Thank you for sharing this great information!

As I prepare my self to take over a section, I can’t help but feel both excited and scared. This is a great starting point for me as I learn to understand what junior soldiers and NCOs need of me as a leader.

Thank you.

George – mhmhmm, Books!, yummy! 🙂 Great post!

I’ve read “Leaders Eat Last” and it was good! I was able to read it very quickly because I found alot of parallels with military training. But I enjoyed how simply and straightforward Sinek explained things without being (let’s face it) overly hooah like ADP & ADRPs can be. I found it helpful and…[Read more]

Jeff,
I completely agree about judiciously closing your door!! Spot on, it’s inefficient and distracting. For me, closing the door was also an introvert recharge technique that I had to balance with the significant amount of extrovert-focused AG work that S1 requires (it’s alot of calming people down, and coaching many people through the same…[Read more]

Why Productivity and Time Management are important as a Commander pt3.

Team – we’ve had some great input on what commanders do to stay productive and manage their time. Today, I’d like to focus on a couple of resources and list of readings you should read at some point in command (or before if you have time).  Remember it is never too late to…[Read more]

@DallasKing – it sounds like you have been diligent in communicating your requirements to higher and creating partnerships with key stakeholders (BDE S4).  Awesome!

Reading the article and reading from your comments, it is clear that you are on the initial stages of “trying/ proving a new concept.”  At the end of the day you have to do the bes…[Read more]

@DallasKing – This is a great question that I know other commanders in other branches are having to deal with. I heavily recommend writing and sharing your experiences with the sudden shift under the DFEM (it can definitely serve current and future commanders).

I’ve contacted other folks but in the meantime let me know if this helps. See below a…[Read more]

Hey, Jeff! Totally agree about the business cards! I started doing that at my last job and present job. Not only is it helpful for the current duties as I execute them, but (I hope) it’s helpful to the person to take the seat after me.

Great point!!

Just wanted to add to the tools that you have shared Jeff (sir), and also:

“Success is not final, failure us not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”

– Churchill

Jeff (Sir),

You hit the nail in the head! Anger and disappointment more than defensiveness.

Still feelings some sort of way about the situation and although it is not the first time this has happen, I can’t seem to get my self to speak to the 1SG as I did the first time, mainly because after I spoke to the BDE XO the guidance was to go through…[Read more]

Jeff,

Failure; its like a four letter word but you’re so right. As an LT you are going to fail. What sets apart the awesome from the rest isn’t the degree of failure but rather the response to failure. Those who learn the real lesson become better leaders.

I was told that if I didn’t fail at least once a day I wasn’t trying hard enough.

1.  Meetings: my last training NCO had a binder that said “the meetings will continue until we figure out why no work is getting done”.  My rule is this a meeting is for making decisions.  Every meeting must have inputs (information needed to solve the question), discussion (actual problem solving), and outputs (typically an order).  I don’t mee…[Read more]

Thought of one other thing!

Staff/Commander/XO’s get a pack of these!

You’ll get business cards… put them in your leader/continuity book. Write little notes on the back about why that person is important. The DRMO Manager. The finance office manager. The urinalysis dude. They all have business cards…

One quick TTP:

It took me WAY too long to realize that an “open-door policy” did not mean I needed to keep my door open all the time… (I mean, I’m not an idiot, I knew, it didn’t literally mean that…) I had my office door open WAY too much as a Commander and Staffer so that I was “approachable” and my Soldiers could be inspired by how much…[Read more]

Attached are some tools. Every great continuity book starts with a great Table of Contents… it’s like your thesis statement for why your successor should invest the time to read through that ratty old binder…

“Leader book” = “continuity book” for this purpose. I had one of these daggone things customized for S4, too… if I could only find…[Read more]