Honor, Courage and Commitment

I just completed leading a Leadership Boot Camp experience in Charlotte. Once again I learned as much from the participants as they learned from me.
Dr. Perry Martini co-facilitated the Boot Camp with me. What a great American! Here’s a man who’s already put in over 30 years of uniformed service. He’s seved his country, raised a great family and lives to serve God. He’s financially secure. By all accounts he could be spending his days enjoying well-deserved leisure travel, fishing and golfing.
Instead he’s traveling our country, spending hours on end at businesses and in hotel conference rooms helping folks become better leaders. He’s doing this because he beli eves in our country and what we stand for. You can hear his passion for our country in his voice. You can see it when his eyes well up as he tells his family’s story.
His story (read it in My Father’s Compass: Leadership Lessons for an Immigrant Son) expemplifies the American Dream. It is a moving story of hope, vision, heritage, leadership lessons, and what it truly means to be an American. It was a real pleasure to have Perry attend this Leadership Boot Camp in Charlotte.
Other participants were just as inspiring. One attendee traveled thousands of miles despite physical difficulties brought on by a recent kidney transplant. Another attendee came to the Boot Camp determined to take her organization to a higher level. She demonstrated an indominatble, can-do spirit despite a recent, tragic personal loss. Yet another brought his entire family up from Georgia, combining his vacation time with an opportunity to improve his leadership .
Wow! It was a real privilege for me to be a part of these folk’s life journey. The Navy’s motto is “Honor, Courage, Commitment”. Our Boot Camp attendees demonstrated all of these traits, and I am certain our country will benefit greatly from their leadership.

Is Your Leadership Reliable and Valid?

 My partner at Academy Leadership is Dr. Carr Boyd.  Six months ago (December 2008) Carr and I published an article in Fire Engineering Magazine titled How to get the Most of Hiring and Promotional Exams (viewable at http://www.fireengineering.com/display_article/347478/25/none/none/Feat/How-To-Get-the-Most-Out-of-Hiring-and-Promotional-Exam).  The main point of the article is that exams for hiring or promotional processes must be both reliable and valid.  If they are not reliable and valid, they are not worth the paper they are printed on.

 

     In a few days the U. S. Congress will commence one of its most important functions when they sit for confirmation hearings for prospective Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.   The key question for the Congress is,  “Can Judge Sotomayor be a reliable and valid leader of the American judicial system?” 

 

     Can you guess what the debate will likely orbit around?  That’s right… Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation may hinge upon her decision (some would say non-decision) in Ricci v. New Haven, a case about the reliability and validity of fire department promotion exams!  

     To sum up the case, the City of New Haven gave a written exam to determine firefighter promotions.  When the results of the exam came back, there were no blacks or Hispanics eligible for promtion.  So New Haven simply threw out the results.  Firefighter Ricci, a white firefighter who passed the test and was set for promotion, sued the City for reverse discrimination.  So far the Courts, including Sotomayor’s, have sided with the City of New Haven’s decision to throw out the test.

 

     What is about reliability and validity?  Basically validity means what you are doing is right, and reliability means it is consistent.  With respect to Sotomayor’s confirmation, the jury is out on both questions.  It isn’t so much what she wrote in the Ricci decision as what she didn’t write.  Her previous decisions, along with remarks she has made during speeches, indicate that she has thoughtful and considered opinions about Constitutional issues regarding race and ethnicity.  She’s written extensively on these issues.  However, in the case of Ricci, the decision was basically a short paragraph!  This in spite of the fact that the legal community regards Ricci v. New Haven as a very important legal issue.

 

   So what gives?  How is that a couple of simple firefighters like Carr and myself can sling out a few thousand words on the issue, but a potential Supreme Court Justice shrugs it off in a few sentences? 

 

    I really don’t know enough about the law to propose an answer to that obvious question.  I do know that leaders MUST be reliable and valid in their courage to face controversial issues head-on despite possible repercussions.  Leaders cannot hide from controversial issues.  Is that what happened with Sotomayor in Ricci v. New Haven?  When you’re on the cusp of something like a Supreme Court nomination it’s tempting to keep your head down and lay low… to avoid a controversy that might derail your dream.

