Leadership 101 Revisited

Is there a failure of leadership in the administration and Congress? Judge for yourself.

In any organization:

- Leadership starts at the top
- Leadership is revealed by the types of people chosen to be key staff & advisors
- Leadership sets the values & ethics for the organization
- Leadership sets the culture for the organization
- Leadership encourages a cooperative, team approach with those being led
- Leadership builds trust and strong communication channels
- Leadership sets the vision ahead and gets overwhelming buy-in to it
- *Credibility is the foundation of leadership

Although these principles are not an exhaustive description of leadership, I know these principles to be true from my own experience. I teach them to a variety of groups who invariably confirm these principles back to me.

Therefore, using these principles, every one of you can evaluate this administration and its leadership effectiveness overall and its support of veterans and the troops in particular. You can also evaluate your own organization where you work, your state and local leaders - and yourself.

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* The last principle listed comes from The Leadership Challenge, 3d Ed. (trade paperback) by James M. Kouzes and Barry C. Posner. I highly recommend you take a look at it.