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Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy – Human Connection

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StrategyDriven Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy“The sweetest sound to anyone’s ears is the sounds of his own name.”

Robert C. Lee (1888 – 1971)
Rear Admiral, United States Navy

From their first days as Plebes (freshman) at the United States Naval Academy, midshipman are taught that all people are social creatures who need to connect with others; to be valued and respected. They learn that unstoppable teams are first created through knowledge, value, and respect for each other.

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About the Author

is a StrategyDriven Principal and Class of 1992 graduate from the United States Naval Academy. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Four Questions (and Tips) That Will Transform Your Culture

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People grow into the conversations you create around them. The best tool great leaders have to strengthen and empower others is powerful questions. Questions evoke curiosity. They force others to think. And, when answered well, allow others to take ownership of the process and responsibility for the outcomes.

Remarkable!It has been said that powerful questions can steer any conversation away from problems and personalities and move them toward meaningful solutions. Powerful questions evoke insight, stir creativity, inspire collaboration and help craft a culture of accountability.

So, to that end, let me offer four questions that, when asked often and answered well, can help you intentionally craft a Remarkable! culture.

1. Are you creating more value than you are taking?

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About the Author

Randy RossDr. Randy Ross is founder and CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of Remarkable! Randy is a “craftsman of culture and a catalytic coach,” who inspires elevated performance. A master of cultural transformation, Dr. Ross has a unique understanding of employee engagement and offers practical solutions for increasing both the morale and performance of teams. He is an author of the book, Remarkable!: Maximizing Results through Value Creation.

Strategically Network for Business Support and Success

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Leaving the corporate world behind and becoming an entrepreneur is an exciting venture, but it can also put a lot of pressure on you – especially in the first six months. You’ll spend a lot of time learning new things, making adjustments and reacting to situations as they arise. The “bumps” in the road you are likely to encounter are a common occurrence on the entrepreneurial journey, so don’t get bogged down by thinking you’re doing something wrong. You’re not.

Be Your Best BossThe good news is that this phase won’t last long and the lessons you learn from the experience will prove to be extremely beneficial for the rest of your business ownership journey. It’s important to keep in mind that just because you’re in business for yourself, doesn’t mean you have to be by yourself. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. In order to have a positive experience and get optimal results, you need to choose wisely whom you will surround yourself with.

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About the Author

Bill SeagravesWilliam (Bill) R. Seagraves, president and founder of CatchFire Funding, is the author of Be Your Best Boss: Reinvent Yourself from Employee to Entrepreneur (TarcherPerigee, on sale February 2016). A serial entrepreneur, Bill coaches mid-career Americans on the best route to successful entrepreneurship. Learn more at yourbestboss.com.

The 5 Cultures That Determine Your Company’s Success

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How healthy is your company’s culture? Your company has a culture whether you make the effort to shape it or not, and as you might expect, it’s better to make the effort to create the culture that will lead you to success than to simply hope a great corporate culture will organically generate itself.

Cultural TransformationsBut culture can’t be static, and CEOs and other executives can’t be static either. Knowing what you and your company stand for and being completely unyielding and inflexible are different things. The world of business is in constant transformation mode, so an adaptable company culture isn’t just nice to have, it’s necessary.

Be aware, however, that constant re-engineering, reorganization, and restructuring in pursuit of efficiency (or the latest management fad) has a questionable effect at best. Adjusting in order to thrive, however, requires competent leadership and commitment to creating the best possible corporate culture. Your company’s overall culture is made up of five building block cultures, each of which must be tended in order to yield the best results.

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About the Author

John MattoneJohn Mattone is an authority on leadership, talent, and culture. An acclaimed speaker and executive coach, he advises Fortune 1000 senior leaders on how to create cultures that drive superior operating results. He is the author of seven books including Cultural Transformations: Lessons of Leadership and Corporate Reinvention, Talent Leadership, and Intelligent Leadership. John is the creator of numerous business assessments, including the Mattone Leadership Enneagram Inventory. For more information, please visit www.johnmattone.com.

Take the Fear Out of Accountability

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The word accountability elicits a threat response from most employees, who interpret the word ‘accountability’ to be synonymous with punishment. Let’s face it, any time there’s a disaster, mistake, or misfortune on the news, the first thing out of the mouth of the officials is, “Who is to be held accountable?” The tone is always one of shame and blame and fingers always start to point before facts are given. Employees at any level of the hierarchy will avoid the pain of blame and punishment if the culture is one which people fear accountability instead of seek accountability to get the intended results.

You can’t blame them, really, for having this kind of visceral recoil from the word, if that’s all it means to them.

But, I believe that that it’s possible to take the fear out of accountability so that your people actually crave accountability rather than cringe when they hear the word.

Here are three ways to go about doing that:

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About the Author

Marlene ChismMarlene Chism is a consultant, international speaker, and the author of two books: No-Drama Leadership: How Enlightened Leaders Transform Culture in the Workplace (Bibliomotion 2015) and Stop Workplace Drama (Wiley 2011). Marlene’s passion is developing wise leaders and helping people discover, develop, and deliver their gifts to the world.