Think Happy Thoughts

If you acted like this everyday, life would
be so much better. 

My Linked In news feed directed me to this great article.  It lays out 7 great tips for maximizing your thankfulness.  Frankly, it is one of the best articles I have read in a while - not because poetic prose or brilliant new insight, but because it focuses on positive thinking and being thankful for what is important.

How does this relate to Leadership?  Simple, happy and thankful leaders are better leaders.  Think about the people you followed or worked for in your life - who was better, the upbeat positive "we can do it" leader or the cranky, never satisfied critical leader?  Really not a contest is it?

One thing I have learned through my career is that a positive outlook may possibly be the most important leadership tool you have.  One real life example I can give you is Major Doug Zembiec, a true hero in every sense of the word.  I went to the Naval Academy with Doug and knew him fairly well there, and I ran into him a handful of times during our overlapping Marine Corps careers.  While Doug was fantastic is every sense of the word, the thing I most remember from our interactions was his positive upbeat nature - I can't recall the man ever not smiling.  He attacked life with a vigor and was always excited about it.

Few people on this planet can be a Doug Zembiec, but we all can be positive, happy and focused on the good things in life.

That attitude all starts with being thankful for what we have and focusing on the positive in our lives.



I have recently made concerted efforts to begin my day by reciting several positive things in my life - since I started that practice, my entire disposition has changed and it has made me a better leader at work and at home,

So, I ask you, are you up for the challenge of being positive and thinking happy thoughts?  If so, start by counting your blessings and being positive.

Great Leadership Quote from McArthur

I generally think McArthur is the most overrated General in U.S. history, but this is a great quote.  It really hits all the aspects of leadership.

The 3 Levels of Leadership

The other day I saw a quote on Twitter discussing strategic leadership – this quote pointed to a leader’s requirement to create the “vision” for his organization.  This spurred my thoughts into the various levels that leaders operate at.  Clearly, the CEO of a Fortune 50 company will not exercise leadership in the same manner that a division manager or a project manager in the same company would.  Simply put, the size of the organization you lead will impact the way you lead.  This is what I refer to as the levels of leadership.[1]

Military strategy has used the concept of the “levels of war” dating back to the Napoleonic times.  Military strategists divide war into the Strategic, Operational and Tactical levels of war.  There are no clear and distinct lines between these levels, indeed, the lines between tactics and strategy are probably more blurry now than they have been in the past. 

The 3 Levels of War 

The strategic level of war is usually run by the National Command Authority – aka the President and his closest advisors – with significant input from the theater commander – think General Franks at the start of the Iraq War or (more infamously General MacArthur in Korea).  This is the level where the national strategy is created – the “strategic level” or war is where the nation’s leaders decide what are goals are, what we are trying to accomplish, and, broadly, how are we going to get there. 

The Operational level of war is where the theater or regional commanders apply military, political and economic power to achieve the goals established by the strategic commanders.  This is the level where a high-ranking military commander will plan a campaign of related military operations with the intent of achieving the nation’s strategy.  The 2003 20-day invasion of Iraq (near to my heart since I was in the middle of that one) is a modern example and the island hopping campaign in the Pacific theater during World War II is probably the best known example of an operational campaign strategy. 

The tactical level of war is where the rubber meets the road.  This is the battle itself; how combat power is applied directly against the enemy within the scope of the operational plan with the intent to reach the national strategy.  The firefights my unit got in during the run up to Baghdad in March of 2003 are perfect examples of the tactical level of war.  We were applying our combat power directly against the Iraqi Army as part of the operation plan to seize Baghdad as quickly as possible to achieve the national strategic objective of overthrowing Saddam Hussein.  The beauty of the Tactical level of war, is that it goes all the way down to the smallest unit and the individual Marine and is directly impacted by the National Strategy created by the White House. 

Leadership can also be divided into Strategic, Operational and Tactical levels. 

Click through for a discussion of these levels of leadership. 

Back from the dead!

At least back from a virtual death - maybe a better term for my absence would be hibernation - although, I don't know too many animals who hibernate in the summer time!

So, regardless of the terminology or the reasoning for my extended lay-off, it is now a thing of the past and I am going to re-invigorate the interwebs with my general theory and pontifications on the fine art of leadership.

So - in other words: