Becoming a Resonant Leader

March 8, 2017

This blog is supposed to state a personal vision for myself, list at least three learning goals and milestones for each action, and key people who will help me achieve these goals.  Full disclosure to the professor.  You will not be enlightened by any of my writings here.  Between being goal oriented, with a secondary tendency towards direction oriented, I have achieved nearly all my objectives to gain retirement.  What will retirement bring me?  It will bring me time and financial freedom.  I am so close to that goal, that I don’t need to do extensive introspective exercises that are more useful for a person in their late twenties or early thirties.  That is not me.  Therefore, I will state that I did the exercises at the end of chapter 6, “Becoming a Resonant Leader”, but the output will probably disappoint.  It is not disappointing to me because I have fought hard to reach my goals.  I will briefly describe my struggle here, but to the point, my goals are nearly all achieved.

I have been destroyed financially in total three different times in my life.  I have persevered.  My assets are probably just over a million $.  That is not a lot of money, but compared to where I was at just 16 years ago, it is.  I have almost no debt.  The main exception is a house that I just recently purchased in Corpus Christi, TX.  I plan on paying that house off in total in about 5 years.  I have money in the bank, money invested, and multiple income properties.  I am ready for a worry-free financial retirement.

I have worked hard at my military and civilian education.  With my graduate degree, I will have attained the level of education that I aspire to.  I do not feel the need or want to continue.  I have completed 33 military schools and/or training courses.  So, that puts to bed any aspirations of higher learning beyond this degree.

What about a career?  As stated, after nearly 34 years in the military (which includes 5 years and 5 separate combat deployments), I am ready for retirement.  I am interested in getting a civilian position (federal civil service) at the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD).  Why?  Because I can then buy my active duty years in the Army, combine them with my years as a U.S. Customs Inspector, and be vested in a position with 28 years’ seniority.  It will not take away from my reserve retirement and will give me the option of only working for two years before I could retire with a 30-year retirement from the federal civil service.

So, it appears that I have it all worked out.  Right?  Well, another reason I am in a hurry for retirement, is that the genetics in my family don’t work out so well.  The men tend to die at or before 60 years of age.  I will be 58 this summer and do not wish to work until the day I die and never get to enjoy retirement.  That happened to my dad.  I don’t want it to happen to me.  So, what is left?

With my degree finished this Fall, I will have completed all my military and civilian educational goals.  I will have locked in my military retirement.  The only two “goals” left are gaining civilian employment at CCAD, and whether that employment consists of a supervisory position. I understand that there may be some challenges to adjusting to retirement, but I think that I have thought about them deeply enough to where it won’t affect me.  I plan on living financially free, accomplishing my bucket list, and living in love and contentment.  That is the plan.  It is a simple plan.  It is a plan that can all be accomplished in the next three years.  I simply do not wish to set goals beyond this.  My ultimate goal is retirement.  Once I have retired, then I could reflect upon a personal ICT plan if necessary.  Right now, I don’t see it.

In the immediate future, I plan on spending 6 months out of the year in my home in Michigan, and then 6 months at my home in Texas.  Both homes are on the water.  I have boats that are in both places.  I want to enjoy the things that I have worked for, travel, and work on hobbies that I want to get better at. These hobbies include playing the guitar, fishing, hunting, and real estate investing.  I have plenty of things that will consume my time, energy, and cognitive talents.

Respectfully,

John D. Hescott

Reference:

Boyatzis, Richard., McKee, Annie., & Johnston, Frances. (2008) “Becoming a Resonant

            Leader”. Boston: Harvard Business School Press

Personal Balance Sheet

March 2, 2017

This reflection blog will be an introspective and honest evaluation of my personal strengths and weaknesses.  After completing the exercises compiled by Boyatzis, McKee, and Johnston, I wrote down the results for the purposes of putting it into this blog.

Strengths.

What are my strengths as a person and as a leader?  I have several traits that are very good for leadership.  They are: communication, process improvement, and emotional intelligence (EI).  Written and oral communication are essential for success as a leader.  Combined with a blend of EI, this allows a leader to communicate up, down, or laterally throughout an organization.  Written reports can be useful, but they lack the ability to connect with people, such as one can during face to face meetings.  Written communication can also have emotional content added by the reader that is not useful in the transmission of ideas or concepts.

Finally, my strength at process improvement has been a life-long development of tactical and strategic thinking.  I do not relish delving into statistical variations, scientific management, or math based quality control.  However, I can do those things and am very aware of the logic and math behind the concepts.  Therefore, it frees me up to put my process improvement suggestions into plain and simple English.  I try to use the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid!) in all my writings.  I try not to over-write for the purposes of making myself sound educated.  Instead, I am more interested in taking complex ideas or concepts and simplifying them into words where more people will understand them.

Potential Strengths.

My potential strengths are: facilitation, public speaking, and leadership.  I have had some training in public speaking.  With an ability to connect with the audience with a resonating message, public speaking could be a big strength for me to develop.  Coaching and facilitation are potential skills that need further development.  They are potential strengths for me.  I found my coaching session with an employee from the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) to be very useful.  It highlighted the potential good that could happen if I were to concentrate on developing this skill, and can utilize the skill frequently.  Finally, I believe that my leadership abilities should be listed as a potential strength due to the nature of the assignments that I have had over the past 15-20 years.  I believe the potential to be a good leader is there.  I have the education, professional background and most of the skills necessary to excel as a leader.  However, the Army does not put the overwhelming majority of their Warrant Officers in leadership positions.  Therefore, Warrant Officers are not only neglected in their leadership development within the system, but are also automatically written off by both senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and senior commissioned officers.  It is a catch-22 that quite often turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy due to the neglect of leadership skill sets.  I have been aware of that neglect during my career and have taken steps to break the typical mold that Warrant Officers are assigned.

Enduring Dispositions I do not want to change.

