Ldrstc_Chp.23_SUCK LESS

CHAPTER 23

SUCK LESS

One of my unit Commanders use to tell me every time when I would ask him, “Sir is there anything else you need from me?” “Yeah TJ, suck less every day.” Though it may not have been professional or appropriate I would normally roll my eyes and slowly shake my head as I would turn around and walk off. I was sure in a day and age of political correctness that he would be fired any day for saying such a phrase; but it didn’t bother me. I appreciated him as a Commander. He would go on to later explain, “TJ, we’re not perfect and many of us go through moments where we just suck. We screw up and get in a slump, so many of us suck at something or somehow, so if you can show up to work tomorrow and suck a little bit less than yesterday, than that is all I ask.

It was a little surprising to hear something like that from a military commander in a high end politically correct military world, but at the same time I loved it because I was glad that he had enough of the old school military in him to say something like that. It’s a very true statement though and a good reminder that we all suck at something, and we at least have to have the courage to admit that we do. But if we can at least admit that we suck and work on being just a little bit better every day at working on our issues than we’ll slowly become better over time. The bigger part also, is to remember your troops, and personnel are going to suck also at work. They are going to have their slumps and their downfalls every once and a while. Give them a break, just as you would want to have a break.

Ldrstc_Chp.22_Your Door and Transparency

CHAPTER 22

Your Door and Transparency

I have seen many military leaders who would tell their troops, “My door is always open” The simple fact was that in reality it wasn’t. They had only said that to give the appearance that they cared, but eventually the word spread throughout the unit that the commander had no desire to discuss any issues with his troops he was ultimately responsible for.

I always told my troops that my door was open to them if they needed to talk. On some occasions I had troops want to talk to me at inconvenient times. It never seemed to fail that I always had a troop want to interrupt my dinner time when I tried to eat at work. There were troops that I had issued disciplinary paperwork to that had anger towards me and had written some pretty harsh rebuttal statements, but I still had to maintain my professionalism. I remember even taking my red pen and making corrections and then explaining to them how they could rephrase it to give them a stronger point of view. They normally nodded in agreement and would change it and resubmit their rebuttal.

The point to this is that you have to back up your words with your actual actions. Your actions will always speak louder than your words, but they have to match in order for your people to be able to feel comfortable with approaching you and presenting their issues or situations to you. Remember that you have had negative experiences in a work environment, but there is a good chance that they have also had negative experiences with bosses in the past as well. It may take a while for them to come to trust you or bring their issues to you; but when they do be sure you make your time available to them.

Additionally, always leave your door open when someone is in the room. One of the biggest things that I hated coming in to the military work area was “perception”. I would hear all too often, “Well the perception is…” or “We perceive this as…” In reality; fuck what your perception is unless you have solid evidence of what is actually going on; but it doesn’t take evidence to ruin a reputation. So how do we overcome this? We keep the door open as much as possible; but this also leads us to another point that we need to have and be transparent with our people. I didn’t always hide my emotions from my troops, but I didn’t always share with them what caused them. There is a big difference there. You see, if we are a team, and we are operating as a collective unit, though I am a leader, it is ok for my people to see me upset over something. They don’t need to know what is going on, but it allows us to be transparent with each other; for being transparent with each other and admitting we are both humans and both have bad days.

Transparency also allows for your people to see that you are not hiding anything from them and that you are being open and honest with them about situations. Your transparency will also cause them to be transparent with you about issues and situations going on. It does not mean that you go and share that with the entire office, you have discernment, but helps you to earn their trust in the process. Always keep a door open to your troops, and be transparent so they know you are just as much a person as they are.

Ldrstc_Chp.21_CHANGE

CHAPTER 21

CHANGE

One day I had my “adventure mode” kick on as I sought out the need to explore a new area of the base that I was serving at. I jumped in to my SUV and off I went in the southern mountain region of the base. I found myself on a long winding road of the mountains that slowly took me higher and higher until I ended at the top with a building that had antennas sticking out of it in many different directions. A man walked outside of the building and introduced himself as Bill.

Bill and I spent over an hour talking and getting to know one another. He was a prior service military member who continued to work on top of this mountain as a contractor. Bill monitored all the different radio signals that were transmitted throughout the entire area.  As he explained how the whole operation worked he said how he always did one dry run with his team two to three days prior to a special satellite or rocket launch mission, and if everything worked and went smoothly he always enforced that his people do not touch a single dial or change a single button or setting. Everything was to be left completely alone until the mission.

