Today’s hot potato – politics. It is a topic to avoid, especially in the workplace yet that is impossible with overabundance of media which forces its way into our consciousness day and night. The mere mention of a candidate’s name, a political party, or policy and the tension and negative emotions spike. Some people may shut down or attempt to shut others down. I remember the days when political discourse was spirited yet cordial, not infuriating as it is today. I hope that we can return to those days again but for now, especially in the workplace, leaders must manage the hot potato.
Read MoreIn any organization the leader at the top – the commander or the CEO, is the one who gets all the focus and attention. That’s not unusual. They are the face of their organization. They carry all the risk and responsibility. If the proverbial ship sinks, down they go with it. Their shipmates can swim away to other opportunities. But what about the leaders below the leader? Who are these people and what function do they or should they perform?
Read MoreWhen crisis arrives, as it surely will, leaders and their organizations must stand on firm ground to weather the storm. A leader must take steps to display some “Battlefield Patience” when the going gets tough. We used this term in the Army to describe the characteristic of the leader in the group who seemed unaffected by the crisis — who was able to think and lead calmly, allowing others around them some latitude to express their emotions while they remained resolute and calm. Battlefield patience meant not acting injudiciously. It referred to the leader’s ability, in the heat of a crisis, to apply tolerance and restraint — to act intelligently, informed, and deliberate even in the span of seconds. Indeed, it took practice to master this crisis-leader trait of battlefield patience, and it could only work if the leader invested time building a competent and confident team.
Read MoreI’m known as a caring, attentive, and patient leader. I do my best to get to know someone and then I provide those things I know they are looking for in a leader-led relationship and in a work environment – fulfillment, autonomy, praise and recognition, safety, discipline, and growth. This my “List of Six,” from my first book, “It’s Personal, Not Personnel.” I know I’m leading well by the feedback I get from my people. Indeed, I don’t always get it right and I’m always growing as a leader. My organizations and my small businesses, moreover, my people generally perform well under this style of leadership. But we and they have their moments.
Read MoreYou just delegated a task you could do yourself to Sharon. Now what? Let’s talk about delegation for a moment before I address that question. Irish playwright and political activist, George Bernard Shaw shared about communication, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” The same holds true for delegation. Has it taken place? How do you know? Delegation is not easy, and because it is not, many leaders either fail to do it at all or get it wrong. Even after over three decades of leading, I struggle with delegation. Leaders fail to delegate for three main reasons.
Read MoreOn August 14th, 2002, President George W. Bush declared August 16th National Airborne Day to honor the legacy of military parachute operations and paratroopers. In the years before World War II, the U.S. Army experimented with several new battlefield technologies such as advancing the utility and lethality of aircraft (Army Air Corps before the U.S. Air Force) and the insertion of soldiers via parachute to name a few.
Read MoreHere for you, the Rob Campbell Leadership Blog subscriber is a small piece of my recent book, “Left and Right of the Boom. The Art of Leadership – Before, During, and After Crisis.” You’ll find this part of the book in Chapter 3, “The Crisis Ready Foundation.” Here I get left of the boom where leaders form and foster a strong foundation upon which their organization and its people can stand – one which will endure when crisis comes as it surely will. In the book I offer, “The 5 C’s of Crisis Leadership. They are, Calm, Communication, Courage, Confidence, and Creativity. None of them were chosen by accident. Together they capture the true essence of leadership under crisis. Here is Creativity.
Read MoreOscar, a retired military veteran runs a trucking company. He has a small fleet of vehicles and seven drivers. Business is good and he has ideas for expansion, yet he finds himself anchored to the business running the day to day, unable to break free, strategize and network in his area to expand his offerings and grow. Time for an office manager! Last Tuesday he mentioned this to one of his drivers who knew of someone. Tracy, a veteran herself and a single mom was looking for work. Oscar, excited about hiring a veteran and eager to break free of running the business asked to be connected with Tracy. A group text message followed, and Oscar arranged to meet Tracy the following Monday.
Read MoreI was at a conference recently listening to a series of keynote speakers speak on a variety of topics. As a professional speaker myself, I’m always attentive to the delivery, voice inflections, pauses, and other mannerisms and techniques of other speakers. I wasn’t impressed with the speakers at this conference. There was one who knocked it out of the park, but the others missed the mark. I don’t like to be critical – I’m sure I’ve disappointed many an audience member. I critique usually to myself and log my criticisms as lessons to improve my own speaking.
Read More“You can never pay a soldier enough for what they do…,” I heard the U.S. Army Chief of Staff state years ago when I was a young Army officer. Military pay is known for being below what employees in the private sector make. Each year, the Army would distribute a document which did a comparison between military and private sector compensation. I never understood the purpose of the comparison. I always viewed it with a sense of, “so what…” It was known we were paid less for what we did and the awesome responsibility we carried. Pay was never a conversation in the military. Uncle Sam was in charge, and he didn’t have an open door policy. In my small businesses, pay is among the first considerations when hiring and retaining employees. I’ve always wanted to pay my people more. Pay is an emotional topic. Pay usually finds itself in the ‘hard conversation’ family. Here are my leadership thoughts on the conversation – from both sides of the table.
Read MoreAt the beginning of each “Coaching for Leaders” podcast (find it here), host Dave Stachowiak posits, “Leaders aren’t born – they’re made.” I’ve pondered this statement or question (are leaders born or made?) for years. Who and what made the greats – the leaders we admire and respect? I consider myself a very good leader. I only state this because of the feedback I’ve been given over the years, even recently in my small businesses. How did I get here? Was I born with some inherent characteristics? Was leadership always in my DNA? Or am I solely a product of my environment and my choices – mistakes and correctness? Am I a product of the leaders and subordinates who’ve populated my journey?
Read More“I told her we close at 5pm and she was like, all upset.” I’m standing at the checkout counter at a store this week listening to this associate complaining as she swiped my items and tallied up my total purchase. Her attention was not on me as she mindlessly swiped each item and stuffed it into the big plastic shopping bag. “Those pesky customers – always wanting to shop here and spend their money. So inconsiderate!” I stated in a joking tone. She and her co-worker laughed with a slight look of shock on their face. “I wish they would just leave us alone,” I continued. They laughed again but seemed a bit taken by what I said. Perhaps their inappropriate comments were beginning to sink in – my humorous way of teaching them a serious lesson. Never. Never talk bad about the very lifeblood of your organization – patrons. Especially right in front of one.
Read MoreI’m leveraging the news of President Joe Biden stepping down from reelection for a second term as President of the United States. And that’s as close as I’ll get to politics. Switching now to leadership, when should a leader step down? The answer and indeed, the act is very important and significant. A leader stepping down can have and usually does have a substantial impact on an organization, big or small. Leaders form and foster relationships with individuals and between teams and stakeholders. They form and foster trust and espouse vision and values. Their words and deeds are usually embraced by the organization. Leaders set tone and that tone permeates their organization. Often a leader’s impact on their team exists below the surface where people react and perform somewhat subconsciously following a leader’s guidance, using his or her words, and or to impress him or her. When a leader steps down, in an instant, all that impact and influence is gone. The void left by his or her departure, even if it is celebrated can be traumatic.
Read MoreIn a vast majority of leadership relationships, the leader possesses the requisite power and influence over whom he or she leads. This power and influence typically come in the form of a paycheck or the ability to terminate employment or a contract with a vendor. While leadership is not about using this power and influence as a threat, it does help the leader lead. If one of my people does not meet my intent or live by the values we subscribe to in my business, I, indeed, our whole team will vote him or her off the proverbial island. If a contractor does not meet my expectations, I’m moving on.
Read More“Maybe I’m being a little prisoner of the moment…” said Skip Bayless, a sports commentator and columnist for ESPN following the 25-point come-from-behind overtime win by the New England Patriots over the Atlanta Falcons in Superbowl LI in 2017. Whether it is a celebration of a big accomplishment or sitting among the wreckage of a disaster, these moments seem to swallow us up. It is a leader’s job to recognize when they are a prisoner of the moment. Notice I did not say overcome being a prisoner. Indeed, it is hard not to let the things which happen to us, and our teams impact us in significant ways. The operative word here is recognize. I believe leaders must constantly operate at a higher elevation than their organization and its people – meaning they must be able to ‘see’ bigger and further, pick up on emotions, grievances, and even celebrations or shock which lacks true merit.
Read MoreDo you work in an organization rich with drama where emotions are exposed frequently – where rumors and innuendos are formed by the stories people create in their heads and come to believe as fact? Are you a leader in such an organization? Here are my thoughts.
Read MoreHere is an excerpt of "Left and Right of the Boom. The Art of Leadership, Before, During, and After Crisis"
On the morning of March 8, 2009, I awoke after a restless night’s sleep on a remote base near the border of Pakistan. I was a United States Army Lieutenant Colonel and the Commander of 1 st Squadron, 40 th Cavalry Regiment, Airborne deployed to Afghanistan. That sunny, mild morning would turn dark. A life would be lost to an improvised explosive device or IED on the front end of a 12-month deployment - the life of Private First Class Patrick Devoe from Auburn, New York. At once my unit was thrust into crisis and it would need the best of my leadership.
Read More“Are we exceptional?” I asked (or challenged) this of my people in one of my businesses. I stress this quite a bit in my businesses. The way I see it, we have a choice. We can be like any other business, not special in any way – just a business where people show up, complete tasks, offer products and services, clock out and repeat. Our customers will respond to that. Or we can be exceptional – going the extra mile for each other and our customers. We can be exceptional in our performance being the very best we can be, operating in the ‘band of excellence’ in everything we do.
Read MoreIf you’ve read my books, you know me as a definition man. It is from my military upbringing. Definitions strip away the ambiguity around giving directives. They provide common ground and understanding for everyone. They provide the needed clarity subordinates and collaborators seek. Definitions can be remarkably effective in simplifying things for people. And, in times of crisis, clarity and simplification are paramount.
Read MoreRead that quote above one more time and ponder how you or a leader of yours reacted to a previous crisis. I implore you to pause, if only momentarily, when crisis strikes and remind yourself that you’ve “been here before” in a training scenario or a previous crisis or operational disruption. Maybe in that moment of pause, you’ll even remember what I’m about to offer in my coming book, Left and Right of the Boom. I wrote this book for you so it might serve as your personal training for every “boom!” that awaits you. The power of reflection — of coming back to the muscle memory of crisis response — has served me well when things have blown up in my life and career. In countless scenarios played out on training grounds, in classrooms, and on battlefields, I was guided indeed by reason, principles, and my core beliefs, moral code, and values, but mostly by my training. Practice may or may not “make perfect,” but having been there — in body and spirit — allows us to start from a place of experience when crisis strikes.
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