My personality trait that I do not want to change is my ability to survive and thrive.  I have a competitive nature and even when things go against me, I keep working until I have gained an advantage.  I have turned many situations around during my life and will continue to do so.  It is in my nature.  If I would have had a good, coach or mentor in my younger years, I do believe that I would have benefited and been a lot better off, a lot sooner, in many aspects of my personal and professional career.

Weaknesses.

Everyone has weaknesses.  Can one admit to weakness and still be a good leader on the score-sheet?  Of course.  How many times have we heard that recognizing a problem is the first step towards resolving it?  My weaknesses as I see them are: controlling my emotions/body language, digging through detailed reports greater than 10-15 pages, researching source material, women, and selling anything.

           

I wear my emotions for all to see.  When I am happy, others know it.  When I am angry or frustrated, others know that too.  In a business setting, I need to learn to dial my outward exhibiting of emotions down.  I need to be able to have more of a neutral approach, especially when things are not going well.  Many times, I find myself shunning reading long reports, or searching for source material in Army regulations.  It could be as simple of a cure to know the shortcut to finding source/reference material, or reading a shorter summary of the material contained in a long report.

I have a weakness for women.  Female direct reports could be a problem for me.  This would be not because there is a danger of me acting inappropriately by statements, or dating them, but by me going easier on them than I would a male in the same position.  One example that comes to mind is this.  I received a bad report on mismanagement of an airfield in Afghanistan.  I flew to the base ready to give the operations officer and crew a good tongue-lashing and retraining.  I was met at the airfield by a good-looking female officer.  She was stunningly good looking, very personable, and…..the operations officer.  Nice.  Needless to say, her charm worked on me and she convinced me that the pilot report was inaccurate.  I flew back to my base and reported to my supervisor that it was all “fixed”.  Things did appear to get better and there were no more bad reports, but I did feel as if I had had the wool pulled over my eyes.  That is the best example of my weakness.

Finally, I have a weakness for selling anything.  It is hard for me to even sell my own property.  I always want them to be in “perfect” shape so that the buyers will be happy with it.  This quest for perfection leads to inadequate selling of goods.  I am a savvy buyer, but I need to be able to sell in my real estate ventures.

My enduring dispositions that could be a hindrance but will not change.

As stated in the above paragraphs, my enduring disposition is a weakness for women.  That is not an entirely bad thing because I have been able to connect with women that are in positions of power and have accomplished a lot.  I can communicate with them effectively.  I must carefully monitor the situation when I am put in charge of them.  That will be my biggest test.

My over-competitiveness and my wearing of emotions on my sleeve are weaknesses that are ingrained within me.  I will probably never be a good poker player because a good poker player would be able to “read” me like a book.  My emotions will not serve me well if they cannot be controlled in appropriate settings.  That part of my weakness I do believe can be corralled and channeled better, but the competitive spirit and all the accompanying positive and negative emotions that go with it are probably here to stay.

Conclusion.

This has been a good exercise in summarizing what I believe are the good and bad traits that I have as a human being.  I don’t believe that my weaknesses are “show-stoppers”, nor do I kid myself that many others possess the strengths that I listed here.  As our training has stated, the key to intentional change is to know where one would like to be in life.  Visualizing our ideal self is important.  For me, I now have the road-map to guide me to my ideal self.

Respectfully,

John H2O

References:

Boyatzis, Richard., McKee, Annie. (2005). “Resonant Leadership’, Boston: Harvard Business

            School Press

McKee, Annie., Boyatzis, Richard., Johnston, Frances. (2008) Becoming a Resonant Leader.

            Boston: Harvard Business Press

Appreciating Your Real Self

February 24, 2017

Appreciating Your “Real Self”

This reflection blog is an output from exercises listed at the end of Chapter 5 (McKee, Boyatzis & Johnston, 2008).  This was a useful and beneficial look at my life through the guided questions and discussions in those exercises.

Lifeline.

I have stated previously that it is hard to write about oneself.  It took the directed exercises for me to look at various aspects of what I have become in 57 years.  Introspection has always been a strength for me, but with direct questions to answer about oneself, it is virtually impossible to avoid unpleasant memories or periods of time.  The self-identity of who I am jumped out at me from the very start.  My identity is composed of being a warrior, an athlete, an intellectual, a father, brother, and a husband.  These are not necessarily in order of importance, but they comprise the main characteristics of who I am.

The warrior training started early in life as a wrestler in high school.  It continued its progression when I started training in martial arts, and then became a member of the U.S. military.  That aspect of my real-self is undeniable.  I model myself after the Samurai warriors.  They were the most skilled and accomplished of warriors, but they had other surprising interests as well.  They were into learning/wisdom, poetry, art, music, and writing.  In all, they were my definition of some of the most well-rounded warriors throughout the world.

As an athlete, I was always good in sports even if my physical traits were not conducive to them beyond high school sports.  I continued those efforts by accumulating perfect scores on the Army Physical Fitness Tests, and by attending a school to become a Master Fitness Trainer.  My intellectual pursuits have stemmed from a love of history and reading from an early age.  That also developed well with earning my baccalaureate degree, pursing my graduate degree, and reading nearly a thousand books. 

My greatest disruptions have occurred as a brother, husband, and father.  Interestingly, my Chinese horoscope is that of the boar.  The Chinese use a twelve-year cycle, defined by year, to assign their horoscope signs.  My sign reads “Chivalrous and noble.  Your friends will be life-long, but your personal relationships will be rocky”.  Great.  I like the first part of this, but then it appears to describe the serious valleys that I have encountered in life.  They generally revolved around rocky relationships, which ended up bleeding over into my professional and financial spheres as well.  Fortunately, it appears as if I have settled in and resolved the turmoil in my personal relationships over the past few years.  I have better relations with my children, my spouse, and my family members.  I can honestly say that most of the problems were external, (I did my share of contributions as well!), but my response to a lot of them demonstrated a lack of emotional intelligence (EI).  Fortunately, I have recently learned that EI can be learned!  Good.  I will continue to improve those aspects of my life.