He told me how he had maintained this practice for over 20 years and he had never had a problem that he could recall. I asked him why he had kept it that same way. “If the practice run goes smoothly then that means everything is working and operational and ready to go. If you adjust one setting and that adjustment messes with something else than you have to scramble to fix it or figure out what went wrong. If you’re doing this a day before a mission who knows how long it could take to figure it out. We don’t have that kind of luxury; all we need to be capable of doing is our job within the parameters of what were asked to do.” He paused and I simply nodded my head in agreement. I understood exactly where he was coming from. He had a simple and effective system he had used for years and it worked efficiently. He continued, “Here is something that I have kept with me for many, many years. “Better is the enemy of Good.” I was taken back as I pondered that quote. He went on, “You see all these new military leaders come in to the base or unit and they have all these ideas.” He then looked at me dead in the eye, “How many times you hear a leader say, “How can we make this better?” The problem is that it is already a good process, why would you want to make it better if it works?! I have seen too many units who went from good to bad all because some new guy came in and wanted to change everything in order to make it better, only they made it worse! So always remember that, “Better is the enemy of Good!”

All I could do was nod my head in agreement as I simply replied, “Hell yes!” Why was I in agreement, because I still saw that to the very day in military operations. The question is now for you to ponder; how many times have you seen that happen?

One statement I would always tell my troops was, “The only guarantee you have in the military is that it is guaranteed to change.” Change is inevitable, and there are many times when change is needed, it is what creates innovation and new processes within organizations that help spur new growth and efficiency. I have also however seen it when change has become so consistently on going that we could not remember what our processes even were. We would literally be given new direction and guidelines on a weekly to bi-weekly basis that left us simply doing the last process we could remember until we ran in to an issue and we all sat around debating which process we were supposed to be using. All of this was outside of my control, my main objective was to try and keep it out of all my troops levels and areas so that they didn’t have to deal with the drama of the issues.

Change is a good thing, but it can be a bad thing. I give you these two different perspectives to help you always remember that Better is the enemy of good, and if you have the authority and ability to have the control over these decisions, then be sure you spend enough time to truly think, “Is this a process that is good and requires no change, or do we really need to look in to improving these processes?” Do not create more work for your people by making a change that doesn’t need to be made.

LdrOlgy_Cloud of Witnesses

Hebrews 12:1 The Voice (VOICE)

12:1 So since we stand surrounded by all those who have gone before, an enormous cloud of witnesses, let us drop every extra weight, every sin that clings to us and slackens our pace, and let us run with endurance the long race set before us.

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Our cloud of witnesses. In todays society, the internet and social media have given us a digital platform where videos, photos and content can be uploaded instantly. As they say, “Once it is posted on the internet, it will be there floating around forever.” I don’t know how true that really is; but there is something more important and something that truly will always be remembered, and that is your actions, your spirit, your behavior to those around you.

The book of Hebrews in the New Testament of the Bible tells us that we are “Surrounded by an enormous cloud of witnesses.”  All of our fellow Christians who have gone before us. They watch us and wait for us to join them.

For those of us in the warrior brotherhood; we imagine the thought of our family awaiting us in the halls of Valhalla; awaiting to great us in a ceremonious roar once we arrive at its doors.

And for those of you who have read my older blog post, you will know how I view, and combine both of those beliefs.

But what about the cloud of witnesses here? Those that surround us daily?

You are always on display 24/7, 365.  Your actions and how you carry yourself will always be judged and analyzed by those surrounding you. This performance in leadership is why I would say that it is truly something rooted inside certain people and developed over time, it is not something that can simply be learned and acquired.

Every day, you must battle yourself and ask, “Will I be a good man? Do I have the strength to be such a man?”  And many days you truly do have to rely on God to give you that strength and courage to be such a man. Because leadership is something that will challenge you more anything.

This cloud of witnesses is not simply your peers, your troops, your employees. It is your wife, and it is your kids, it is your family, it is your friends. It is everyone around you; all with whom you come in to contact.

That is why the other part of the verse encourages us, ‘to throw off every weight that weighs us down, and holds us back from keeping the stride of our run in this race.‘ You as a leader will always be surrounded by the cloud of witnesses, and if they are ever asked, what will they say about you from what they have witnessed?

Ldrstc_Chp.20_Always Keep Learning

CHAPTER 20

Always Keep Learning

Very rarely do we see leaders who are the crowned subject matter experts in a field, just as we discussed in chapter one. Yet a leader should be one who is always continuing to push themselves to grow and become better.

In a military setting we could chalk this up to physical abilities, technical abilities, strategic abilities and so on. In a corporate setting we could see this as studying synergy practices, strategic vectoring, research and development etc. All those power words smashed together!

