By Dr. Perry Martini

General George C. Patton, USA, once stated that courage was nothing more than “fear hanging on for one minute longer.” He obviously was referring to the fear that soldiers face in the tense moments prior to entering combat; however, I would submit that this physical fear is very closely related to that fear we all have during those tense moments when we are about to make a decision when conjuring up the moral courage to do the right thing — in spite of the consequences.

It is safe to say that moral courage is front and center in today’s culture. Read More…

From Academy Leadership Affiliate Tom Watson

As a leader you will, no doubt, be called upon to chair meetings of varying importance from time to time. No matter the subject, the cultural diversity of attendees, or the management level of participants, you, as the chair of the meeting, must ensure participation from all. It is all too easy, for example, to neglect the participation of people who are not native English speakers. Having led many business teams in Asia, I found that English was the most common language for meetings of people from various countries. In fact, I had to go out of my way to be sure that team members who did not speak English comfortably were not overwhelmed by those who did. Read More…

by Ed Ruggero

Last Thursday, November 19, marked the 146th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Read the article in The Washington Post…

From Academy Leadership Affiliate Cor Karaffa

In today’s world, private companies and family run businesses are not going public but instead are being bought by private equity partnerships seeking companies they can streamline and grow with professional management so they can sell them at a premium.

The biggest challenge for a CEO is leading a business that was formerly family owned. The set of values of the existing company will be decidedly different than those of the new leader. The culture of the family owners must be assessed as quickly as possible in order to understand the dynamics of what is being faced by the new leader. It is critical to the long-term health of the business that the “new man in charge” arrives with a clearly articulated personal leadership philosophy to share with all the employees. Read More…

From Academy Leadership Affiliate Bob Larkin

In the great book, First Break All the Rules, Buckingham and Coffman state something like … a person joins a company, but quits a boss. Let’s think about that for a moment.

First on a personal basis: how excited where you when you took your first real job? Why? Likely because of the perceived opportunities with that company. Now, let’s think about the most recent time you thought about quitting your present (or last) job. Was it the company? Likely not; probably it was the boss.

Now, turn that around for your direct reports. Do they want to quit because of you? Or do they really want to stay because you treat them the way they deserve to be treated?