Social Identities.

This one was tough for me to resolve in my mind.  I have had many different affiliations and associations with my church and professional organizations.  However, at this point in my life, I am not interested in participating in them.  Why?  I could state that my life between work and multiple graduate courses per semester makes me too busy to participate.  Is that it or is there another reason?  I have been a 4^th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, a member of the American Army Aviation Association (Quad A), a Eucharistic minister in the Catholic Church, a member of the professional pilots’ association, and a member of a township council.  I am not actively participating in any of these organizations right now.  Again, why?  I guess that I feel that I don’t need them and wish to be “left alone”.  In my church, I was into every aspect of it at various points in time.  Now, I just want to go to church, worship in private, and do not want to get involved.  It is more peaceful for me to do that.  I may gravitate back towards some involvement of certain things, like the Knights of Columbus, but that will come later when I feel that I have more time to give of myself to others.  It doesn’t mean that I am not charitable, pay tithes, or neglect those in need.  Those are different things entirely.  It is just that I am not as interested in my social network right now.  Is that a bad thing?  I don’t know.  I guess others who do not walk in my shoes could make that call easier than I can.

Strengths.

My strengths as a person and a professional are communication, process improvement, and strategic thinking.  I am sure that there are more strengths that could be listed as sub-categories to these, but they are what came to mind when doing the exercises.

My ability to communicate has improved over the years.  As my EI has developed, my ability to navigate through personal minefields has improved.  I no longer let others provoke me into rash words or actions.  In street terms, I am more easy-going and patient than I was in my earlier years.  Professionally, better communication has also kept me from being a victim of political games that are played in all large organizations.  I now come across as a straight shooter, who is not interested in playing games.  The professional game players tend to become bored with me and move onto other targets.

Process improvement came naturally to me as a student in high school.  It was nurtured by my work in the private market, by my undergraduate degree, and by my training in the military.  My graduate degree is enhancing my arsenal of tools for process improvement.  One of the things that I like to say to people is this: “A process improvement is NOT personality driven.  It is finding the optimum way of accomplishing a task.  That process, if correct, should survive me leaving or any other leader leaving their position.  The process should continue”. 

My love of strategic thinking began when I got started reading about military history in junior high school.  It was supplemented by love of playing chess, which I also learned in junior high school.  That process has been nurtured in my life by my undergraduate degree and my military training.  This aspect of my life has not been achieved when it comes to a leadership position in a large organization.  That was part of the outputs of the previous chapters.  With retirement looming in front of me, I have reconciled myself to the fact that this goal will probably not be achieved and that I should find peace within myself over that reality.

Roles.

My current professional role is as the Aviation Safety Officer for the Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD).  I also fulfill a role as an instructor pilot and as a “platform instructor”.  A platform instructor is one who attended the Total Army Instructor Course, and is now certified to teach any subject to anyone in the military.  That is my current role.  It is an important role, but it lacks “command authority”.  Any process improvements that are connected to safety must be done with persuasion and networking within the organization.

My personal roles are now as a father of grown children, a husband, a grandfather, an uncle, and a sibling.  My roles in these areas need further development.  No one has a blueprint for life and how to conduct themselves in every circumstance.  If they did, they could patent it and be rich!  Most of what I have learned about the need for good EI and communication has come from the school of “hard knocks”.  I don’t feel regret about my life in general.  Like anyone else, do I wish I could have done things differently for various situations in my life?  Certainly.  I can say that my process improvement in all my personal relationships and roles has progressed.  It has been an ongoing effort that began in earnest several years earlier.

My last role as a Christian and a member of my church will remain about the same for the rest of my life.  I am a believer in life after death, God, and an accounting of what we have or have not accomplished during our life when we die.  My goal is to ensure that I am ready for that final accounting.

Conclusion.

In summary, I have done many things in life.  I have worn many hats and played many roles.  Some of them have been good and some of them have been bad.  As I continue my journey through life, I will give attention to the weak areas that I identified within myself.  I will work on my own “process improvements” for those weak areas.  I have also learned not to ignore the strengths that I possess.  They can be developed further and can overlap into other associated areas.  A long and difficult transition period for me lasted nearly 20 years!  After enduring that transition, I have become a better person overall.  I am happier than I have ever been before.  I am better off financially and feel that I have better personal relationships now than ever before.  The one relationship that I have with God will continue to be a life-long improvement process!

Respectfully,

John H2O

Reference:

McKee, Annie., Boyatzis, Richard., Johnston, Frances. (2008) Becoming a Resonant Leader.

            Boston: Harvard Business Press

Intentional Change Theory at the Team Level

February 12, 2017

Using the concepts within ICT focused on the team level, reflect on why the Olympic US Women’s Soccer team won so often and the US Dream Team basketball men’s team did so poorly in 2000 and 2004?  (Note:  Basketball team won gold medal in 2000 Olympics)

Per ICT for groups, it is important to set clear goals at the beginning of putting the team together.  The US women’s soccer team progressed in its development as a team because they had the clear vision and goal of being the best in the world.  “We believe that a group’s shared vision of what they want to be and do as a group is the driver of intentional change”

(Kleio Akrivou, Richard. E. Boyatzis, Poppy L. McLeod, 2006).  While the women’s soccer team clearly had that goal in mind, it was not present in the 2004 Men’s Olympic Basketball Team.  (Note:  The Men’s Olympic Basketball Team won the gold medal in the 2000 Olympics and is therefore excluded from this team analysis.)

