This week we welcome guest blogger Jay Pullins from Catapult Leadership Solutions. The first priority of great leaders is making more leaders. But it doesn’t just happen. Making leaders requires selflessness, confidence and intentionality (see last week’s blog). And making more leaders doesn’t happen without a plan. That’s why many… Read More »Great Leaders Create Culture
I was preparing to board an airplane not long ago and glanced at my boarding pass to see that I was in Group 1 for boarding. “Cool,†I thought, “I won’t have to fight for overhead bin space.†But then I heard the announcements begin for Executive Platinum Priority members,… Read More »This is my highest priority. THIS is my highest priority…and this…and this…
Shortly after arriving in the new organization, I asked why we were doing certain tasks that didn’t seem to make sense. This was my first job as an airplane mechanic. I was very young, impressionable and quite curious. So I was disappointed when another mechanic told me not to bother… Read More »Don’t Raise Mushrooms
“Captain, are you sure you want us to x-ray this panel?” The phone call sent a chill down my spine. I had failed in leadership and open communication. While it is common to use an x-ray to detect cracks in aircraft parts, this panel had an explosive device attached which… Read More »Did I Really Say That? – Leadership and Open Communication
We’re changing our name! We will soon be known as The Daedalus Group. This summer we began an initiative to re-brand Academy Leaders. Our old name was closely aligned with Academy Leadership LLC, where we are certified affiliates. The similarity in names and internet domains between Academy Leaders and Academy… Read More »We’re changing our name!
Employee engagement is certainly a hot topic in companies these days, having a direct effect as it does on organizational success, employee retention and the bottom line. Unfortunately, I still see and hear too many instances of employees “checking out†and disengaging from work. The most common thread I see?… Read More »Employee Engagement? Start with Leadership Engagement
Is it that time of year again for you? Time to write a performance report! Everybody loves performance reports, whether you’re giving them or receiving them…ok, nobody really likes them. They’re kind of a pain. Often that’s because we make them more difficult than they need to be. Have you… Read More »That Annoying Performance Report
Did you know that the smallpox virus is a possible weapon in the fight against cancer? I didn’t. And what does that have to do with leadership anyway? A couple of years ago I was a volunteer judge for the speaking portion of the Health Occupations Student Organization’s contest. One… Read More »Leadership and Smallpox
by Tom Deierlein, on October 20, 2015 Back in the military when I was 17 years old, I was taught an early and important lesson about leadership. If there are two Privates assigned to scrub toilets – one of them was in charge of scrubbing toilets. No matter how simple… Read More »Want Results? You Need a Single Person of Accountability
How can a leader be effective in crisis management when a real, no-kidding, unanticipated disaster strikes? Some years ago I commanded a large Air Force squadron that was faced with a major crisis that threw us off our game for a while. Without going into details, I’ll say that the… Read More »10 Leadership Actions for Crisis Management