The fact of the matter is that we have an endless wealth of information available to us 24/7 through technology these days, and there is no excuse or reason why we should not continue to learn and apply it to our own personal lives as well as our business lives.

Additionally, you should always be learning more and more about your people. Treat them as if they are your family. For the vast majority of people who are reading this you are probably already spending more time at work than you are at home. The military is this way because we spend 75% of our time together at work or at training; then we are forced to be far apart from our families and confined to such small quarters and areas that we are simply in a naturally forced position to make new friendships and bonds that very often become stronger than the blood family members we have.

Knowledge is power, and the more knowledgeable and diverse you can be as a leader the more you can balance out the scales of issues that arise at a moment’s notice.  The greatest part to our knowledge that we continually obtain is whether or not we are keeping that locked up inside ourselves or if we share it with our people and teaching them from what we have learned. Knowledge is power, but knowledge shared with your team is unmeasurable power because there is no telling how much you’ll accomplish!

So now here is your challenges!

What new book have you read?

What new skill are you trying to learn?

What ability or talent are you trying to get better at?

What have you always wanted to learn to do, yet still haven’t taken that first step? DO IT!

Ldrstc_Chp.19_Your Desk

CHAPTER 19

Your Desk

You command your desk, or your desk will command you. Too often we now see people in leadership roles that are trapped be the office desk. They have these gorgeous wooden sculptures of beauty set up and placed in an office room where they have their paperwork and computers accessible for their important work.

In comparison to the way my desk was. It was always cluttered with paperwork. I had piles throughout it. It was then when I coined the first sentence of this chapter though, that I commanded my desk, not my desk that command me. I found that 90% of the time it was more successful to go and talk with someone else in the organization face to face rather than send an email. It was the fact that I did not need to be glued to my computer screen. Email would be there until I answered it, and if it was an urgent matter or some emergency then the higher up leadership would call me and talk to me on the phone. But if it was an email it was not as important as my subordinates if they needed me.

There were more occasions than I can count when my troops would knock on my door and ask to speak with me. On many occasions they just needed to vent and let off some steam that they had been bottling up. They would normally start venting their issue and would stop and verify with me if it was ok, they were sincere enough and didn’t want for me to feel as if they were wasting my time. There was respect there they wanted to show me in knowing that I didn’t have to listen to them, but they knew I was dedicated time to them; so I always reassured them it was fine. If there ever was something more pressing or emergent, I would tell them, but always made sure to reschedule. 95% of the time however I always put my paperwork and emails off to the side and I attended to my troops needs. Again, this was my desk, this was my office, this was my job, and I decided what was the most important unless my higher leadership directed otherwise.

You are the commander of your desk, and you decide what is most important. Do not let someone or something else come in the way of the most important items to you.

Ldrstc_Chp.18_Success

CHAPTER 18

Success

Leadership is always linked with success. The more successful you are the better the leader you must be? Right? Well, the bigger thing that you have to determine is how you are measuring your success? In the military you could measure someone’s success by how many battles they have won; how many medals they have on their chest; or if they brought everyone back alive from their deployments and missions in and out of battle. Military success can be measured in so many different ways. Additionally, in the corporate setting you could measure success based off of profit margins, growth and expansion of the company assets or even additional locations.

In early 2015 as I sat in my office being given news that made a huge impact on my motivation towards my job and the leadership I reported to. I thought through all of the reasons I first took the job position, and what my biggest goal was. It was to leave a positive impact on my troops. I wanted to help mentor and lead young military men and women. My success did not need to be measured through all the medals and ribbons I would be awarded, nor the many wooden plaques that hung on the wall of my office saying, “NCO of the quarter”. No, my success was validated by the countless Amn that would come to me and say, “SSgt Lombardi, thank you for what you taught me; thank you for the time you spent talking to me; thanks for all the encouragement.” One of the most meaningful that has stayed with me was one of my troops who told me, “SSgt Lombardi, the way I treat my wife and daughter has changed for the better because of what you taught me.”

The success we achieve does not always have to be in the sense of how much money we make, nor in how big our company grows, but perhaps it simply has to do with how well we take care of our people; or how well we develop them in order for them to better leaders and workers. Success is leaving your people better off than when you first met them. Did you help them grow academically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, technically? These are all ways we can measure success. The military has always held the saying that you are “Training your replacement” and that will always be true and accurate. Everyone at some point or in some moment has to leave the military, and the next person will eventually be promoted up and will take over the position you once held. So at that moment did you teach them all the lessons and information you needed to, to ensure their success in leading their people. Don’t be a success with what you obtain for yourself, be a success with how you develop those you’re responsible for.