Coach Mike Krzyzewski said the following of the 2004 men’s basketball team.  “I, too, had watched as the United States had lost its competitive edge in international basketball.  This is not to place blame on those involved with the 2004 Olympic basketball team, a team that was comprised of some of the most talented players and some of the most knowledgeable coaches in the game.  In my perspective, the system failed them.  The team was sent into competition ill-prepared.  It was not a lack of talent or basketball know-how; it was simply a lack of proper time and competition.” It was easy to point fingers and blame this guy or that guy for the way he acted or didn’t act in 2004, but Jerry (Colangelo) and I both believed that it was our current system that was flawed, not the players.  This system was no longer conducive to winning.” (Krzyzewski, 2008) This made sense, but there were other opinions cited that list some deficiencies of the team that prevented them from following the team development per the ICT models.

Every “star” in the NBA isn’t equally productive.  As noted at Wired.com, players who score in abundance tend to be considered “stars.” But wins in the NBA – again, as noted at Wired.com — are primarily about shooting efficiency, gaining possession of the ball (i.e. grabbing defensive rebounds and steals), and keeping possession of the ball (i.e. grabbing offensive rebounds and avoiding turnovers).  Just chucking the ball at the basket might help a player increase his scoring totals (and consequently his salary and fan base); but if the shooting isn’t very efficient, then that scoring doesn’t really help a team win.

It also didn’t help that in 2004, many of the “stars” were just rookies in the NBA.  Other stars decided to pass on the Olympics and that narrowed the choices of who the coaches could select to the team.  Additionally, there were personalities on the team that had been rivals or enemies prior to getting named to the team.  “Strong negative emotions at the group level is seen as hindering the group task, or the formation of a shared identity” (Kleio Akrivou, Richard. E. Boyatzis, Poppy L. McLeod, 2006).  An example of this would be when Isaiah Thomas was not selected to the 1992 “Dream Team”.  This had no bearing on the level of his play (which at the time was the best in the NBA at the point guard position) but rather on the emotional and personal conflicts that Thomas had with other members of the team.

Both the men’s basketball team and the women’s soccer team had to go through the stages of team development.  They are change, stability, and continuity.  The women’s soccer team negotiated all three of these phases and continued the achievement of their shared goal.  The men’s basketball team was unsuccessful at handling the initial change (team formation) and never really stabilized as they should have.  That made continuity extremely difficult.  In a team game, such basketball, it is not always guaranteed that the best individual players when put together on a team will perform as the best team.  Chemistry is involved.  A less skilled player could make an impact if he could bring together the various phases of the game FOR his teammates.  It is often the best accolade an athlete can get when they are cited as someone who “makes everyone around them better”.  Team USA in 2004 lacked such a player.  Other teams that appeared to be less skilled than the US team, developed their ICT as a team and played better together. 

The bottom line is that the women’s soccer team had hope, an image of a desired outcome, and a solid core identity, whereas the men’s basketball team in 2004 did not.

References:

Kleio Akrivou, Richard. E. Boyatzis, Poppy L. McLeod, (2006) "The evolving group: towards a prescriptive theory of intentional group development", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 25 Iss: 7, pp.689 – 706

Boyatzis, Richard. & McKee, Annie. (2005) Resonant Leadership, Boston: Harvard Business School Press

Richard E. Boyatzis, (2006) "An overview of intentional change from a complexity perspective", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 25 Iss: 7, pp.607 – 623

Retrieved from: Wired.com, 2008

Tipping Points of Emotional Intelligence

February 1, 2017

URL:  https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4574314487193895552#editor/target=post;postID=2072331423877906257

Boyatzis ties emotional intelligence competencies as predictors of success.  He also states that negative emotions are much stronger in human beings that positive emotions.  Therefore, the statement that flows around in the Army (pardon the language, but I do want to be correct) is: “It only takes ‘One – Aw Shit, to wipe out a thousand atta boys’”.  Boyatzis research tends to prove this.  Maybe as a function of aging, it is why older people seem more negative and cynical.  They have been beaten down by life’s pressures and burdens.

Boyatzis also describes his positive applicable emotions (PAE) and its opposite of negative applicable emotions (NAE).  It reminds me of the Yin/Yang discussed in great length in Obolensky’s excellent book, Complex Adaptive Leadership 2^nd Edition.  One cannot exist without the other.  However, as noted above, Boyatzis encourages the emphasis on the positive to offset the more powerful negative.  In his video, he also compared his model to others such Barbara Fredrickson, who encourages a three to one ratio in professional and personal lives.  In fact, Boyatzis studies of marriage states that a 5 – 1 ratio is needed to sustain a happy marriage.  Interesting.

In his research, Boyatzis attempted to test the following: (1) demonstrated EI and cognitive

competencies would predict financial performance of leaders in the company; and (2) a tipping point analysis would reveal a better prediction of financial performance than other ways of estimating the impact of the competencies.  Clusters of 4 groups of competencies were tested.  They were: Self-Motivation Cluster, Self-Regulation Cluster, People Management Cluster, and Cognitive Cluster.

The results of Boyatzis study was:

“Two competencies were significantly correlated with the financial performance measure of Account Revenue: Facilitates Learning and Values Learning.

Ten competencies were significantly correlated with Account Gross Margin: Taking a

Risky Stand, Planning, Self-confidence, Leadership, Coaching, Facilitates Learning, Systems Thinking, Empathy, Adaptability, and Values Learning” (Boyatzis, 2006)

The financial results for a large organization were measured in order to determine the effect of EI competencies upon financial performance.  The result was with the clusters described above:

“In particular, the competencies that resulted in greater account revenue and/or account gross margin were, organized within their clusters:

(1) Self-motivation cluster: Planning, Achievement Orientation, Self-confidence;

(2) Self-regulation cluster: Taking a Risky Stand, Self-control, Adaptability, Conscientiousness,

      Values Learning;

(3) People management cluster: Networking, Leadership, Coaching, Empathy, Facilitates

      Learning; and

(4) Cognitive cluster: Systems Thinking” (Boyatzis, 2006)

Boyatzis also wrote about the limitations to his study.  They were the small sample size selected and the uneven distribution of financial measurements.  However, he concluded that the study is useful in that it adds to the empirical evidence accumulating about how EI can positively affect selection, development, retention, and motivation of leaders for the future.