 

   Odds are that Sotomayor will be seated on the high Court, but not before she gives a pound of flesh for an important decision that seems neither reliable nor valid when viewed against her other decisions.

    The only way for leaders to ensure reliability and validity is to make sure their leadership philosophy is well-conceived and open for all to see.  When this alignment is assured, there is no reason to side step decisions. 

 

www.academyleadership.com

What is the End Strength of Your Leadership?

     On the strength of one link the cable

Dependeth the might of the chain

Who knows when thou mayeth be tested

So livest thou bearest the strain

     When I served on the Chief of Naval Operations' Staff at the Pentagon I was in charge of all "end strength" for U. S. Navy ships.  Well, maybe not totally "in charge", but I did manage the data system that held all the end strength, and I was one of the few who understood that old DOS-based behemoth.  Anyway,  end strength refers to all the appropriated manpower positions in the Navy.   In simple terms, that's all the sailors you've paid for.  End strength is the Navy's biggest single expense... we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars every year.  

     Managing "end strength" was difficult because it was a "zero sum" game.  Once the budget was set, any additions to end strength had to come out of somewhere else in the Navy budget.  Needless to say, making a an addition to end strength for new positions was extremely difficult, and every manpower change, no matter how small, went through rigorous staffing process that was transparent to all stakeholders.  Managing all those Navy positions took strong leadership from the entire chain-of-command, from the Chief of Naval Operations all the way down to Petty Officers on the deckplates.  

     The sad story currently unfolding in North Carolina reveals what happens when you have "weak links" in your leadership chain.  You may have heard the story.  NC Governor Mike Easley decided he'd like to "plus up" the state's end strength with one additional position... for his wife... to the tune of about $170,000 per year.  OK, maybe reasonable, maybe not.  Let's put it through the process to find out, right? Wrong! 

    The first weak link was the most important one.  The chain was pretty much broken when Governor Easley dropped subtle hints to his minions that it sure would be nice if his wife had a nice position up at NC State University.  Never mind the formal and normal process, let's just see if we can make this happen.  Those subtle, some would say less-than-honorable hints, put into motion a series of events that will harm North Carolina for years to come.  

    Other links in the chain, a little further down, but important none-the-less, took their "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" cue from the master link.  Instead of strengthening those links, the Governor's actions had weakened them... and they broke.   A few emails here, a few phone calls there (all very hush-hush of course), and voila... North Carolina's First Lady has a job with minimal duties but maximum salary.  As we say in the south, "Yeeeee Haaaaa!" 

    Now the whole sordid affair is out in public  Was there ever any doubt that this would get out?  Of course not!  Reputations that took a lifetime to build are damaged, probably never to be completely rebuilt.  Honorable legacies that took years to build will now have one of those famous asterisks.... "Yeah, he did good but there was that thing with the Easleys...".  

    Weak links snapped all over the place in this process.  The results?  Predictably bad, just like a ship whose anchor chain snaps.  Shoal water is never far away.  Individuals will suffer.  NC State University will suffer, and the whole state will suffer from embarrassment.  But perhaps the worst outcome occurred around our water cooler this morning when I heard yet again, "That's why I don't even vote.  They're just all crooks".  Ouch! Those words, my friends, are the sounds of our whole country suffering.

   How important is good leadership?  Well, it simply means everything.  A bad plan can succeed with a good leader, but even a great plan, and a great organization, will eventually fail with poor leadership.  As a military officer and firefighter I have to trust my leaders, and my men have to trust me.  Lives are in the balance.  So the question of the day is  "What is the end strength of your leadership?"  

www.academyleadership.com

For Want of a Leader: Comments on the Fire Department CPAT from Academy Leadership

For want of a nail the shoe was lost,
 for want of a shoe the horse was lost,
 for want of a horse the knight was lost,
 for want of a knight the battle was lost.
  So it was a kingdom was lost - all for want of a nail.

 

 For Want of a Leader…

      On American Idol the “bad” auditions are a great part of the show.  Watching a tone-deaf, wanna-be star belt out a tune is good, clean American fun.   But American Idol is entertainment, and oh, by the way, even their audition “failures” contribute to the millions of dollars of Idol’s revenue.  In real life, failures are usually not money-makers, and they definitely don’t qualify as good entertainment for those who bear the expense. 

