http://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2012/09/18/from-the-battlefield-to-the-boardroom-a-navy-seals-guide-to-business-leadership-success-part-1-of-3/
Former Navy SEAL combat veteran and passionate entrepreneur, Brent Gleeson, is the co-founder and CMO of Internet Marketing Inc. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrentGleeson.
I spent five years as a Navy SEAL supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war on terror. During “capture or kill” missions in Iraq and clandestine operations in Northern Africa, I gained a unique perspective on teamwork, leadership, and what it takes to succeed in a competitive and challenging environment. What I didn’t realize at the time was that my experiences in combat had given me a highly valuable and applicable set of tools that translated well to entrepreneurship and leadership in business.
In Part 1 of this blog series, I will focus on six important aspects of military leadership that are critical to building a business, a driven team, and profitable organization.
Mission Communication: Defining Reality for Your Team - There are three things you have to do well to be a SEAL operator: Move, shoot, and communicate. While all three are important, communication is the most crucial. When we would call up the chain of command saying “pass the word,” that meant, “tell us what the hell is going on!” Sound familiar? When the team understood the big picture and everyone knew their specific roles in accomplishing the mission, we were always set up for success. In a business, when the team has a clear vision of where the company has been and where it’s headed, and more importantly how their contribution to the end goal matters, they will have a much deeper sense of ownership.
Mission Planning: Strategizing in a Chaotic Environment – Many factors affect the outcome of any great plan. However, a great plan is worthless without proper execution. Planning for contingencies is imperative in combat as well as in business. There are many factors at play in our new economy. These externalities we face in running a growing business include the impact of emerging technologies, economic shifts, generational gaps among employees, and dynamic industry conditions. These factors can create a chaotic environment in which planning becomes even more critical. Any great special operations team or professional athlete will envision what winning looks like before they go on their mission or start their race. Define what winning really looks like to your team outside of just the financial aspects. I am a big believer in a one-page business plan that keeps things simple, focuses on your top priorities, and leaves flexibility to change as conditions evolve.
Mission Team: Maximizing Engagement and Inspiring Innovation – One of the most interesting differentiators about the special operations community, and specifically the SEAL teams, is they are rather flat organizations. The traditional military is more like corporate America, where special ops is similar to the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship. Team guys, as SEALs often refer to themselves as, are generally very well educated (most enlisted SEALs have college degrees), freethinking professionals who have an unstoppable will to succeed. We, as leaders, must learn how to inspire our team members within our organizations to have the same drive and enthusiasm that we do. As Dwight D. Eisenhower once said: “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because they want to do it.”
Mission Structure: Respecting the Chain of Command – The special ops’ community is known for its casual culture and the common respect shared between all team members whether enlisted or officer. Everyone follows the same grueling path to become a SEAL. That said, chain of command is still critical especially when bullets start flying. Having a team of free thinkers is good, but the direction still needs to come from the top. Respecting the chain of command is not just a bottom-up philosophy. It is just as important for senior leaders to respect the chain of command from the top down. Not doing so by going around middle management not only destroys the fabric of authority, but also causes mass confusion. Never disrespect the chain of command by going around your middle managers. If you find yourself doing so you most likely need to examine your personal leadership style or ask yourself if you truly trust middle management.
Mission Debrief: Allowing Your Team to Have a Real Voice and Offer Transparent Feedback - One of the things that really builds camaraderie in the SEALs is that we can always count on our fellow team members to tell us when we screwed up! There is always an after action review or mission debrief…always a review of the tough lessons learned from each mission. This is how we have constantly improved our tactics. In the same way, successful business leaders learn as much from their failures as their successes. But as long as you collect the right intelligence and properly apply what you have learned to the next situation, you can ensure more successes than failures down the road. Build a culture around transparency and encourage anonymous feedback with 360 degree reviews.