It is interesting that in this leadership class, I was asked by a classmate if I had insight into how to determine EI in potential candidates for hire.  I offered back to her that although my experience was not with the human resources realm, that my intuition told me that if interviewers and screeners were well-versed in EI, then they may be able to recognize the traits during an interview and weight EI ahead of cognitive or technical skills.

Boyatzis and Dr. Goleman have both conducted studies that show that EI factors in more than 2 to 1 as a predictor of success as a leader within an organization.  This two to one ratio is over EI’s counterparts in the makeup of a candidate, cognitive skills and technical skills.  This is interesting due to the ability of EI to be learned even late in life and how it can round out the skills of an otherwise qualified candidate.  Coaching EI and focusing on EI rather than strictly academic achievements or technical knowledge should be the wave of the future for organizations.

In CCAD, I was hired to fill a “temporary” vacancy.  I did not want to be a temporary fill after I had been on the job and discovered that it was a good fit for me.  I had a relatively short timeframe to demonstrate that I could have a positive impact upon the organization.  I decided that I needed to emotionally connect with the pilots and the crew chiefs of CCAD’s Flight Test Section.

How was I going to do this?  The level of difficulty was raised because these were extremely skilled, veteran pilots and crew chiefs.  Their ability to sniff out bull-crap or insincerity was going to be of the highest degree.  Our higher Headquarters (HQ) decreed that we would have a Safety Stand-Down Day.  During a Safety Stand-Down Day, safety training and issues are discussed by the entire assembly of personnel.  In addition, no flight activities or normal activities can take place during this day.

I had my forum, but I was going to need to make this day a success.  First, unannounced to everyone, I purchased 12 dozen doughnuts and coffee for everyone in attendance to the Safety Day.  I meticulously prepared the classes and decided on a forum that would not administer “death by Power Point” to the attendees.  I had sign-in sheets, a large TV screen, a recorder, and all the professional tools available for this day.  How could I make the emotional connection to everyone?

Part of our training consisted of weather recovery procedures for pilots.  When caught in Inadvertent Meteorological Conditions (IMC), the pilots are supposed to follow very specific steps that include gaining altitude for safety, declaring an emergency, and executing a recovery to & landing at an airport with good weather.  I chose to share a story with everyone about how I screwed up when confronted with that very situation.  This was also in correlation to the Safety Officer keeping information in confidence and acting as a teacher or a guide.  I talked about how I was training a student at Fort Rucker under Night Vision Devices (NVDs), and was attempting to go to the Northern training area from the South.  I ran into bad weather and lost visibility with the ground.  I was flying at approximately 1000 feet above the ground.  What did I do?  I violated every procedure that I taught routinely, and started to descend to see if I could pick out my visual references (mainly the ground) again.  I descended to about 500’ above the ground when I picked up my references and turned Southbound and flew out of the bad weather.  My maneuver had been dangerous because there were towers in that area of operations that measure 750’ above the ground.  I could have hit one of those towers and never knew what happened until it was too late.  I admitted my error to everyone and vowed that I had learned from it, it would never happen again, and for these aircrews never to do what I did.

I had done it!  It worked.  The room went silent and all eyes were upon me as I recounted this harrowing experience.  They could feel my remorse at my mistake and the casualness of how I put my student’s life at risk, by making the wrong decision as his instructor pilot!  Once the emotional moment passed, a good 30 minute after discussion started as others opened-up to speak about hazards and their experiences with the relevant safety topic.  I had connected.  I gained the respect of everyone in attendance that day.  It was especially gratifying to have the senior pilots have their defenses broken down and they welcomed me into their “group”.  For the Safety Stand-Down Day, I wouldn’t have done it any different.  I do wish I had another chance to make a better decision on my training flight during that potentially fateful day in the Fort Rucker AO.

Respectfully,

John Hescott

References:

Boyatzis, Richard E. (2006), “USING TIPPING POINTS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND COGNITIVE COMPETENCIES TO PREDICT FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LEADERS” Psicothema. ISSN EDICIÓN EN PAPEL: 0214-9915. 2006. Vol. 18, Suplem.1, pp. 124-131

The Positive PEA and Negative NEA (YouTube - 10:14) (Links to an external site.)

Obolensky, Nick. (2016) “Complex Adaptive Leadership 2^nd Edition”. New York: Routledge

Barbara Fredrickson: Positive Emotions Open our Mind (YouTube - 08:37) (Links to an external site.)

Barbara Fredrickson: The Positivity Ratio (YouTube - 08:43) (Links to an external site.)

Four Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence

Reflection Blog on the 4 Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence

MSLD 641 – Module 3

January 27, 2017

URL: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4574314487193895552#editor/target=post;postID=2059353947491888686

This reflection blog will discuss the 4 dimensions of emotional intelligence, and how it applies to myself, my strengths, areas that I need to develop, and how the dimensions have helped or hindered me in my performance and/or career.

Dimension 1:  Self Awareness.

Dan Goleman talks about this dimension of emotional intelligence to include having a moral compass.  When I reflect upon the statement “having a moral compass”, I usually include several aspects to this.  Morality is taught in the home and through religious beliefs.  The Ten Commandments listed in the Old Testament are a good start when building a moral foundation.  The Ten Commandments for those who are not familiar are (and these are abbreviated): To worship only God, Swearing (Lord’s name in vain), Keep the Sabbath, Honor thy Mother and thy Father, Do not Kill, Do not commit Adultery, Do not Steal, Do not Lie (bear false witness against thy neighbor), Do not covet thy Neighbor’s Wife, Do not covet thy Neighbor’s Goods.  I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition.  The Catholic Church expands the list of the 10 commandments to include the 7 deadly sins.  The seven deadly sins are gluttony, fornication, greed, pride, wrath, vainglory, and sloth.  They also teach introspection and an examination of one’s conscience.  This is practiced as the sacrament of confession.  All of these things teach young people to develop their moral compass.  The examination of one’s conscience, teaches introspection.  Why is this important?  I believe it is important in today’s world where everyone tends to blame others or circumstances for everything that happens in their life.  It carries over into the workplace.  Have you ever known a supervisor or a leader with whom nothing is EVER their fault?  The list of their excuses is impressively long.

