by Ed Ruggero
March 16 was West Point’s two hundred and eighth anniversary. Celebrations of “Founder’s Day” span the globe and range from a massive formal dinner in the Cadet Mess Hall to small gatherings of alumni just back from patrol or off shift in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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. ,
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. ,
From Academy Leadership Affiliate Tom Watson
There are times when it takes moral and ethical courage to go counter to the apparently popular business practice of the day. The late 1980’s and early 1990’s were the “go-go” years of business growth in Asia. Many contracts and business agreements were facilitated by drinking and partying into the wee hours of the morning. The popular understanding was that one could not secure new business deals within certain Asian countries without significant alcohol consumption. This was not necessarily the case. ,
From Academy Leadership Affiliate Rob Cannon
A few weeks ago I went through an 8-hour “diversity and inclusion” workshop. “Diversity” is a word that seems to be everywhere these days. It’s a major topic in many walks of life — educators, politicians, business people and religious leaders all seem to be asking, “Are we diverse? Do we need to be diverse? How do we become diverse? What do we do once we are diverse?”
There is no question that the demographic make up of our country, and the world-at-large, is constantly evolving. The question for leaders is, “What, if anything, to do about it?” ,