     I say this as I’ve spent the better part of a week standing in the sweltering sun proctoring nearly a thousand candidates as they attempted something called the CPAT.  That’s the Candidate Physical Agility Test, a pre-requisite for folks who want to become firefighters.   No need to go into the details of the CPAT, suffice it to say that it’s a pretty tough physical test.  The test lasts about ten minutes, and nearly half of the candidates fail the test. 

    CPAT failures aren’t fun.  They represent a major expense for participants and local governments.  Many, many man-hours go into each candidate’s attempt.   Unlike American Idol’s ear-splitting auditions, these man-hours don’t generate income for local governments.  Quite the opposite is true.  Each CPAT failure is like scarce recruiting dollars going up in smoke.     

       The large number of failures is even more troubling because most of the failures occur in the first three minutes!   This in spite of the fact that each CPAT event is demonstrated via detailed videos readily available on the web.  If the CPAT were a written test it would be like having the questions and the answers at your fingertips all the time!  So why would a person travel to the CPAT, often over long distances and always at their own expense, only to fail an event that is clearly defined for them and for which they can practice well ahead of time?

     These candidates want to pass the CPAT.  Most of them could pass the CPAT.  So if they want it… and they are capable of it with modest preparation… why can’t they pass?   They fail for the same reason most things fail… a lack of good leadership.

 

   What about personal responsibility and self-discipline you ask?  They should certainly play a role, but despite our common self-delusional fantasies, we must acknowledge that no one is self-made.  Self-discipline will take you a long way, but it won’t take you all the way.  Any success we enjoy is only a result of someone else providing some leadership.

 

     I’m an admissions officer for the United States Naval Academy.  I routinely work with the most intelligent, disciplined and self-motivated students our nation has to offer.  Even so, the Naval Academy doesn’t leave it to chance that the best candidates will somehow “self-discipline” themselves through an extremely tough and complicated admissions process.  As soon as a candidate accomplishes 30% of the administrative aspects of admissions, he or she is assigned a personal admissions officer to lead them through the process.  This “Blue and Gold” officer can’t accomplish the admissions tasks for the candidate, but they can communicate, coach, and yes, even inspire the candidate to put forth the best application possible to achieve the desired outcome.  That, by definition, is leadership. 

 

      Leadership, however, is not all pep talks and inspiration.  It's also about honesty, integrity and reality.  Back when I was a Midshipman at the Academy, I asked a senior officer if he thought I might be selected to attend Nuclear Power School.   He considered all the evidence and gave me the honest truth that it was extremely unlikely that I would be selected to this highly competitive program.  He left no doubt that he thought there were probably better uses of my, and the Navy’s, time than me submitting an application to  “Nuke School”. 

    He was right, and I knew it.  As a good leader, he took the time to go over all the other career paths I might take to reach my personal and professional goals.  In the end, I didn’t waste valuable time by submitting my name for consideration for nuclear power school.    

        Proctoring the CPAT was tough this year.  Certainly there were some candidates who were thoroughly prepared, but were still unable to complete the CPAT in the required time.  For these folks the CPAT was not so much a failure as an indicator.  Some folks are not physically capable of carrying out the expected duties of firefighter and the CPAT indicates so, just as NFL training camp would quickly reveal that I am not physically capable of being an NFL player no matter how much I prepared.   

     However, many of those candidates who couldn’t finish the CPAT were capable, but woefully unprepared.   Sure they bear the responsibility for their failure, but failure, when success is within reach, is to be avoided.  With a little bit of leadership from someone along the way, someone who coached, inspired and kept reality in mind,  those capable candidates could’ve finished that CPAT and moved to the next step in the fire department hiring process.   

     It would’ve been win-win.  The candidate would be in better condition and move along in the process.  The department would’ve had that many more persons to choose from for the final hiring, and the overall quality of firefighters would’ve likely gone up.  We would’ve reaped a lot more fruit for all of work and expense in running the CPAT.  Instead, for want of a few good leaders, we lost many candidates during the CPAT.    

     We definitely culled the field of applicants, and the next step in the process will be much easier with fewer applicants.  But easing the hiring process was not the goal, and  unnecessary failure should never be an American idol. 

  www.academyleadership.com