Category: Business

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The Leader’s Playbook-9: Communication – “Listen, Process, Understand”

Earlier in my career I had the opportunity to attend the USAF Fighter Weapons School.  If you envision TOPGUN… but without the volleyball, the bar scenes, the motorcycles, and you make it longer… you’d get the idea.

The air combat phase is one of the toughest. It starts with 1v1 air combat and ultimately progress to 4 or 8 good guys (Blue) versus a lot of adversary aircraft (Red). One of our rides ended up with 8 Blue versus 24+ Red. The enemy can regenerate after flying back over their territory and coming back alive to give the blue side a very complex and dynamic problem testing both our tactics, weapons employment plans and discipline.. and our perhaps most importantly our communications skills.

As you can imagine the radios are very busy during a complex dynamic fight.  Pilots and weapons controllers must listen closely, process what they are hearing, and understand it… all while flying the jet, running the sensors, making decisions on whether to shoot or not… at night on night vision googles.  Everyone must make deliberate and thoughtful decisions to be clear, concise, and correct when we do key the microphone and say something on the radio. There is no room for error here… None. Oh by the way… be calm when you do key the microphone.

As complex as everything sounds in the scenario above, one could make the case that with the advent of advanced technologies and communications systems, today’s leaders are challenged with much of the same things we are.  Everyone, especially todays leaders must be able to communicate effectively, and efficiently in the fast-moving worlds of life and business.

Great communicators take the time to listen, process, and understand what it is they are hearing. They are intent on putting things aside when their team comes to them… and listening (and most importantly hearing) what is being said… processing the information by being present in the conversation and seeking to understand the perspectives of the team member who is communicating with them. They are also thoughtful and deliberate in what method they communicate with their team and what and how they say it.

I think about communications a lot.  I can always be a better communicator. 

As a technique I’d spend some time thinking about your approach to communication. Do you listen (hear), process, and understand what is being shared or said to you? Do you take the time to be thoughtful and deliberate in being clear, concise, and correct in your communication with those important stakeholders in your life?  Are you present?

BTW, to my Navy and TOPGUN buddies… you know I love you.

The Author is currently serving as an active duty military officer. Any comments or recommendations on this post or on this site are solely my personal views and do not represent the position of any branch of the United States Government.

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Case Study: WeWork and the finances behind the business.

Before, and after, becoming an entrepreneur I flew F-16’s for the US Military.

One of the things we did religiously after every mission was a non-emotional, fact-based debrief.

The debrief had one purpose… to dig for the facts and then from those facts derive concrete lessons learned that we could export to the rest of the Squadron in order to be more effective as warfighters. We debriefed after every mission both in peacetime and in combat focusing on our survivability and lethality. Debriefing is part of who I am now and I do it daily in both my military and civilian life.

I”ve watched with interest the events surrounding WeWork over the last year. Recently the WSJ published an article on the financing side of WeWork. The link to the WSJ article is here. I’m by no means rendering an opinion given that I was not in the board meetings, but one wonders what kind of debrief the team there is conducting and what lessons they will all learn from this experience.

I’m currently serving on an active duty tour with the US Military. This blog represents my personal views and does not represent the views of any element of the US Government or my views as a US Government employee.

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Energy and National Security

I am fortunate enough to be spending a few days at the Kennedy School at Harvard as part of the Kennedy School’s program for Senior Executives for National and International Security.

One of the lectures we listened to today was on the role of energy in our national security policy and how energy transitions from carbon-based approaches to more sustainable energy will impact both global economies as well as the underlying fabric of global security

The US and our allies and partners need to think strongly about what a world looks like where oil is not a baseline power source.

What happens when that political and policy lever is not in play for global decision-makers. What does that look like, and what investments are leaders making now to ensure decision space in that new market?

This blog represents my personal views and does not represent the views of any element of the US Government or my views as a US Government employee.

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Sunday Thoughts: Airports and Air Travel

I admit it.  I can’t help it.  I love airports and air travel – most of the time.

Have you ever walked through a commercial airport and wondered, “Where did that person come from?  Where are in the world are they going?  I know I do all the time.

HULTON ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES

Air travel used to be an incredible experience.  People dressed up.  Passengers could not wait to get to the airport.  They were excited for the chance to fly across the country in a single day or night, and when they were on board they were treated like Queens and Kings.

Now people cannot stand to fly.  From the moment they leave their house the stress levels explode.  They loathe the long lines at security, the delays, the lost luggage, the angry and frustrated Staff, not to mention the overall crummy onboard experience including small seats, terrible food, and incredibly expensive and slow wifi.  (I know… I know… I should remember that we are talking about a tube moving through the sky at 400MPH and at 30,000ft getting internet).   The list goes on and on.

It’s sad to me.  I look at old photographs from the days of PanAm, Eastern and other great carriers, all gone, and I realize that we’ve lost something.  We’ve lost the passion, the excitement, and the anticipation that once was all around air travel and airports.

Of course, I know all too well that airlines are companies that have to make a profit.  They are highly capitally intensive entities with multiple cost components that are very hard to predict, much less control.  It is an incredibly tough space to make money in.  I get it very well given my various experiences in the aviation industry.

Copyright – Shutterstock

But… with all that said, someday, I’d sure love to see the excitement, anticipation, and glamour return to airports and air travel around the world.

