by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, For Executive Coaches, Leadership Development, Recommended Books
Lessons for managers from how the Army re-made itself between Vietnam and Desert Storm.
I was moderating a conference of business owners in the late 1990s as they lamented the poor work habits and other failings of “Gen-Xers.” Finally, I’d had enough so I said, “Say what you will about body piercing and Starbucks, I don’t think that’s the key issue. It looks to me that our generation’s contributions were the drug culture and Vietnam while the present generation has given us the Internet and Desert Storm.” The question becomes, how did this happen? Into the Storm provides part of the answer.
I am a baby-boomer who came of age in the Vietnam era, so my interest in things military was slight and my general opinion of military organization, I’m ashamed to say, came more from Catch-22 and MASH than reality. Yet, the U.S. Army has done some huge and useful things, so I was willing to take a fresh look with this book.
In the aftermath of Vietnam, “the Army began a revolution in (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, For Executive Coaches, For Salespeople, Leadership Development, Quotes and Aphorisms
Only the modern age’s conviction that man can know only what he makes, that his allegedly higher capacities depend upon making and that he therefore is primarily homo faber and not an animal rationale, brought forth the much older implications of violence inherent in all interpretations of the realm of human affairs as a sphere of making. [p. 228]
We are perhaps the first generation which has become fully aware of the murderous consequences inherent in (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, Leadership Development
One of my CEO coaching groups recently discussed the creation of the President/COO role in their companies. I came up with this alliterative and highly distilled suggestion.
- Decisions may be:
- Dictated,
- Discussed, or
- Delegated
To help define the duties of your #2, examine the range of decisions you make as head of the company and notice which you will dictate, discuss, or delegate. Core values, for example, are yours to dictate; the COO complies with your decision or leaves. Strategy is something to discuss, create together, and have a healthy back-and-forth conversation about between the CEO and COO. Hiring a sales rep or changing your health care provider are probably best left entirely to the COO; delegate those areas and keep your handsoff.
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, For Executive Coaches, Leadership Development
I recently came across this email I sent to a client after an executive coaching conversation. It has broad applicability for leaders.
The key from today is: get very clear about and keep your attention on the future you are committed to and the values at your core. Develop the discipline to pause and assess each event and communication in light of your commitments. Take your next step in service to your future, not as a reaction based on automatic, unexamined assessments from your past. Learn your triggers (people exhibiting disrespect, for example, or lack of candor) and move them into the realm of choice instead of letting them run you.
People follow a leader who is pulled by a compelling future and is adept at using data from a variety of sources, even unfriendly ones. They are made uncomfortable by an authority who is the victim of events or who devotes his energy to repairing the past. Instead, use the precious present to set-up a fulfilling future.
—Tony Mayo
Click to download as a printable Adobe .PDF file.
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, Leadership Development
I have been an adviser and executive coach to business owners for years, as well a being a serial entrepreneur myself. A common question is, “Why does my company need to grow (or grow faster)? I make enough money, I am comfortable at this scale, what gets better with growth to compensate for the extra work and stress?”
I have answered this question several ways for myself and clients but I never (more…)
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