reading

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

“THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER” BY FRANCS SCOTT KEY

When I reflect back on the real catalyst of my leadership development, it clearly began at Camp Red Cloud in the town of Uijeongbu, South Korea. It was July 1983. I had the privilege of being selected to command an army company of 220 soldiers. I was a captain, five years out of graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point. My goal was simply to succeed.

The challenges were many. It was a high-risk job with a critical wartime mission thirty-five miles from the demilitarized zone separating North Korea and South Korea. I had never been in charge of so many troops with so much responsibility and authority. I had to deal with good and not-so-good bosses, causing me to rely on my own core values. I was concerned about failure. I wondered if I had all the right skills to make good decisions. Would I be an effective coach for my new lieutenants and other senior leaders? Would I be able to develop mutual trust quickly with my superiors, my team of leaders, and the soldiers? My boss was two hours away, so I was on my own in many ways and not very comfortable asking for help.

I had to recommit myself to learning about leadership. Values, leadership skills, coaching and developing others, and building trust all became monumental tasks that I had to address. Over the course of the year, I am happy to report that we achieved success. While I did not know it at the time, the BRAVE methodology for growing competence and confidence in my ability to lead was taking shape. What I also came to realize that year was the army was the right place for me.

This book is intended as a guide to help business leaders grow competence and confidence to achieve greater results. This book is not about military strategy or tactics, doctrine, or operational planning. It does not address business objectives, budget planning, or sales strategies. It is entirely about inspiring a call to action to develop leaders at all levels. Outstanding performance does not happen by accident.

The Leadership Issues Facing Businesses Today

The research is clear: CEOs and business owners today are facing enormous challenges in developing the leadership necessary to position their organizations for future success.

Development Dimensions International (DDI), a global leader in the leadership development industry, reports, “Strategy is nothing without effective leaders to execute.” In a 2018 survey of 1000 C-level executives worldwide, the top two issues they face in the coming year were developing “next gen” leaders and failure to attract/retain top talent. These same two issues placed in the top five in 2016 and 2017, as well.¹

Based on comprehensive research by the Human Capital Institute and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, 85 percent of organizations surveyed agree that there is an urgent need to accelerate the development of its leaders.²

According to a comprehensive study by the Center for Creative Leadership, the top leadership challenges facing organizations around the world include:

1. Developing managerial effectiveness is the challenge of developing the relevant skills—such as time management, prioritization, strategic thinking, decision-making, and getting up to speed with the job—to be more effective at work.

2. Inspiring others is the challenge of inspiring or motivating others to ensure they’re satisfied with their jobs and working smarter.

3. Developing employees is the challenge of developing others, including mentoring and coaching.

4. Leading a team is the challenge of team-building, team development, and team management. Specific challenges include how to instill pride, how to provide support, how to lead a big team, and what to do when taking over a new team.³

The environment in which business leaders find themselves today continues to evolve, especially in the world of technology. Change happens faster, information is more available than ever, and transparency is the norm. Competition is tough in just about every industry. Some pains remain at the top of many lists: inability to attract and retain top talent, lack of accountability, lack of courage to make tough decisions, lack of employee engagement, unethical and inappropriate conduct, and lack of trust. Vast knowledge and experience will disappear when the baby boomers begin retiring in large numbers in the coming years.

Many corporate leaders also perpetuate a profit-first mentality that often trumps focused efforts to develop other leaders. Measuring what results are achieved is clearly a critical task, but measuring how those results are achieved cannot be ignored.

According to Gallup studies, over the past twenty years, employee engagement has been one of the most important factors affecting profitability, productivity, quality, turnover, and safety. Bad managers cost business billions of dollars every year, their research shows. Managers who have the knowledge, experience, and skills to be effective makes a significant difference in achieving an engaged workforce. Specifically, Gallup concludes that great managers possess five talents:

1. They motivate every single employee to take action, and they engage employees with a compelling mission and vision.

2. They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance.

3. They create a culture of clear accountability.

4. They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency.

5. They make decisions based on productivity, not politics.⁴

The best executives and business leaders want to achieve sustained, longterm success. They want to maintain a reputation of providing quality products and services as well as to be good partners in the communities they serve. They want to reward their shareholders and stakeholders. These traits are no different than those of leaders in the army.

The requirement for trust between leaders and their people remains one of the most important priorities for corporate leaders. Establishing a culture of learning centered around core values that drive behaviors is of paramount importance to establishing mutual trust. The need to develop people in their ability to lead, to build bench strength, to identify high-potential performers, and to increase levels of individual and team performance are all important.

There are huge gaps, however, in the business world when it comes to developing leaders. In many highly technical fields like health care and engineering, leadership is often omitted entirely in the curriculum of study and preparation. According to research by Zenger Folkman, the average leader in the business world does not receive leadership training until ten years after they first began supervising others.⁵ Another study by CEB (Gartner) Learning and Development Roundtable highlighted that 60 percent of frontline managers underperform during the first two years.⁶ These two data points are interesting and discouraging.

The Generation Discussion

Some fundamental leadership competencies never become obsolete. They have been constants in the army and business world. They are generation-independent. That is why some leadership books remain perennial bestsellers. Examples of these fundamentals include the need to build trust, to inspire, to hold people accountable, and to become good decision makers. With the growth of the millennial generation and their successors, these fundamentals will remain constant. What needs to evolve, however, is how best to achieve and implement these qualities. That is why understanding generational differences is important.

Millennials are the most knowledgeable of all generations. In the book Managing the Millennials, the authors conclude the millennial generation of people work, think, and set priorities differently than previous generations.⁷ They also have a different set of intrinsic values: work-life balance, reward, self-expression, attention, achievement, informality, simplicity, multitasking, and meaning. Leaders who want to attract and retain millennials must be aware of these intrinsic values.

A common trend in today’s workforce is frequent moving from job to job, without loyalty to any particular company. Without a proven method to attract and develop leaders, the current nomadic nature of the workforce will wreak havoc on organizations.

A survey of millennials merits consideration as well. In 2016, Deloitte surveyed over 7,000 millennials from twenty-nine countries about their views on and experiences in the workforce. Seventy-one percent of those likely to leave their current jobs in the next two years reported being unhappy with how their leadership skills were being developed. Those likely to remain longest in their current position shared their organization’s values, were more satisfied with a sense of purpose beyond financial success, reported that use was made of their skills, and said their professional development was a priority. Millennials in senior management would prefer a greater sense of purpose around “being the best possible place to work.”⁸

One keen insight into how businesses maximize human potential is highlighted by the annual “Great Places to Work” survey published by Fortune magazine. Companies are measured on executive team effectiveness, innovation, people-focused programs, level of trust, credible and respectful leadership, pride in the work, and camaraderie.⁹

The Birth Of The BRAVE Methodology

Upon graduation from West Point, I was assigned as a platoon leader, responsible for the training and welfare of fifty soldiers, twenty-five vehicles, and several millions of dollars in communications systems. Over the next thirty years, I progressed through the ranks up to the executive level of the army. Each assignment carried increased responsibilities over all aspects of running an organization, to include but not limited to personnel systems and accountability, intelligence and security, training, operations, planning, maintenance, logistics, and managing the budget. I found that I had to recommit myself to the army and update my focused goals for each assignment. While my time as a captain at Camp Red Cloud served as the real catalyst for my growth, every year of my service built upon that experience.