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Bitter Rivals – Iran and Saudi Arabia and the dynamics in the Middle East

Bitter Rivals – Iran versus Saudi Arabia

Successful international leaders in the private-sector, public-sector, and non-profit sector must fully understand the environment they and their organization operate in.  This is hard work and requires consistent dedicated study and focus – especially in the Middle East. 

Leaders in the region need to understand the synergistic effects of the political environment, the business environment, the social dynamics, and the religious and tribal dynamics – just to name a few.  All of these elements are critical to understanding context – perhaps none so much as the religious and tribal elements together.

PBSs’ Frontline recently did a two-part piece entitled “Bitter Rivals”.  This outstanding series lays out for the viewer the dynamics between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran.  At its core, the series unpacks the centuries-long dynamics between Shia and Sunni Muslims.  I found it a must watch for anyone working in that region or wanting too.

The link to this program can be found here.  PBS FrontLine

 

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Attention Veterans… “Go start something!”

I spend a lot of time talking with military service members and veterans about what they might do after their time in the service.

Generally speaking, the conversations all have similar themes.

They want to do something important with a mission.  They want to do something that takes advantage of their leadership skills, they want to grow something, and oftentimes they are tired of working for somebody else.

Veterans bring incredible talents to startups.  They are hard-working, smart, driven, determined and armed with just enough naivety (read crazy) that they are not afraid to go start and build a company.  The challenge for many is to come up with a good idea (that has real potential and is scalable) and translate that into action. (Keep thinking… you will find it)

I often recommend that they read Jan Collmer’s book, “Go Start Something”. (Link below)

Jan doing what he loved – flying Airshows in his Extra 300.

Jan was a successful Veteran entrepreneur himself – and a spectacular one.  He founded several successful businesses in the Dallas area and was the Founding Father of the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field.  He also gave thousands of airplane rides to kids inspiring many to go on to a career in STEM.

He wrote his book to help potential entrepreneurs get their mind around starting a company and growing it successfully.  I highly recommend the read to anyone thinking about starting something.

Go start something: https://www.amazon.com/Go-Start-Something-Live-Life/dp/1469763699

Frontiers of Flight Museum: https://www.flightmuseum.com/

 

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Elements of National Power

There is a lot going on in the news these days.

The turbulence and drama range from the challenges our economy faces here at home, to the potential conflicts in North Korea, to the ongoing combat operations in the Middle East.

Leaders in both business and government must understand the various elements of national power often referred to as “DIME” and know how to drive them.

DIME is an easy to remember acronym for “Diplomatic”, “Informational”, “Military”, and “Economic”.

In the US Government, different Cabinet Departments and Agencies lead different elements of national power.  The US Department of State leads the “D”, DoD leads the “M”, while the Department of Treasury and Commerce each have parts of the “E”.

The informational “I” element of national power is critical but frankly, the US has not done a good job developing a well-coordinated interagency informational program designed to get the word out.  We need work.

Each element of national power can impact the other.  Great companies and great governments will take all elements of power into consideration and develop a solid strategy and a supporting set of plans to optimally design a gameplan that uses the right element of national power for the given situation.

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Requirements

I’ve been working on a few business projects recently which have highlighted again to me the value of taking the time to craft well-defined requirements.

Requirements are the road to solid end-states, and without them, a business or project will meander all over the place trying to find what it needs to get the job done.

So what does a well-defined requirement look like?

The requirement should lay out what the business needs in order to reach its strategic goals and/or end-states.  It should be clear, concise, understandable, and measurable.  The requirement should be “testable” and be nested within your business or corporate strategy.

The format varies, but the need to take some time to properly define, articulate, and communicate your requirements should be a key component of your business strategy and plans.  Don’t forget to take the time to craft some good ones.

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Making Toast to solve tough problems

Leadership is about working with your team to solve the toughest of problems.  These difficult, nasty, tough multi-domain and complicated problems are often known as “wicked problems”.

A wicked problem needs the very best thinking from your group or team.  The team needs to be able to set aside biases and think deeply about a problem.  As we all know, this can be very difficult to do.

One of your main goals as a leader is to build a great team surrounding yourself with the best and brightest.  (see my previous blog post)  This world-class team can then be set loose on solving the most complex and wicked problems.

One great way for your team to think through difficult and wicked problems is through design or visual thinking.  There is a lot written about it and several leading universities and business schools are offering visual thinking courses.

Visual thinking helps one “see” the problem quickly propelling your team to a much deeper understanding of the actual problem.

Tom Wujec, a Fellow at Autodesk, has been studying visual and design thinking for years.  He’s written four books on the subject and presented a great TedTalk which you can watch here.  You can also visit his website at http://www.drawtoast.com.  His work is a great look at the value of visual thinking.  I encourage you to check it out.

Enjoy the TedTalk and I hope you will spend a few minutes “thinking about thinking”.

Dan

 

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On critical and creative thinking

Recently colleague remarked on how interesting it is that Americans spend an incredible amount of time thinking about our physical health and conditioning but frankly no time focused on our “thinking health” and conditioning.   He’s absolutely right.

When is the last time someone sat down and discussed not what to think about something, but rather “how” to think about something?

As a nation, I think our education system should spend time teaching our kids how to think.  They should learn how to both critically and creatively think about issues and problems – not just regurgitate facts from a textbook.  We could do a lot better on this front – and we need too in order to give our children the gift of curiosity as they grow up.

As leaders in business, we also need to ensure that we are fostering an environment that allows creative and critical thinking at work.  Business leaders need teammates that can think clearly, critically, and creatively to solve our difficult business problems.

There is a lot of work to do in this area.

Dan