Comments on: Leadership – Annapolis style

By: ASHLYN

ASHLYN — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 04:08:02 +0000

Gone Dolally

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limewire — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:25:00 +0000

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By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 19:00:15 +0000

I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding Leadership – Annapolis style, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong

By: tomo

tomo — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 14:24:13 +0000

@Joe,

You seem to have missed the point. Bob said those five rules were what he learned during his first year in the Academy and are the foundation to building and instilling a team and team thinking.

In your example the only true answer is or at least should begin with, “I don’t know”, because it’s impossible to know unless you can travel through time. Do you think Scott McNealy asked a subordinate at Sun whether opensource had a 30% chance of a chance of negatively impacting future adoption and sales of Solaris? I don’t know for sure, but I would venture the answer is yes and the subordinates answer was(on the 18th green), “No. Nice putt.”

By: Mel Meinhardt

Mel Meinhardt — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:48:48 +0000

Thank you for this concise list.
I’ve been part of and “led” high tech teams and corporate teams. In all cases, those people that could live the lessons you describe were the best additions to team success.
The examples you describe are necessarily military in nature (It’s the context of the article, of course.), nevertheless the principles are true everywhere. The military environment merely contains numerous crystaline examples where one’s personal behavior makes a clear and immediate difference.
Smaller tech start-ups or projects have similar consequences.
Posted next to my office light switch is my only “rule” for teammates…”Don’t keep quiet.
What we’re doing hasn’t been done before, and we’re all required to work together to succeed.”
I’ll add your five.
Thanks.
Mel

Mel Meinhardt, USNA ‘80

By: christopher michel

christopher michel — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:16:19 +0000

well said, shipmate!

By: Bob Walters

Bob Walters — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:13:34 +0000

Thanks for the comments.

As you might expect, I’ve received A LOT of private emails from the “other” academies. I gotta say, it took willpower even to mention West Point by name.

BTW, I can’t recall a single time that I’ve asked someone in my startups whether we’d reach 30% market share. I do recall asking whether there is a market at all! If the answer was “I don’t know,” I took that as a bad sign.

Come to think of it, I don’t recall ever asking my F/A-18 wingman whether there was a 30% chance that a bogey was on our tail….

Peace,

> Bob

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:52:41 +0000

Bob, you missed the best academy—the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

As a CEO of a tech startup and a USCGA grad, I hope you will realize that the smallest, yet strongest service creates leaders who jump into the business world with passion and energy!
Keep up the great writing! -Paul

By: untangling the future… » Blog Archive » Leadership - Annapolis Style

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 05:09:09 +0000

[...] those interested in leadership, military trivia, or both – here is a piece that I did for Matt at [...]

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:53:51 +0000

This is a very simplistic formula driven set of rules for “good management”. Basically assume a lack of intellect, discourse and questioning.

If your team does not question or challenge you – you are a bad ceo, and if your people lie, cheat or cannot deliver or do spin, then as a ceo you have hired the wrong people and the ceo is at fault.

If you ask a question of a subordinate ” will thsi product attain a 30% market share” and he says “I don’t know or I am not certain or I am not sure” It is acceptable and right/ If some one tells me “he is going to find out” that is the biggest bunch of bs I would have heard.

However, if the question is “how confident are you of attaining a 30% share, which is what you are forecasting”, I expect an honest answer not some bs to go find out exactly 100% or 0%

This is technology – not selling the next razor or shampoo or kleenex extensions.