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Believe it or not, mistakes are allowed
One thing many people can agree on is people are allowed to make mistakes. It is how we learn. As leaders, we have to tread carefully when we react to mistakes made by subordinates—we can either create an environment where innovation has a place or stifle it by allowing no mistakes and creating an environment…
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The Big Picture is the sum of the parts
This video is a great example of the Air Force for two major reasons. First, both it and and the Air Force over complicate the simplest tasks. Where the end game is as simple as walking to the cooler and grabbing a Red Bull, there are lots more steps and layers added to accomplish the mission…
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Power Distance and Communication Barriers
Most people become introverted when they talk to their organization’s leadership. It is a common reaction to this situation; it is also a barrier to real and effective communication. Power distance creates this barrier. Power distance is the degree to which it is agreed that power should be distributed unequally and favor those at higher…
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Trust is Earned
General Colin Powell has said “Trust is the essence of leadership.” This is something I think most of us can agree upon. We want leaders we trust are looking out for our best interests. However, are WE leaders others can trust? All of us can think of a leader who we would follow into battle…
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Is your plate full?
“Chief, I think my plate is already full”, I respond after being asked to take on yet another project. “Well…make your plate ‘bigger’”, the chief stated flatly, looking at me and gesturing widely with his hands, as if holding a big plate. There are many synonymous terms used to describe ‘task saturation’ or ‘having a…
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The Point of Decision
There are many times as a lead production superintendent that I sat in a meeting and received the status of an aircraft. Our Pro Super was briefing an entire laundry list of issues with and I had that feeling much of this was self-induced by him. The whole time I was thinking, “how on earth…
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Micromanagement: Where is the line drawn?
An often overused and misunderstood term used to describe a bad boss, micromanagement is more about the creation of impediments than it is the bosses’ personality or temperament. In order to recognize what is a personal bias toward someone from a genuine, micro-managerial impediment that subtracts value from an organization, we need to understand it.…
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Reward what you want Repeated
“That is how you do it!” were the words shouted at me by my tech school instructor accompanied with a high-five, after marshaling my first aircraft onto the spot. It was nearly 18 years ago when I learned to maneuver the colossal C-5 Galaxy; however, his reaction has stuck with me ever since and played…
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Dealing with Fallout from the New Enlisted Eval System
Just a promote…really?!? Many of those in our units and maybe even you have had this thought over the past couple of months with the TSgt and SSgt SCOD. I know I have recently thought this as those on my team have been receiving their evals back. I have 42 NCOs that have been hand-picked…
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The Third Option
Making decisions is one of the most important functions of being a leader; it is also the hardest. As leaders or even as subordinates; we are faced with problems constantly. When we are, two options always seem to pop-up. They are often rooted in can or cannot. When my wife and I bought our home…
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