Chalk Talk: GOYA

A few weeks ago during Board of Trustee meetings for my alma mater's Alumni Association, Vice Admiral Hank Mustin, USN (ret) used a term that was simple and to the point: GOYA.

As VADM Mustin explained to us, it's a term that naval aviators used to use as a call to action. It stands for Get Off Your A$@. This is the ultimate key to success, since you're not going to effect any changes in your life, your business, or your world by doing nothing.

So, GOYA and make it happen!

Grow Strong!

Coach Grev

Chalk Talk: Delegation

I listened to the interview with Kay Sears on The Leaders Spot recently. Kay is the President of Intelsat General. It was a good interview, but one area where I disagree with Kay is in her description of delegation. She said:

"delegation works if the delegator works, too."

Whereas I think I understand what she's trying to say, I figured that this would be a good opportunity to flesh out when delegation works.

Delegation works when we define the work well, establish appropriate metrics, and follow-up. Again, that might be what she meant, but she seemed to indicate that when we roll up our sleeves is when delegation works. Rolling up our sleeves will certainly give us credibility with our teams (which certainly helps with delegation), but delegation won't work unless we:

- Define the work
- Measure the work we want completed, and
- Follow-up.

Grow Strong!!!

Coach Grev

Chalk Talk: Nick Magliato's Interview on The Leaders Spot

Nick Magliato's interview on The Leaders Spot is one of the best interviews I've heard to date. Nick is the CEO of Trust Digital, and his interview revealed a CEO who "gets it." Here are a few of the pearls of wisdom I harvested from him:

- You have to believe in your technology [product, service, etc.] when no one else does.
- What I am developing today will be a commodity next week [so make sure your company invests in innovation]
- Every day you need to make some progress towards some end goal.
- It takes years to develop a high-quality executive team; it may require some fires and hires to get there
- You only regret choices you don't make as CEO.
- His response to the following Forbes quote (from Elbert Hubbard),

"An executive is one who makes a decision and is sometimes right,"

was

"Amen!"

Amen to that. Executives need to make decisions -- not overanalyze a problem to death.

Enjoy the interview!!! It's definitely worth the investment of your time!

Grow Strong!

Coach Grev

Chalk Talk: Forging Good Leaders in Bad Times

I read an excellent article on CIO.com called "Forging Good Leaders in Bad Times," by Stephanie Overby. regarding the importance of continuing the process of identifying and developing leaders in your organization, even in the down times. Although this column develops the topic based on the current economic situation, these concepts ring true regardless of the times. The author and CIO.com do a good job of bringing this topic up now when so many business leaders are likely to de-emphasize leadership development.

My colleague -- and fellow Annapolis alumnus -- John Ryan's organization, the Center for Creative Leadership, also gets some good press!

Grow Strong!

Coach Grev

Chalk Talk: Business Leadership Feature at the Wall Street Journal!

I got an e-mail yesterday from the Wall Street Journal that announced their new Lessons in Leadership Series, which they describe as,

"...This one-of-a-kind educational archive gives you access to the best insights and practices of today's most compelling and influential leaders. It offers a chance to draw inspiration from world class figures in business, sports, or politics, on topics ranging from "managing your people" to "developing a leadership style" and much, much more."

My quick review of the website (subscription required) revealed a treasure trove of information. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to leadership resources, since you often get a lecture from someone who is a know it all claiming that he/she has the secret. Don't get me wrong, training from these folks, or books written by them, are valuable, but I believe the best resource is learning from a bunch of other leaders. Their failures tell you what to avoid, and their successes -- even if they are described in a self-adoring fashion -- still give you great insight that may help you solve a problem in your own business.

This resource alone is worth the subscription to an online Wall Street Journal account! Enjoy!

GrowStrong!

Coach Grev