strategy and tactics, determination and flexibility and the importance of communication can be, in the militaristic world, a matter of life and death. And with such high stakes, comes great insight, but also great responsibility.
This primer on leadership by Colin Powell [courtesy of Tim Kwiatkowski] explains the importance of balance, analysis and the need for action. There are some great key lessons, like “Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off” — which is followed by succinct, yet powerful reasoning:
Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that the people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It’s inevitable, if you’re honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity; you’ll avoid the tough decisions, you’ll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you’ll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally “nicely” regardless of their contributions, you’ll simply ensure that the only people you’ll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.
Nina nets it out: There is much that leaders can learn from the military. Colin Powell’s lessons have plenty of actionable intelligence for us all to consider. Find at least one point this week and implement it in your business.
A great lesson plan, Nina. Slide 9 really hits home as does the entire theme- a redinfinition of success as the result that is best for the team rather then the individual, is real success. In essence, you don’t necessarliy need to be in a defined leadership role to be a leader. A top notch entitiy is comprised of many leaders contributing and propogating for the common good.
Above all, self empowerment leads to confidence and self-worth. Once you feel valued, by yourself, others will surely notice.
I will always prefer the motivated and inspired associte over the talented one.
Of course, all the better if your team members are both inspired and talented!!
Hi Chas,
Well stated. Team goals ensure a common incentive and hopefully common success! Sports teams do a good job of demonstrating the power of teaming. Many times we see teams with one highly talented superstar that cannot win as often as seemingly less talented teams that play as a unit. Superstars must learn that to win will requiring team play, not one person trying to carry the team.
It makes me wonder what happened to Colin Powell. Didn’t he seem 5 years ago to be the obvious one to be where Barack Obama is today? We were all waiting for him to run, weren’t we? I was. Until he made the speech to the UN saying we had incontrovertible evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. His heart didn’t seem in it. Then the evidence was discredited. And the shine seemed to come off. I wonder what he thinks of that day given his career since, and the strong stance he takes today about the importance being willing to make the choices that people will be unhapy with.
Hey Tim,
How right you are. He seemed like a natural for a run for the presidency. But, he sold himself out a bit due to his allegiance and loyalty to the President. As you say, his heart was not where his words were. He could be a good subject for one of my “What Can We Learn From …” series of posts. His story reflects the costs of following loyalty over one’s own heart.