Dave Anderson | Tag Archive | General Jim Anderson

December 26, 2016 maximios

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.

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…

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.

I knew that day, no matter how well I did when I stepped into the ring, I was going to get hit multiple times in the face. What did I learn during plebe boxing that prepared me to lead? Continue Reading…

Dad: “Did you do what your mom asked you to do?’

Son: (Without looking at his dad.) “Yep.”

Dad: (Eye brow raised) “Excuse me?”

Son: (Starting to walk away and dripping with annoyance) “Yes Dad. I did what mom asked me to do!”

Dad: (Firmly) “Hey bud! Look at me.”

The boy turns and looks at his dad.

Dad: “Your attitude is a choice. Make a different choice. Understand me.”

Son: “Yes sir.”

That was a scene that played out in my home with my dad sometime in the early 1980’s. Being the son of an Army Ranger who was a future general did not prevent me from having a bad attitude at times. It should have, but it didn’t. Continue Reading…

Any time a new ingredient is added to a cookie recipe, the flavor of that cookie changes and can’t be changed back. I cannot undo it. The cook can add chocolate chips or pecans-Dark chocolate or milk chocolate.

The recipe is usually an intentional combination of ingredients. However, once one ingredient changes, the flavor of that recipe will be altered and can’t be reversed. If I am a new leader, then I am that ingredient that will change the flavor of the team. Continue Reading…

When a new leader steps onto a new team, they have one chance to get it right. I got it right sometimes and other times I didn’t. The effort I put in up front always paid off later in better relationships and more productive teams.

Over the last two weeks I focused on what to a new leader taking over a new team needs to do in preparation for their first team meeting. I believe there are 5 Steps for New Leaders On New Teams: