#ArmyNavy #Irony #Tradeoffs
3 Tips from One of Our Nation's Oldest Games
If you spend most of your waking hours competing in a professional services industry, then I would respectfully submit we have a TON to learn from the #ArmyNavy football game.
Competition in nature and business celebrates "survival of the fittest." The irony is that the reasons you become the "fittest" may also leave your company/team the biggest loser. If Darwin's theory of evolution is offensive to you, stop reading ... it's about to get rowdy.
The rest of you ... let's go to work.
During your career ... you will be asked to make many "tradeoff" decisions, and they will not always be easy or obvious. Most will be micro-calls that will clearly document your core values. Some, the big ones, will rock your soul and ask that you be your very best human. Sorry, real trade-off decisions don't come in digital format ... it's all analog. BCG/PCG/IBM ... all 3 letter firms are making 3 dimensional heat map decisions with no "right answers."
By now you probably are asking, "what the hell does this have to do with the #ArmyNavy game?" It's a windup for us witnessing the many traditions surrounding that game and the tradeoffs the USA military must make to build, grow, and improve our nation's most important armed forces.
3 LEADERSHIP TIPS FROM THE #ARMYNAVY GAME
Stop and think about how complex and critical it is to maintain the people, process, and technology to make the US Army and Navy compete on a global level. HOLY MOLY ... it's mind boggling. We got a seat inside Gillette Stadium to see it first hand last Saturday.
#1. Tradition Drives Culture - Any successful organization must have a "positive" culture that relies on core values to achieve its' strategic purpose. During the morning of the #ArmyNavy game we witnessed the Brigade of Midshipman and the Corps of Cadets march on the field. #goosebumps There was a fantastic "drumline" competition and remarkable fly-overs by fighter jets and helicopters. The decades-old tradition to run the game ball to Foxboro was a huge celebration.
#2. Training Drives Skills - If you are looking for a little motivation to "be better" you should watch the Navy's Leap Frogs and the Army's Golden Knights land on the turf at Gillette Stadium! As a pilot, I couldn't imagine doing that on a VFR day, but the planes/choppers dumped the paratroopers out in IFR conditions in gusty winds. How hard have you been training recently to improve your craft and technical skills?
#3. Teamwork Drives Success - In nature, war, sports, or business ... anything worth doing of value requires teamwork to be successful. When you watch the bands, the football teams, the troops, the damn mascots ... without teamwork, this is no success. Sure, nature allows stuff to exists and die without teamwork, but it will not tolerate "individuality" over the long haul in a competitive eco-system.
BOTTOM LINE:
Before we get to the punchline, we'd like to thank so many folks who have served in the armed forces. Uncle Leonard, Michael Bogle , Bud Patton, David Howe , Boone Roberson, Will Weddleton, Lon Hersha, Kellen Hull, Guy Reynolds, Gaylen Brown, @guy hull jr, @timothy hull, Richard Talaber, Mike Savicki, Richard Maguire, Cameron Lackey ... and so many more, but we can't find them on LinkedIn
The #ArmyNavy game reminded me it takes a TON of stuff to make hard decisions in the grey areas when it really matters most. How do you develop and grow as a professional in a management consulting firm? When do you as a leader pick: "and," "or," "vs." It's all in there during the #ArmyNavy game to be celebrated and protected:
Equity and Inclusion and Diversity
Teamwork vs Individual Contributions
Standardization vs Flexibility
Save or Spend
Hard Charging vs Restraint
On the Job vs Structured Learning
Encourage and Discipline
Centralized vs Decentralized
Do's and Don't
Calm in Chaos
Today or Tomorrow
Seriousness and Joy
Life and Death
Success and Failure
Keep Grinding and Expect More
I got my 2 cents and continue to evolve an approach that celebrates ambiguity and constant change ... www.HappyGuidetoaShortLife.com
#GoNavyBeatArmy
Here's today's vidclip:
Tony McLean Brown
A Western NC hillbilly through and through, Tony McLean Brown was born in the small town of Enka-Candler outside of Asheville. His parents re-named him when he was 3 years old to Tony (a nickname provided by his grandfather) McLean (middle name of his Uncle Michael) while retaining his legal surname Brown.
Throughout his career, Tony McLean Brown worked as a farmer, computer programmer, and management consultant – in his adventurous years – author, song-writer, bass player, poet, pilot, mountaineer, certified scuba diver, and competitor in professional bull riding, NASCAR late model racing, Toughman boxing, Crossfit Open, Ironman, pole vaulting, marathon and ultra-marathon running, as well as parenting.
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