-Frontline Leader in Healthcare
The Oxymoronic Leader is not one person. He is all of us. I have been him and so have you.
Merriam-Webster defines an oxymoron as:
“a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (as cruel kindness); broadly : something (as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements”
Am I leading if the adjective used to describe me is contradictory or incongruous to what a leader really is? No! Continue Reading…
The tragedy of what happened at Penn State has been well covered in the news. There are so many lessons that can be derived from what we know about that situation.
But, perhaps the biggest lesson we can all learn is how character trumps competence. No level of past or present competence will make up for a failure in character. Continue Reading…
In a nutshell: My decisions in these moments often determine the culture of my team.
I couldn’t believe she said it! I know locker room talk. I know the stories soldiers tell while on deployment. But this woman just made me blush! She also made all the other males at the table laugh. This was a leadership test I wasn’t prepared for. Continue Reading…
The litmus test for good leadership is character. Rarely do I read history, watch the news or read the paper and learn about a leader who failed because of incompetence. The most common reason a leader fails is a shortfall in character.
What happens in the months, days, or minutes that lead to a fatefully bad decision by a leader? What happens when he willfully decides to compromise his character? What happens when a leader ignores his moral compass and takes a path marked by dishonesty, fear, or selfishness?
This is the first post in a series of five on character tests. 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…
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.
Brett was stealing from the company. Primarily, he was stealing his salary because he rarely worked a full day. However, I even found out after I fired him that he was also using his company credit card for personal household purchases!
In the interview Brett was great. He had a great resume and was a former college athlete. He was funny and people were drawn to him. He had all the tools to be successful. But, the truth was I hired a dud, and it was my fault. I didn’t do reference checks and my excuses for not doing them were lame. Continue Reading…
“There is a difference between success and leadership.” -Ross Strader, Senior Pastor
Recently, while spending time with my good friend Ross, he made that statement as we discussed leadership in our church. His point was we often look for people who are successful in their jobs to find leaders for our churches, and we miss the mark.
Success does not always predict leadership. Whether it be in churches or in business, success should be considered when choosing leaders, but it can’t be the primary measure. Continue Reading…
You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another–which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality — we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point — and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole.
No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it… Now it’s “So what does this get me?” As a consequence, we cheapen worthy endeavors, and building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to Bowdoin than the well being of Guatemalans.
-David McCullough Jr. Wellesley High School 2012 Commencement Speech
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