Leader Business -- The Book!

Well…it is time. All the hype, the media interviews, and the New York Times review are over (ok…these things only happened in my mind…so far!). Leader Business is now ready for purchase. It is available on-line only through my friend, Steve Harper, and his website. Would you go here now and purchase as many books as you would like? Consider some extras for friends, family, co-workers, leader development groups, and anyone else who might benefit from a dose of Leader Business.

This book has been a journey. I knew that I wanted to write about leadership after my first tour of duty at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin. It was there, preparing Soldiers and leaders for combat, that I thought that I had some ideas worth sharing. A second, two-year stint a few years later further solidified some of the concepts and formalized the framework for the project. Tours of duty with civilians in the Army Corps of Engineers at Detroit and Los Angeles, running a $1B+ engineering company, helped me understand the timeless appeal of positive, inspiring leadership and the principles that I had identified at the NTC.

This book is a 6 year labor of love. With the encouragement of a friend, I started writing one chapter a month, sharing some of the ideas as a stand-alone newsletter. After several years of writing, I had enough material for a book. Plenty of content…but no publisher and clearly nothing close to a “ready for market” literary classic. It was then that my friend Steve, aka “The Ripple Dude,” introduced me to blogging (as a way to keep writing and generating ideas) and self-publishing. I hired a great editor, graphics man (don't you love the cover -- above?), and printer, and took charge of my own destiny. LBI Publishing (my own publishing house…now looking for other titles to add to our team!) produced the now-classic, Leader Business!

The very act of writing, of sitting down and putting ideas on paper, was definitely a challenge. I have found that there is nothing like writing to connect the dots of all the ideas in my head, to try to make sense of things happening around me, and to pull a thread through some leadership principle and see where it leads. Writing is not a natural thing for me. I am an ENGINEER, after all. But I also know that the more I write, the better writer I become (a concept that applies to anything else we might undertake – personally or professionally).

There was nothing like a deadline to push me to finish. My editor was great at setting up milestones for each new element of the book. I was great at missing them. But the “hard deadline” of deployment to Afghanistan pushed me to complete this project. Four a.m. wake-ups for about 3 months and a few working mini-vacations gave me the quiet time to get across the finish line. A team of friends helped with reviews and encouragement. They say, “It takes a village….” Well, it took a medium-sized city to help me get this done. To all of them, and to my patient family, I am eternally grateful.

So, it is ready. I hope you will purchase the book and encourage others to do so. More importantly, I hope you will appreciate the timeless leadership principles that I tried to describe as Leader Business. Give it a read and then let me know what you think. Even over here in Kabul, Afghanistan, I want to encourage you in your respective leadership journeys. If this book helps, I will be thrilled. It is simply my hope that something in the book will encourage you, bring out your passion for leading others, and enable your successes. That…is Leader Business.

Again, you can order the book here: Leader Business On-Line Purchases. Thank you in advance for doing so! I appreciate it more than you know. I will sign them when I get back!!!

StratComms

OK...I have been delinquent! I know I have not posted in a while. Have no doubt that there is plenty of learning about leadership going on here in Afghanistan. I guess I have been too lazy to write it down and share it with others. No excuse! It is hard to believe that I have almost been here for a full month. Time flies when you are having fun!

We have an incredibly difficult, complex mission. This year we will do about $900M in construction payments and award over $1.3B in new contracts. Next year, somehow, we are looking at over $2.5B in new contract awards. Every job here is difficult with harsh terrain, a hostile enemy and, in many cases, construction contractors who just don't have the maturity that we would expect to work with in the Army Corps of Engineers. Nonetheless, we are getting it done. We don't have a choice!

One of the many leadership issues I have been working with my new team is on the issue of strategic communications. We get so busy doing our work that we forget that a major component of success is gained through telling others what we are doing. I use the analogy of -- If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make any noise? All too often, we miss out on opportunities to shape our message, to get the word out on the great work we do. And if we don't, very often someone else seizes on the chance to tell their own story. Often times, their motivations are counter to our own. We might finish the project, the tree may fall, but no one may know of the positive difference we are making and the contributions we are making toward our strategic goals.

Every action we take in business is an opportunity to tell our story. In construction it includes the award of a new contract, the breaking of ground, major progress or a major milestone, and the cutting of the ribbon. It is not so much the events themselves that matter but rather the chance each one provides to get our message out. We are not building roads, we are enhancing a nationwide transportation network. We are not building police stations, we are contributing to the security of the people. We are not building buildings...we are Building Afghanistan!

We all have a role in shaping our message, especially as leaders. Employees need to see that the company is making progress. Stockholders need to see that the company vision is being realized and their investment is a good one. Future clients need to learn of past successes and be informed on the potential to work together. Constituencies, whether inside or outside the organization, need to hear of what is happening...and how what is happening fits into the big picture.

What are the implications for leaders? We need to continuously think through who our target audiences are, what our key messages might be, and what opportunities we have to get strategic in our communication. We need to engage our key leaders on how each of them has responsibilities in this critical area. Every one of our tactical, daily events can be strategically critical. The chance to connect those targets with key messages will come and go. We can't miss them! When the tree falls...leaders make sure people hear it. That's Leader Business.

For those who have been wondering (I hope it is hundreds of thousands of you...Haha!), the book (Leader Business) should be ready for on-line ordering in about 10-14 days. I will keep you posted! :)