Paul Westphal

Leading a company the military way

patton on leadershipI was recently asked if a military model of leadership was adequate to run a company.  When I responded seeking the definition of military leadership, I understood why the question was being asked.

There is a misperception of what military leadership really is: marching and drills, marching and drills…This initial response is usually taken from a movie, or television show that focused on basic training (boot camp) where the very beginning of military leadership is formed. Even children’s stories are filled with these ideas: Colonel Hathi’s March (The Elephant Song) from The Jungle Book says it this way: “The aim of our patrol,  Is a question rather droll,  For to march and drill, Over field and hill,  Is a military goal!” 

But the military wouldn’t be successful if this was the full extent of its leadership. The military has eleven principles of leadership.  I have summarized them below with a reference to how each of these is viewed in non-military professions.  You will see from these principles that the answer that a military model of leadership is not just adequate to run a company it is essential.

ELEVEN PRINCIPLES OF MILITARY LEADERSHIP 

1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement – Learning is a lifelong task that you should continue no matter what you are doing. 

“Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise.  View life as a continuous learning experience.” – Denis Waitley

2. Be tactically and technically proficient – In whatever business or profession you are in, aim to be the best.

“I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.” Abraham Lincoln

3. Know your soldiers and look out for their welfare – Take time to get to know them and look out for their health and well being. They will notice you genuinely care about them and probably perform better.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – John Maxwell

4. Keep your soldiers informed – Tell those you follow you what your plans are, accept their insight and suggestions, make them a part of the planning.

“We must open the doors of opportunity.  But we must also equip our people to walk through those doors.” – Lyndon B. Johnson

5. Set the example – In everything you do you must do it well and set a good example.

“What you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you are saying.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

6. Ensure the task is understood, supervised and accomplished – Make sure you give clear instructions, ask for feedback on what your followers think you said.

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” – Tony Robbins

7. Train your soldiers as a team – Create community and teamwork.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford

8. Make sound and timely decisions – Look at the options and then make the best choice.

“If a decision-making process is flawed and dysfunctional, decisions will go awry.” – Carly Fiorina

9. Develop a sense of responsibility in your subordinates – Delegate certain jobs and tasks, training up new leaders.

“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important that hiring and developing people.  At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies.” – Larry Bossidy

10. Employ your unit in accordance with its capabilities – Align strengths with responsibilities.

“The key to any game is to use your strengths” – Paul Westphal

11. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions –Taking responsibility for things is a key trait of a leader

Success on any major scale require you to accept responsibility…In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.”Michael Korda

Your strengths are like diamonds in the rough.

strengths are diamonds in the roughDiamonds are carbon that has fully developed its strength. It is a naturally occurring mineral, the hardest mineral known today. All diamonds start as carbon in its most basic form. Only after mining, cleaning, and cutting are they ready to be used in industrial tools or polished into beautiful jewelry.

Just like the diamond in the rough, everyone is born with strengths inside of them, but that potential needs to be set free. Michaelangelo once said, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

Here are the three steps to bringing forth the leader inside of everyone on your team.

Prepare them to recognize and use their potential.

Mining for people’s strengths can be a challenge. In this area I am a big fan of the Strenghfinders books and tools. I have used these for many years with several hundreds of former and current team members. The key concept in the book is that each person is born with certain natural strengths. Some might call these talent. These strengths are in areas such as communication, strategy, learning, maximizing, analytics and others. Your strengths do not define what you can do, but they help you understand how you could best approach what you do.

I start every mentoring relationship, and every leadership assignment with a thorough review of the Strengthfinders results. As the author Tom Rath said, “The key to human development is building on who you already are.”

I have not once had anyone disagree with their Strengthfinder results. But, somehow seeing their strengths in print as strengths, frees people to use them to their maximum potential.

Polish their strength so they can shine

The true beauty of a diamond does not show until it is cleaned and polished. Recognizing the potential of your strengths only offers potential success until your strengths are allowed to shine. Once my team knows their strengths we use every opportunity for them to practice. We work together to bring their full potential to the surface. This brings rewards in two ways: my team develops confidence in their strengths, and other people recognize their success.

Marilyn vos Savant, the columnist Ask Marilyn, is known as the person with the highest recorded IQ at 228. Her take on this area is, “Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.”

Point them in the right direction

Not all diamonds are destined for the jewelry store. In fact about seventy-five percent of diamonds are used for industrial cutting tools. Of the twenty-five percent that are used for jewelry, each diamond’s use is based on the four C’s: color, clarity, carat, and cut.

Your final job as a leader is to place your team in the roles that will allow them to make the most of their strengths. This gives each member of the team personal success, and it provides the best opportunity for team success. Five time NBA All Star Paul Westphal said, “The key to any game is to use your strengths…”

 

Every successful leader was once a diamond in the rough.

focus on your strengthsDiamonds are a naturally occurring mineral, the hardest mineral known today.  All diamonds start as carbon in its most basic form.  Only after mining, cleaning, and cutting are they ready to be used in industrial tools or polished into beautiful jewelry.

Just like the diamond in the rough, everyone is born with the potential to be a leader inside of them, but that potential needs to be set free.  Michelangelo once said, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

Here are the three steps to bringing forth the leader inside of everyone on your team.

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