Leadership My Dad’s Way | Dave Anderson
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…
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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
My last 5 years leading sales teams I noticed a shift in our corporate culture. Because of increased regulations corporate compliance became a mantra throughout the organization.
Playing within the rules is a given in business. But, the increased communication around compliance had a negative side effect. Compliance became a goal in and of itself. The implication was that if I had a compliant team, I was a successful leader.
Truly great teams are not built around compliance. To me, that means I have a team who follows the rules out of fear of punishment. I want a team that is committed not just compliant. Continue Reading…
People couldn’t believe he jumped to another company. Tom was an all-star salesman who won multiple sales awards over the last 5 years. He earned sizable raises year after year and large bonuses. It didn’t make sense to some.
Tom called me multiple times during his final 6 months with the company. He did not call to discuss his salary, bonus, or benefits. His frustration was with his boss. 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…