Dave Anderson | Leadership Training and Consultation
When I use the phrase Low Maintenance Team, the most common response is, “I wish I had one of those.” The more I hear that phrase the more I realize Low Maintenance Teams (LMTs) are not common.
There is a path I developed that allowed me to build my Low Maintenance Teams. I know I was not the brightest of my peers, but my teams were not the norm. In fact, no matter whom I talk to about LMT’s, I realize many leaders are not sure where to start. Continue Reading…
I have a 15 year-old pet peeve. I hate when leaders use voicemail messages to promote themselves. This pet peeve should be older. Unfortunately it is a habit I had to break myself before it became a pet peeve.
At some point I realized I was sending messages to my team that included information that did nothing for them. They would often start:
“It’s 6:00 AM and I am on my way to the airport…” or
“It’s 7:30 PM and I am 30 minutes from home…” Continue Reading…
A team is a living organism. Just like a tree, the team and the individual team members need to grow in order to stay healthy and thrive.
Too often, leadership is so focused on meeting the immediate deadlines or quotas of the business, personal growth becomes an afterthought. The only growth considered is financial or some other business metric. Leaders beware of this trap! Continue Reading…
Character is now a buzzword. I use the term buzzword here to describe words that we hear frequently yet are rarely defined by the speakers. The Presidential campaign is full of buzzwords. I hear athletes described on Sportcenter using some of the same buzzwords as the politicians use. The problem is, if you dig into those words’ real meanings, you would see how much of a stretch the speakers are making. Continue Reading…
Organizational or personal values describe HOW we operate. Many organizations claim to follow certain values because they list them on their websites, or they are on a poster in their offices.
However, many employees will say their organization has values published, but admit those companies do not live by them. Why? I believe there are two reasons:
- The values are not defined. In other words, no one ever lays out exactly what each value looks like in practice.
- The values are not consistently communicated. Organizations and individuals must be marinated in their values consistently to make them part of their character.
Continue Reading…
Becoming a leader of character is a process that never ends. It is a never ending road towards a destination you can never completely reach. But, leaders must take this road daily in order to grow and lead well.
I had the benefit of my father, General Jim Anderson, and four years of training at West Point to guide me towards being a leader of character. One of the reasons I began to blog, consult and coach on this subject is I realized how blessed I was compared to most aspiring leaders. I had guides!
I define character as: Our habitual way of operating.
But how does one develop character without the benefit of a leader of character for a dad or a 4 year leadership school? It starts by understanding how our character is formed.
Continue Reading…
Leadership is a blend of competence and character.
BG (Retired) Jim Anderson, my father, taught me that. In 41 years in the Army, including two tours in Vietnam, he saw a lot of great leaders and a lot of leadership failures that formed his philosophy.
Continue Reading…
Brett was stealing from the company. Primarily, he was stealing his salary because he rarely worked a full day. However, I even found out after I fired him that he was also using his company credit card for personal household purchases!
In the interview Brett was great. He had a great resume and was a former college athlete. He was funny and people were drawn to him. He had all the tools to be successful. But, the truth was I hired a dud, and it was my fault. I didn’t do reference checks and my excuses for not doing them were lame. Continue Reading…
“There is a difference between success and leadership.” -Ross Strader, Senior Pastor
Recently, while spending time with my good friend Ross, he made that statement as we discussed leadership in our church. His point was we often look for people who are successful in their jobs to find leaders for our churches, and we miss the mark.
Success does not always predict leadership. Whether it be in churches or in business, success should be considered when choosing leaders, but it can’t be the primary measure. Continue Reading…
When I relocated to Texas after 5 years managing in Buffalo, NY, I took over a team where one of the representatives had gone through initial training with me. Lori and I had known each other for 10 years.
Two months into being her boss, Lori asked me point blank, “What is your problem? This is not the Dave Anderson I expected.”
My response was: “Lori. If I don’t roar now, I will never be able to roar later.” Continue Reading…