Things I have learned from Generals…

Several years ago one of my friends was promoted to the rank of general, which in the military is the civilian equivalent of a Senior CEO or Board Chairman.  In the course of a conversation, my friend asked me whether I had any suggestions or advice.  It did not take me long to think though some observations.  I owe a great deal to general officers who took the time to talk to me and to get to know me at crucial moments in my career.  These observations are worth remembering for all of us who are fortunate enough to find ourselves in positions of leadership.

1. Walk the halls alone.  Years ago I knew a colonel who became a general.  We were friends, although he was older.  Once he was promoted, I never saw him again without his aide or deputy or someone.   It is probably an unfair assessment, but it seemed as though he always had to have an audience for whom he was performing. It didn’t play too well with us.

2. Remember me.  As a young doctor, I was walking down the hallway of my community hospital and a general called out to me and greeted me by name.  She had met me exactly once in a previous job when she was my hospital’s Chief Nurse.  And here, two years later, she remembered my name.  That was huge.  I wish I knew how she did that…

3. Bring me in.  When I was a new subspecialist the hospital commander called me to his office, invited me to be part of some presentations, and gave me a glimpse of life at a higher level.  It was a watershed for me to begin thinking beyond the tactical level.  I wonder if he knew the seeds that he was planting. 

4. Be where I don’t expect you.  I called one of my commanders once to offer to take him some information he had requested.  “Sir, I’ll bring it down to you,” I suggested.  “No, Chuck, I’ll be right over.”  And he was.  Within minutes he was sitting in my office, and he spent 30 minutes with me asking about my family, my job and my plans.  He left and I thought, “This is what it means to be mentored.”

5. Know the housekeeper’s names.  A Senior Civilian Leader mentioned to me that his key principle of leadership was, “no one is more important than anyone else.”  It is as important to the people you talk to as it is to those who are watching.  He told me that he disciplined himself to practice this principle by knowing the names of the security and housekeeping staff. When I think about it, he also modeled this principle by knowing me…

6. Do what you can yourself.   At a party once I was standing with a group talking to a general. His cell phone went off and he handed it to the aide, “Make this thing stop ringing.” His wife saw it, and ribbed him mercilessly. It led to a series of stories about flag officers who lost the ability to do the basic things of life.  Do simple things yourself when possible.  It is a good demonstration of humility, and good exercise. Because one day, there won’t be any aides.

7. As me what I think.   As a young Department Chief, my Commander asked me to look into hospital child care issues. She listened to what I discovered.  It was the first time a General had expressed interest in what I had to say.  It moved me up a notch in confidence, and moved her up a notch in my esteem.  Her successor put me on an action team with four others to revise the hospital’s budget.   He pushed me to think about things I had never considered and valued my opinion when we were finished the project.  He had another project waiting…

8. Give me the benefit of the doubt.   Just out of fellowship, I had not yet even met my Commander when he passed on a rebuke to me down through my chief.  The scolding was based on something someone thought I had said in a casual conversation at a national medical meeting.  He was mistaken as best as I recall.  I was a bit insulted, and wondered why if it was that important, he had not spoken to me himself?

9. Challenge me to do more.   At a social event, I listened to a general relate that one of his subordinates had said he didn’t have time to read.  The general told him, “Son, you don’t have time not to read.”  A bit later that evening he asked me whether I had read Manchester’s The Last Lion, a biography about Winston Churchill.  “No, Sir” I answered.  “You need to read it, Chuck.”  I did, and he was right.

10. Connect with me.   Several of my commanders made a point to get to know my wife and my children. They asked about them frequently and were able to greet them by name.  Once, after he met my daughters at a Thanksgiving Day meal, a Commander wrote me an email to tell me how impressed he was with them.  With everyone they had to know and all they had to do, they took the time to get to know what mattered to me.

General Dwight David Eisenhower’s son John asked his Dad once oabout his life in the military.  His father told him, “My military career has been an opportunity to serve my country with men of honor who share my values.”  I can truly say the same and I hope to always: of those whom I serve as leader, of those whom I serve with as peers, and those whom I look to who lead me.

Chuck Callahan  Henry V 4.3 – Lead from the Front  https://henryv43.wordpress.com/