Mission Training: Preparing for the Next Mission - Always be learning and always be training. A SEAL team will rehearse every single mission prior to execution without fail. As mentioned above, once the mission is completed, one of the most important elements in the mission debrief is the discussion of “lessons learned.” What are we going to take away from this operation to help us improve as a team and always develop as an organization? The most successful companies are often the most innovative. So how do they become innovative? They do so by encouraging and supporting growth, providing resources for constant learning, and rewarding creativity. People succeed when they are inspired and excited to come to work. When we love what we do, it’s not work. This is what we want from our talent and it’s up to us as leaders to ensure they have it.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Infinite Plays in Charity Kickball Game on Ford Field
While attending a leadership conference in Detroit, the executives of Infinite were able to join consultants from across the country to play in a charity kickball tournament on Ford Field.
Having fun and giving back at the same time!
Having fun and giving back at the same time!
Infinite Attends Leadership Conference In Detroit At Ford Motor Company,Gets A Change To Play On Ford Field and MORE
Executives from Infinite were invited to a leadership conference at the Ford Motor Company. In addition to some great speakers and lessons from successful consultants, the weekend included a trip to the Ford Museum, a charity kickball tournament at Ford Field and a look inside the Lions' locker room.
How to be Successful Before Breakfast - Tom Fox
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-fox/how-to-be-successful-befo_b_1846255.html
Laura Vanderkam is a nationally recognized writer whose focus is on helping her readers rediscover their true passions and beliefs in pursuit of more meaningful lives. She is the author of the new book What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. Vanderkam spoke with Tom Fox, who writes the Washington Post's Federal Coach blog and is the director of the Partnership for Public Service's Center for Government Leadership.
Can you share some of your favorite anecdotes about how successful people use their mornings to accomplish tasks?
I learned that successful people know that mornings are a great time for getting things done. They are the high-impact activities that are important but aren't urgent--like exercise, strategic career thinking, creative work and even focused time with your family.
One of my favorite anecdotes came from a university administrator who had trouble getting things done because of her open-door policy. People would come in her office every few minutes. She figured out a way to fix this. Her daughter played water polo, so she had to be at the pool before 7 a.m. Rather than just bring her daughter to practice and then go home, she decided to go to work.
She would use that early morning quiet time to do focused, big tasks she had to get done because no one was interrupting her at 7 a.m., and then later in the day she would deal with email. She joked that she was doing more before breakfast than she used to get done in a week.
What tips do you have for federal employees who may not have a daughter playing water polo?
Often times, we are not aware of how much time is passing between when we wake up and when we actually start work. I tell people to picture what the perfect morning would look like. What are things you're not doing in your life that you'd like to be doing more of? And are there ways that you can make those things happen in the morning? Work through the logistics and map out a morning schedule. The harder part, of course, is turning it into a habit.
What obstacles do leaders face in implementing this sort of morning plan?
I think the biggest problem is that people wake up in the morning and don't want to get out of bed, and often that is because they've gone to bed too late. The solution to morning problems lies in the night before. The evenings can get away from you. We get distracted on the Internet, watching television or puttering around the house. It is better to give yourself a bed time and then you can reclaim some of those morning hours for something that really would move your life forward and help you achieve your goals.
From your experience, why do so many people struggle with time management?
Since the hours will be filled by something no matter what we do, sometimes it's easier to just go with it and let life happen to you. A lot of problems with time management stem from not thinking about how we'd like to use our time. We just accept that our time is what it is, as opposed to viewing it as a result of the various decisions that we've made over the years.
To quote the late Stephen Covey and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, begin with the end in mind. People don't think about how they spend their time and what their big goals are. The biggest time management problems are not spending too much time on Facebook or running errands. People often ask things like "How can I spend less time emptying the dishwasher?" That's not what time management is about. It's about getting the big things right and making sure that you're investing the right number of hours in things that are important to you.
What keys to success can federal managers learn from highly productive people?
Keep a time log so you can see where the time really goes. From looking at the time logs of extremely successful people, I've learned that they focus on three categories: nurturing their career, nurturing their family and nurturing themselves. As much as possible, they ignore, minimize or outsource everything else. It's not that these people are racing around from one thing to the next. Instead, they are choosing to do things in their down-time that are meaningful and important to them.