Ldrstc_Chp.17_Start With Why

CHAPTER 17

Start with why

Simon Sinek is one of my favorite authors, especially his book, “Start with Why”. His book was a great reminder on how to look at the core of an issue and what was making some companies more successful than others. 

As a leader though, I found that this concept was a good way to reset myself in the moment of situations going on in, and around my work environment. I also used it as a way to lighten the mood with my troops. In many circumstances I would have troops come to my office to ask me to sign off on paperwork and I would barrage them with the “why” questions. “Why do “I” need to sign off on this paperwork?” “Why do “you” need this paperwork signed off?” “Why are you asking me to sign off on this paperwork right now? Why can’t it wait till later?” Their responses continued to unwind and unravel the subordinate until they finally got to their exhausted point of looking at me, and simply looked back with a face full of dreadful frustration. 

This however allows us to always dig deeper and forces us to think through the processes of how we arrived at the situation we currently find ourselves in. I brought this concept into many joint ventures and work projects tasked by higher leadership. One example of using this concept was when I was brought in to a working group to create the vision and mission statements for our squadron of people. Three of us sat around the table and thankfully one of the other people had also read Simon Sinek’s book. We simply looked at each other and started with, “Why are we here?”, “Why is this vision statement important?”, “Why are we in need of a vision statement?”. 

I bring this up as a point in this book to help get more people to always ask this question. To challenge yourself to understand our situations more, and allow us to figure out a solution to our own problems that arise in our personal and work environments. If you ever find yourself stuck, or a work situation that you want to dive deeper in, simply start with asking yourself the why questions and then build your way back up to find a solution. And of course, I highly recommend a weekend or two devoted to Simon’s work. 

Ldrstc_Chp.16_Responsible To…

CHAPTER 16

Responsible to, not responsible for

One thing I was taught early on as I was becoming a young nco in the military was the principle that I was responsible to my troops, not responsible for my troops. It took a few minutes of pondering this concept before it began to sink in.

You see as a young leader and troop in the military; I watched and listened a countless amount of times when a young troop would get in trouble, and the supervisor and higher management would be called in to the head bosses office and chewed out. The supervisor would be told, “You’re a terrible supervisor because your soldier went out and did this!”

The fact is that we are all adults now. We who have gone out and started out on our careers are all adults and responsible for OUR ACTIONS. This is the key part to this. You as a leader are responsible TO YOUR PEOPLE, not responsible FOR YOUR PEOPLE. You may be responsible for getting the job done, but that is completely different. This is in the way we provide for our people.

So I will put it this way; your subordinate comes to you and says, “Boss, I really need help on this project, can you help me?” You are responsible to help your individual. But, if you tell them, “Let me know if you need help with anything.” And then they did not come to you and inform you that they needed help and proceeded to continue on and it failed. You are not responsible for their actions. In the military, because we are a 24/7 individual, and the military has its own laws and rules/regulations that they abide by, we see this happen a lot with members who get some type of incident that happens after duty operating hours. If you are in the military and finding yourself rising up the ranks of leadership, please remember this concept and don’t let yourself be beaten up by this. People will make their own decisions that you are not able to control. If you are in a corporate setting, simply remind yourself that you are there to be responsible for getting your immediate job done, and providing help and assistance to those under you. You are not a superhero that will always be able to save the day, but you can try your best, to provide your best.

Ldrstc_Chp.15_Be Content…

CHAPTER 15

Be content with what you have…

All too often we find ourselves day dreaming of who we wish we had working for us, or alongside us. I have done this many times where I would sit in my office and just say, “Fuck I wish I had Bobby, Dave, Tony, and Cody all here in the shop working together! We would dominate this place and no one would be able to touch us / compete with us then!” We always fantasize over our dream teams of success.

The best team I ever had however happened to fall in to place all by chance. We weren’t able to pick our team of people; it was literally the fact that we were all put in to our different positions. We had all known of each other, we all had our own reputations that others had shared, but we had never actually worked together. I was skeptical, but once everything clicked, we became an unstoppable team.

You see many times we always wish we had an all-star team, but how many teams get all the of the best of the best players and then they don’t succeed? We see it in sports many times when a team will try to buy the best of the best for each position and then it fails when it comes down to the playoffs. Why? Because a team filled with superstars are used to being exactly that, the sole superstar of their team at the time, but now they are on a team of everyone believing they are the sole superstar.