My introspection and truthfulness has been strong throughout my life.  It has even harmed me in ways when I was too truthful or open about things for my own good.  For example, I admitted to some bad behavior when I was about 18 years of age, and it cost me a chance to get hired by General Motors.  Should I have disclosed what I had done?  I don’t know.  I do know that my career path took a much different direction as a result of my “confession”.  During that period of time, I don’t believe that the information could have been discovered.  However, I like to use the phrase “Do the right thing, even when no one is looking”.  I did and it cost me.  Although in my later years I retain the introspection and truthfulness necessary to round out my moral compass, I am much more guarded about information that I disclose about myself.  This has coincided with the development of my emotional intelligence and my skills as a leader.

Dimension 2: Self-Management.

In the military, we talk about self-starters as a bullet point on an evaluation report.  I think that Dr. Goleman is going beyond motivated individuals who don’t need a lot of supervision.  I believe that he is talking about managing emotions.  In the paragraph above, I reflected on the morality of managing information about one’s self.  Self-Management implies balancing emotions in the extreme.  Don’t get too high and don’t get too low.  Don’t let success go to your head and hinder future performance.  Don’t let challenges that cause one’s emotions to drop keep you there very long.  Have resiliency against the negative.  Emphasize the positive.  If one can marshal the positive emotions out of situations, there is a better chance that they will be resolved.  Furthermore, it will draw people unto you as they see real leadership in someone who can withstand failures or less than optimal conditions in a given situation. 

I failed in that aspect temporarily when confronted with an extremely toxic supervisor a couple of years ago.  However, now I am grateful for having experienced that situation.  It has given me insight into leadership, emotional intelligence, and the art of connecting with people within an organization.  I have grown stronger and more resilient as a leader due to that bad experience.  It also awakened within me the need to search out that something that transcended power or job skills.  That something is emotional intelligence.

Dimension 3:  Empathy & Compassion.

Having empathy will increase the likelihood that one will be able to connect with others in their professional career.  Of course having empathy and compassion will help in our personal lives, but the focus here is on how it translates into an organization.  I feel that I have great empathy for others around me in the workplace.  It helps me connect with their needs.  It helps me to actively listen to them when they are describing a process that appears to be broken.

I loved the examples that Dr. Goleman gave in his second TED video.  He talked about the Good Samaritan.  He talked about the speed dating test.  Finally, he talked about the complete lack of correlation between IQ and emotional intelligence.  I thought of lots of examples in my own life when I failed the compassion test, but also thought of some when I passed (I hope!).  As word gets around that many people who hold up signs on the road begging for money, food, or work are actually well-off and do that for a living, then people have a tendency to say, “I won’t help any of them then”!  How are we to judge who is actually in need and who is simply a scam artist?  Maybe it is one’s intuition or sixth sense if you will.  I had read somewhere that what Dr. Goleman was saying was correct.  There are many mentally ill people on the streets and we need to help them and not pass by them.  Are we in too much of a hurry?  I remember many years ago I was working in Detroit as a U.S. Customs Inspector.  I had a good job, but didn’t have much money.  I drove 81 miles one way to get to work.  One day, as I was leaving work and getting ready to drive back to my home in Flint, MI, two straggly looking men approached me as I was about to get into my car.  They asked for money because they were hungry and needed something to eat.  It was cold outside and was just beginning to snow.  Something inside of me told me to help them out.  I told them that I only had $5.00 in my pocket (and that was a lot of money to me at the time!) and that if they really needed food, I would give it to them.  They promised me that they would not buy booze, but would go get something to eat.  I gave them my last $5.00 and they were happy!  I don’t know if they really went to buy food or went to the liquor store, but that was not up to me to decide.  That was up to God to judge the recipients.  That I may not be judged as harshly, I will admit that there have been too many times that I have failed to be the Good Samaritan and help people. 

Dimension 4:  Social Skills.

Social skills is defined by Dr. Goleman as the ability to put the other three dimensions into a framework that defines our social skills.  Ironically, I am a late bloomer, but prior to taking my MBAA courses through Embry-Riddle, I instinctively already had these competencies.  It is instructive and enlightening to learn about how other people have studied them and written about them.  One addition that I would like to add to Dr. Goleman’s viewpoint is what I call the “Multiplier Effect” (ME).  The ME means that by optimally combining the first three dimensions of emotional intelligence, then the sum total of the three becomes greater than the sum total of each individual attribute added up as a distinct and separate unit.  In street language, it means “Having your stuff together”.  I hope to continue my growth and travel on that path.  Although I am 33 years into a military career, I approach each day as if it was my first one.  I try to learn something new or something from someone at work every day.  I am better now than I ever was on a personal and leadership level, and I want to continue to improve.  I would like to be accused of “Having my stuff together”!

References:

Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU (Links to an external site.)

Daniel Goleman: Why aren't we more compassionate?

www.ted.com/talks/daniel_goleman_on_compassion (Links to an external site.)

 

Module 1 URL: http://hescottjohn.blogspot.com/2017/01/what-is-great-leadership.html

Module 2 URL: http://hescottjohn.blogspot.com/

Module 3 URL:

Am I A Resonant Leader?

January 20, 2017

I think that I can answer whether I am a resonant leader or not by simply saying that I believe that I am.  However, one must accept the possibility of being a resonant leader without actually being in a leadership position.  I am a “leader” who is not in a command authority position.