Who do you consider to be your role models?
She's not a household name, but I've gotten to know an entrepreneur named Amanda Steinberg. She runs an email financial newsletter called DailyWorth. What I find so fascinating is that she started the company basically the same week she gave birth to her second child. She has shown how you can build a successful small business while also spending a lot of time with your children. Just seeing how people make time for everything that really matters to them has helped me to realize there is nothing incompatible with achieving great things in your personal and professional lives at the same time.
This post was originally featured on The Washington Post's website.
Laura Vanderkam is a nationally recognized writer whose focus is on helping her readers rediscover their true passions and beliefs in pursuit of more meaningful lives. She is the author of the new book What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. Vanderkam spoke with Tom Fox, who writes the Washington Post's Federal Coach blog and is the director of the Partnership for Public Service's Center for Government Leadership.
Can you share some of your favorite anecdotes about how successful people use their mornings to accomplish tasks?
I learned that successful people know that mornings are a great time for getting things done. They are the high-impact activities that are important but aren't urgent--like exercise, strategic career thinking, creative work and even focused time with your family.
One of my favorite anecdotes came from a university administrator who had trouble getting things done because of her open-door policy. People would come in her office every few minutes. She figured out a way to fix this. Her daughter played water polo, so she had to be at the pool before 7 a.m. Rather than just bring her daughter to practice and then go home, she decided to go to work.
She would use that early morning quiet time to do focused, big tasks she had to get done because no one was interrupting her at 7 a.m., and then later in the day she would deal with email. She joked that she was doing more before breakfast than she used to get done in a week.
What tips do you have for federal employees who may not have a daughter playing water polo?
Often times, we are not aware of how much time is passing between when we wake up and when we actually start work. I tell people to picture what the perfect morning would look like. What are things you're not doing in your life that you'd like to be doing more of? And are there ways that you can make those things happen in the morning? Work through the logistics and map out a morning schedule. The harder part, of course, is turning it into a habit.
What obstacles do leaders face in implementing this sort of morning plan?
I think the biggest problem is that people wake up in the morning and don't want to get out of bed, and often that is because they've gone to bed too late. The solution to morning problems lies in the night before. The evenings can get away from you. We get distracted on the Internet, watching television or puttering around the house. It is better to give yourself a bed time and then you can reclaim some of those morning hours for something that really would move your life forward and help you achieve your goals.
From your experience, why do so many people struggle with time management?
Since the hours will be filled by something no matter what we do, sometimes it's easier to just go with it and let life happen to you. A lot of problems with time management stem from not thinking about how we'd like to use our time. We just accept that our time is what it is, as opposed to viewing it as a result of the various decisions that we've made over the years.
To quote the late Stephen Covey and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, begin with the end in mind. People don't think about how they spend their time and what their big goals are. The biggest time management problems are not spending too much time on Facebook or running errands. People often ask things like "How can I spend less time emptying the dishwasher?" That's not what time management is about. It's about getting the big things right and making sure that you're investing the right number of hours in things that are important to you.
What keys to success can federal managers learn from highly productive people?
Keep a time log so you can see where the time really goes. From looking at the time logs of extremely successful people, I've learned that they focus on three categories: nurturing their career, nurturing their family and nurturing themselves. As much as possible, they ignore, minimize or outsource everything else. It's not that these people are racing around from one thing to the next. Instead, they are choosing to do things in their down-time that are meaningful and important to them.
Who do you consider to be your role models?
She's not a household name, but I've gotten to know an entrepreneur named Amanda Steinberg. She runs an email financial newsletter called DailyWorth. What I find so fascinating is that she started the company basically the same week she gave birth to her second child. She has shown how you can build a successful small business while also spending a lot of time with your children. Just seeing how people make time for everything that really matters to them has helped me to realize there is nothing incompatible with achieving great things in your personal and professional lives at the same time.
This post was originally featured on The Washington Post's website.
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