-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Keep Life Balanced
Over the years I have noticed those who just seemed to be more successful in their careers and happier than most others. To be honest, I was rather envious. After some digging, I discovered they all had the same thing in common: balance. To have a successful life and career, you need to have balance.…
-
How Long Are You Alive?
“Matt, how long are you going to be alive?” “I don’t know. 70-75 years, why?” “”Well, I don’t know. But I know this; you’re going to be dead longer than you’ll be alive. Remember this one thing. Life is not a dress rehearsal, you’re dead a long time.” That is the single most profound conversation…
-
Don’t Know or Don’t Care
A mentor of mine once told me, “personnel issues always boil down to either they don’t know or they don’t care and I can fix both.” Over the years I have learned this is true and most often the issues fall along the don’t know side of the house. In fact, I have met very…
deliberatedevelopment.org 