I feel as if I am a resonant leader.  I think I exemplified many of the basic qualities prior to pursuing my MBAA degree through Embry-Riddle.  That being said, the past few semesters have opened up new thought patterns about leadership that I have adopted.  For instance, although I thought of myself as a logical and analytical thinker, I learned a lot during my opening MSLD course.  I delved deep into what compromised a critical thinker.  How did one conduct an analysis that ran a circle logic that would provide an answer once one completed the exercise?  The tools used in critical thinking helped boost my value to my organization as I began to incorporate those things.  Technical expertise within an area is important when attempting to gain the trust of others.

I had always felt that I was able to connect with people and network various support groups within an organization.  However, I didn’t realize how important that was until I began the Masters of Science in Leadership (MSLD) 641 course.  I realized that connecting with people was part of having emotional intelligence.  Having emotional intelligence lead to becoming a resonant leader.  The fact that this course talked about these characteristics has helped me re-align my priorities when it comes to performing my job.  This can be exemplified by building trust and relationships.  One has to have the trust of others in to be effective.  That means having values and a moral compass.  Doing the right thing when no one is looking is one way of having values and morals.  The Army likes to say, "Choose the hard right versus the easy wrong".  

In the book, “Resonant Leadership”, Boyatzis and McKee talk about the importance of compassion and hope.  Retaining those qualities gives an individual a better chance at being a resilient or resonant leader.  I had also worked very hard in the previous year as I pursued a policy of adding value to my organization.  By the time the holidays rolled around in December, I was on the verge of burning out.  I sacrificed a lot for the organization, but felt that I was unable to do enough.  That was where compassion and hope came in.  Learning about those traits helped to guide me through a renewal process.  This helped me gain resilience in a stressful situation, but it also helped me realize that I had to be able to offer the other people in the organization hope.  Hope that things can and will get better if we all work towards a common goal.  It also demonstrated that I needed to be able to demonstrate that things can change, even when it appears that the weight of a large organization is resisting that change. 

How to differentiate between hard power and soft power?  In Nick Obolensky’s excellent book, “Complex Adaptive leadership 2^nd Edition”, Nick likens some of the leadership traits to the Yin and Yang.  On one side there is the hard power and on the other side is soft power.  Each of the Yin and Yang contain a small circle of the opposite color within their areas.  In this way, Obolensky was stating that a good leader had to have a mixture of both hard power and soft power, and no when to utilize which.  That requires being able to communicate with and read people and situations.  A superior leader does this seemingly without effort.

I do believe that given an opportunity to be in a position of authority, my life experiences will help to keep me emotionally grounded.  I believe that I have the communication skills and the emotional intelligence necessary to excel as a leader.

John Hescott

References:

Boyatzis, Richard. McKee, Annie. (2005) “Resonant Leadership” Boston: Harvard Business

            School Press

Obolensky, Nick. (2016) “Complex Adaptive Leadership 2^nd Edition”. New York: Taylor &

            Francis

Boyatzis, Richard. McKee, Annie. Johnston, Frances. (2008) “Becoming a Resonant Leader”.
             Boston: Harvard Business Press

What Is Great Leadership?

January 11, 2017

What is great leadership?  Everyone has some idea or an opinion on what sort of traits that comprise

great leadership.  I have had the opportunity in my long military career (33 years and counting) to work for two people that were polar opposites.  In this blog, I will first describe the great leader that I served under, and then contrast him with the poor leader that I served under.  Interestingly, they also fell on a timeline where I had the great leader first (2005-2007), and the poor leader second (2014-2015).  I have used only their initials to protect their privacy as well as my own.

In 2005, I was at a low point in my career.  I had been transferred to a brand-new unit within the 10^th Mountain Division.  I was to be the aviation tactical operations officer (TACOPS) for a Brigade Combat Team (BCT).  I knew very little about an infantry unit because most of my career had been spent in the aviation branch of the Army.  The one thing I did know was that I was not going to be flying, and was going to be a brand new TACOPS officer.  I had been an aviation safety officer (ASO) with nearly 2,000 flight hours.  Over 1,000 of those flight hours had been in the AH-1S/F Cobras, an Army gunship helicopter.  I accepted my fate and resignedly accepted my new assignment with the 3^rd BCT of 10^th Mountain in February 2005.  My section was called the Brigade Aviation Element (BAE) that was part of the S3 Operations Section.  I was immediately part of the Brigade Staff.  That was when I was introduced to the Brigade Commander, J.N.  An Army Brigade Commander is a full colonel (O-6). 

During the first brigade staff meeting, we were told that we would be deploying to Afghanistan in about a year.  Our task was to relieve the 82^nd Airborne Division and continue combat operations against the Taliban in North East Afghanistan.  Our battle space was known as Regional Combat East or simply RC East.  J.N. was impressive.  He was tall, confident, educated, well-spoken, and exuded a personal warmth not usually found in Army brigade commanders.  During that first meeting, he laid out everyone’s assignments and started questioning us all on our backgrounds.  When it came to my turn, I briefly introduced myself and described my aviation background and experience.  J.N. simply smiled and said, “Oh.  You are my aviator!”  I answered in the affirmative and he questioned me a bit more about my knowledge and how I felt to be part of a BCT.  I told him that I was just excited to be there and looked forward to the challenges that he had laid out.  That was my first inkling that J.N. had this “it”.  It was some sort of leadership trait that made people want to follow this man and be part of his team.  A week earlier, I had been despondent and now I was fired up about the new job!  It wasn’t all fun and games.  J.N. worked us harder than I had ever worked before in my military career.  Many weekends were totally shot as we performed exercise after exercise while we prepared for our looming combat deployment.  Speaking of exercise, the brigade staff officers worked out harder and longer than the enlisted did in the BCT, and longer and harder than in any other unit I had ever been in!  I had to toughen up and get better in several different areas.

