Dave Anderson | Leadership Training and Consultation

I am not going to candy coat this blog with euphemisms. Let’s just be honest with ourselves and call a spade a spade. A liar tells lies. A coward is too scared to do what is right. An egomaniac puts himself first.

When we use a euphemism to describe our behaviors, it is usually a tool to make us feel better about ourselves. I am not going to do that here. I will leave that to the politicians who say they “misremembered”.

My character is a work in progress. We all have work to do. But, what should I be working on and where should I start? Continue Reading…

“That’s enough Lieutenant Anderson!”

I sat down and stayed quiet for the rest of my battalion commander’s weekly meeting. I saw the smirk on our operations officer’s face. As I walked out of the room later, a friendly captain patted me on the back, shook his head and told me not to give up.

I pushed the limits as a cadet at West Point. I marched well over 100 hours of punishment tours during my four years in school. There were a lot of ways to get in trouble, and a lot of rules to tell us what not to do.

Every violation of the rules at West Point had a title that described the offense. The most unique title for a violation of the rules was “Gross Lack of Judgment.” Basically it was a catch all phrase that meant a cadet did something that no one had anticipated needing to create a rule to prevent! Continue Reading…

Thirty-two years ago this week, I entered the United States Military Academy at West Point as part of the Class of 1988. This week the Class of 2020 began their journey as part of the “Long Gray Line”.

In honor of Independence Day and the men and women who serve so we can have the freedoms to speak and to pray as we see fit, I am publishing The West Point Cadet Prayer.

Before you read it, ask yourself: “What challenge does this prayer offer me?” Whether you are a person of faith or not, I think you will find a challenge meant for you.

Every male freshman (plebe) entering West Point has a mandatory class that few other colleges offer much less require. Boxing.

Each morning that boxing was on my schedule I woke up thinking about it. I would sit in calculus, chemistry or computer programing class thinking about boxing. It didn’t matter that I had tests or other graded exercises in those classes. Boxing dominated my thoughts.

Continue Reading…

“Argue with me.” He said it, AND he meant it. As I watched this leader invite his team to tear down his idea, I was astonished, inspired and humbled.

Astonished: Because I had never seen a leader so readily open to criticism from the people he led.
Inspired: Because I watched his team argue passionately for and against the leader’s point of view.
Humbled: Because I realized I am not always confident enough to have my ideas torn down by others.

Positivity or negativity? It boils down to making a choice. The attitudes we display go a long way in determining what type of leader we are and how many followers we have.

Do we choose our attitudes or do we let our circumstances or other people choose them for us? Do we choose to focus on others or on ourselves? Do we choose to look for solutions or look problems? Our attitudes have been and always will be a matter of choice. Continue Reading…

Politics. Gossip. Back stabbing. Whining. Distrust. Selfishness. Bad Attitudes. Work environments characterized by one or more of these traits are miserable places to work.

I often run into leaders that know they are leading teams that have these issues. Unfortunately some of these leaders fail to realize that the cultures of their teams are the results of their leadership. Or more accurately, their lack of leadership.

Unreliability or Duty? It’s a choice. Do we choose to do what needs to be done, or just what we want to do? Do we choose to follow through on all our commitments or flake out? Do we choose to give our best in all areas of our jobs, or just the part we really enjoy?

The business world may call this accountability. But I use the term Duty, as do our heroes who serve in the military. Understanding what our Duty is does not have to be complicated – especially as a leader. Continue Reading…

Dave Anderson interviews Social Selling Evangelist Mario Martinez Jr. Show #2 – Topic: Making Your Brand Not Suck. (30 minutes)

Social Selling Evangelist and Keynote speaker Mario Martinez of M3Jr Growth Strategies. Learn more at www.m3jr.com.

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Becoming a Leader of Character –

Six Habits That Make or Break a Leader at Work and at Home

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