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Leading and Building Teams

The Glass is Always Full

You’ve probably heard the question before; is the glass half empty or half full? It’s the wrong question. It’s better to ask, what the glass is full of. Unless it’s in a vacuum, the glass, or any container, is always full of something. Even the glass that is filled halfway with liquid is still full. The rest of the volume is taken up with air, dust, and other things you can’t see and probably don’t want to think about. People are like that too.Read More »The Glass is Always Full

Leaders, Check Your Ego at the Door, Please

steve-cockpit180x“Lead, do you have the target in sight?” Those words coming over the radio from my deputy flight lead, the third aircraft in our four aircraft formation of F-16’s, caused immediate consternation in the lead aircraft, of which I happened to be the sole occupant. It took just a few seconds to realize I had made a navigation error; I had inadvertently selected a navigation point beyond our target. Correcting the problem revealed that I was indeed overflying our assigned target. Now, what to do about it?Read More »Leaders, Check Your Ego at the Door, Please

The Wright Way to Collaborate

In 1901, most people believed that man would never fly. Wilbur Wright, who had already begun investigations into heavier-than-air flight with his brother Orville, thought that the achievement could be as much as fifty years in the future. Yet, on December 17, 1903, just two years later, he and Orville… Read More »The Wright Way to Collaborate

A Leadership Challenge

The boss called me in to tell me I was being transferred from a position I really enjoyed to one I certainly didn’t want. When I arrived at the new office I found that my predecessor had been fired and I had a strong feeling it was premature to start… Read More »A Leadership Challenge

The Respect Paradox

I’m always on the lookout for examples, both good and bad, of leadership in action. In this example a lack of respect demonstrated bad leadership. I was checking out at the grocery store the other day and a clerk had just opened a new register. As I started unloading my basket… Read More »The Respect Paradox

Don’t Raise Mushrooms

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