Selflessness is a central characteristic of leadership. Leaders eat last. Others before self. It's not about you, it's about the team. These are all the mark of great leadership. Leaders who fail to espouse selflessness are destined to fail. But when is it time for self? After all, leaders must eat. They have to do some things for themselves in order to lead effectively.

Ah, Microsoft PowerPoint. What gem of a product. The bane of my existence in 3 decades of military service. I've spent many an early morning or late evening creating a PowerPoint presentation to 'sell' the boss or a group on an idea, show progress on a project, or teach a class. Did you know there is such a thing as a PowerPoint Ranger? It is defined in Wiktionary as, A person with a desk job who tends to produce computerized slide presentations rather than doing anything more useful.

I come from a place where lives are at stake. Miscommunication or misunderstanding of the boss's intent means the mission fails and people get killed. My military training and my combat tours instilled in me a clear, concise, and confident communication style. While I would ask for clarification when I needed it, never did I want to let my boss think I was unable to get the mission accomplished. Moreover, my boss had a lot on his or her plate and it was important that I not add to it. Too extreme for a private organization where lives are not at stake you say? While that is fair, clear, concise, and confident communication has its place in today's complex, fast-paced business environment.

This coming May, I have the great privilege to commission an officer into the U.S. Army Infantry. Preferring to leave his name out of this, I'll call him Jeff. Jeff and I had lunch yesterday to get acquainted. His commander, having the foresight to know I needed to meet him, set up the lunch meeting. I always love meeting and networking with new people, especially leaders, so I was eager to meet Jeff and hear about his family and his journey into the Army. I also saw this as an opportunity to pass on some leadership lessons. I remembered vividly, my days as a young officer, hungry and anxious, so I saw it as my duty to help.

Wake up on any Monday morning, check your phone or the TV and you are likely to find something which saddens, shocks, angers, or evokes some other negative emotional response. Monday, the 28th of March was no exception. For those who did not watch the 94th Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, we woke that Monday to the news of actor Will Smith striking comedian Chris Rock in the face. What followed was a barrage of news headlines, videos, memes and images to keep the event in our psyche.

I was speaking with another Army officer this week about counseling - the term used in the Army for appraising one's job performance. We agreed that most counseling sessions, if done at all, were lackluster. Of the 27 years I spent in uniform, I received about 5 effective counseling sessions where I was given helpful feedback and constructive criticism - where I was able to reflect on my weaknesses and talk about the personal obstacles which stood in the way of my advancement. Where a leader took time to coach and mentor me. It got me thinking about the impact of leadership on me - what stuck and what I remember to this day.

Every time I check the news I yearn to see a headline which indicates a cease fire or something marking the end of fighting in Ukraine. I find the opposite and it is heartbreaking. Amidst the atrocities, there are numerous lessons for governing, national and international security, international commitments and partnerships, and of course, leadership.

I've blogged about this before but it bears repeating. I learned the use of this phrase in the military. I don't recall from whom I learned it or when it was seared into my brain but I'm glad it was. Define that, has a legitimate place in leadership. In order to make the best decisions, leaders must have clarity on situations, concepts, and problems. Ambiguity has its place but clarity is important, especially when it comes to the survival of the organization and the care of its people.

I heard a commander of mine say this once, "Rob, always keep one person between you and the problem." It made me laugh. He was clearly joking as his meaning was, shield yourself from all wrongdoing. We had a ton of responsibility placed upon us as Army officers and military leadership counter-culture sayings like this eased the tension. Here are a few more to get you laughing: "It only hurts if you care," "False motivation is better than no motivation." My all time favorite: "Mistakes are for combat, we have our careers to think about." That one, indicating a toxic, zero-defect environment always brought laughter.

Like you, I watch the invasion of Ukraine with shock, anger, and sadness. I feel powerless. I've been reading and conversing with colleagues who have education and experience in this region and whose opinions I value to mature my own thinking and make sense of the senseless. I've had many friends and family ask for my thoughts on what they are witnessing. I offer these to inform your own thinking and for mature debate. I do not confess to having this right. Tell me where I am off. Help me round out my own thinking. This geopolitical situation is wicked and complex and expands far beyond the current borders of Ukraine. I wrote this for you, my audience, not a Washington think tank.

Many of you have asked about my assessment of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. I'll be sharing my thoughts this week on this channel and on my LinkedIn feed. I do not wish to make light of, or overlook the seriousness of what is happening in Ukraine but I thought I would highlight the lessons of leadership which are pouring out of it. Never is leadership more important than in times of crisis. Here are a few.

A point of clarity; by ghost email I mean writing an email your boss can use as his or her own. This is a great way of leading up and showing alignment. I've always lived by the philosophy of never bring more work to your boss. He or she has enough to do already and adding to their workload is not helpful. I have this radar which warns me when I am bringing more work - problems versus solutions. It is always on.

I always admired those leaders whose belief stood alone in the room and who were right in their belief. I viewed that as bravery, intellect, drive, and vision and I tried hard to emulate it. I did achieve this a few times - allowing the room to speak and share their thoughts and disbelief. I would then counter. Of course, as with any leadership role, I worked hard to gain their trust and confidence in me through my words and deeds. Coupled with this was my conviction to see a mission through.

I heard this phrase used numerous times in my journey as an Army leader; "I'll train that out of you," or "We need to train this out of ourselves." It meant using training, coaching, or mentoring to rid ourselves or our teams of a bad habit or practice. Training was central in a profession designed for war. We raised leaders to be trainers, to prepare their men and women for the ultimate - combat.

I've coached and taught numerous leaders in my post-military career who struggle to give directions on a project or lofty goals for an upcoming quarter. I always return to the 5-Paragraph field order or what we referred to as the Operations Order (OPORD). Nothing gets done in the military without an OPORD. It is the place commanders and staff focus on describing and directing missions. It works and I've returned to it as a framework often to guide my own efforts or that of my team. Here it is.

Why indeed. Most leaders in today's fast-paced, overloaded workplace juggle a myriad of tasks, manage a wide portfolio and tackle frequent and complex problems. If you are anything like me, thoughts race through your head constantly. You wonder if your people know exactly what needs to be done and are working on the right things. We need constant confirmation as leaders and we get it by asking questions.

Ok, this blog may come off as insensitive but I have to get this off my chest. Let's have a little fun shall we? We have all received an out of office reply. Some of them are just right, some feel like they require us to send a sympathy card, and some just leave us wondering. I'm no authority on what right looks like in an out of office reply - I've left a few dumb ones in my life. Now that I've totally disqualified myself, let's get started!

I submit there are no expert leaders. It is a statement ripe for debate as an expert, according to the dictionary, is a person with extensive knowledge or ability in a given subject. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, therefore, leadership knowledge, or ability must be judged by the recipient or beneficiary. If they are not inspired or influenced by a leader than he or she is not worthy of the title "expert."

I was wrestling with a title like, "Be the captain of the ship but not its driver," but my U.S. Navy brothers and sisters would disown me for that. You steer or pilot a ship, or you're its helmsman. In the Army we have the position titled TC meaning Truck/Tank/Track Commander. This person is responsible for all that the vehicle does yet does not drive it. It is because the role of the TC or leader requires them to see the greater team and integrate all elements within it toward a common objective. While they may occupy only one vehicle, they are likely responsible for many.

Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Interpersonal, Text, Facetime, Mail, Facsimile, Social Media... the list goes on. Which of these communication channels do you communicate on and what are you communicating on them? The answer to that is important in leadership. Remember, subordinates will latch onto the words and deeds of a leader regardless of the method of delivery. Wouldn't it be nice to know your messages were delivered and received as you would like them to be?