J.N. not only made me and others excited about our jobs, but he made us feel important.  He made us feel as if we were part of something larger than ourselves.  He was an excellent communicator and motivator.  Early on, he quickly identified officers on the brigade staff that were disgruntled or would not subordinate themselves to our larger goals.  Those officers were replaced and without fail, the new-comers were always better than the outgoing officers.  That also taught me a lesson.  If J.N. was unable to get you excited about what you were doing, then he didn’t want you on his team.  The danger was that bad attitudes would spread like cancer.  At the end of 12 long months of grueling train-up, we were ready.  We trusted J.N.  We loved him.  Most of us would fall on a grenade and sacrifice ourselves to save him.  Why?  It is hard to point to any one example.  His leadership was one constant highlight reel of resiliency, resonant leadership, and smooth polished and cuss-free communication.  He didn’t have to yell or raise his voice to get things done.  For example, one day he called me to his tactical operations center (TOC) during one of our combat simulations.  He took out a map and said to me, “Chief, we have to pick up a medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) casualty by regulation within one hour”.  Our helicopters are stationed here, but what if we get a call to respond here?  I went to work on the problem with my team of aviators and we finally were able to figure out an optimal staging of our MEDEVAC assets to cover the entire RC-East.  Once we figure that out, he then threw another variable into the equation.  What if we were picking up a MEDEVAC casualty from that area, and we got another call for air-support for troops under fire in this area?  The area he was pointing to was at the opposite end of the RC.  We racked our brains for hours attempting to solve the dilemma.  RC-East was a very large area cover with only 1 BCT and two-thirds of an aviation brigade.  The exercise made us very aware of our limited resources, but it paid off once we arrived in Afghanistan and began our combat operations.  It was his insight that forced us to make worst-case scenario plans based upon limited resources available.  This insight was repeated countless times in all functional areas of our BCT.  He thought about logistics, maintenance, transportation, troop strength, air power, mountain tactics, air assaults, and local Afghan troops.  His mind was that of a genius working through various scenarios and plans.  All of it was based upon his goal of maximum efficiency, and maximum combat power directed in all the right places.

We encountered numerous challenges in our combat operations in RC-East.  We spent 16 months fighting the Taliban and were the last clearly successful unit to take the offensive and control the most territory within RC-East.  The examples of J.N.’s leadership are too numerous to list here, but he also placed trust in me as a Chief Warrant Officer 3^rd Class (CW3).  We planned to do an air assault into the Korengal Valley NE of Jalalabad.  A tactical decision needed to be made about our exfiltration route of our helicopters after our initial landing.  J.N. was going on the air assault, so the decision that I made could mean life or death for him.  I made a very tough call as to how we would accomplish the exfiltration and it worked out.  We did not lose a single aircraft and the air assault was wildly successful.  He trusted me!  Wow.  That felt good and it spurred me to get even better as a TACOPS officer.

What was J.N.?  He was a resonant leader.  He had emotional intelligence.  He had great communication skills.  He had great vision.  He was the ultimate personification of everything an Army Colonel should be……………and more!  He had that unique something that made him a natural leader and inspired people to follow him and want to be part of his team.  J.N. is now a three-star general.  I am honored that I got to serve with the finest Army Colonel during my career, and serve with the ultimate role model of a great leader.

The heights that I experienced with J.N. vanished to the darkest depths of despair while serving under N.T. in 2014-2015.  N.T. was an example of a person who interviewed well and got selected into his position, but was totally out of his league for the responsibilities that it entailed.  What made N.T. a bad leader?  People dis-trusted him.  He was totally self-serving.  He always took credit for anything good that was produced by his team, and NEVER took responsibility for any failures.  He was not a good communicator.  He was vindictive and dishonest.  He set people against each other.  He thought that was funny and he thrived in an atmosphere of animosity and distrust.

When I arrived at my unit where N.T. was in charge, I thought that the stories I had heard about him were either exaggerated or told by some disgruntled subordinates.  Boy, was I wrong!  N.T. had no vision.  He was not a team player for the larger organization.  N.T. was all about power and demonstrating that he had that power and the ear of the commanding general.  People actively tried to bypass N.T. because of his corrosive style of leadership and the inability to get anything done.  N.T. had a way of talking to the senior leadership to make it appear that he was running a great shop when the opposite was true.  Communication from the bottom up was non-existent.  Team relationships were constantly being damaged due to his meddling and micro-managing of all day to day affairs.  N.T. never respected anyone except for higher ranking individuals that he was vested in deceiving.

I clashed with N.T. on a regular basis.  His decisions were not optimal for the mission of United States combat power in the Middle East.  He personally berated me both in private and in front of others.  He tried to diminish me as a person.  I had completed 4 successful combat deployments prior to this one, but he spoke to me as if I was a private.  I was now promoted to CW5.  Other high ranking colonels tried to intervene to save our team from the abuse by N.T., but his political power was too strong.  They all failed in their attempts to reign him in.  As with J.N.’s successes as a resonant leader, N.T.’s failures and nasty traits are too numerous to list here. 

I did learn some things from N.T.  I learned that he had no communication skills, emotional intelligence, integrity, or ability to build an effective team.  No feedback loops were established so the commanding general was never made aware of the true dysfunction of that section or its leader, N.T.  I was personally threatened with career ending consequences if I went to the general on my own to let him know what was going on.  N.T. is a cancer that will remain with that organization until the day that he finally retires and that unit can start de-toxifying itself from his poisonous leadership.  N.T. never should have been put in charge of that section in such a large Army organization.  He is the perfect example of what not to do as a leader.

John Hescott

References:

Nosich, Gerald M., 2012, “Learning to Think Things Through” Salt Lake City: Pearson Education

Obolensky, Nick. (2016). “Complex Adaptive Leadership 2nd Edition”. New York: Routledge

McKee, Annie., Boyatzis, Richard., Johnston, Frances. (2008) “Becoming a Resonant Leader” Boston: Harvard Business Press