We spent years out of balance, and it’s a tough realization to come to understand that you can’t get a baseball season back years later, or a high school prom, or just a walk with your life partner on a quiet afternoon. Make the leadership commitment today to” Balance the Personal and Professional”.
Before air assaulting his Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry into Vietnam’s Ia Drang Valley on 14 November 1965, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, the battalion commander, declared “when we step on the battlefield, I will be the first boots on and that last boots off”. Three days later, the battalion was extracted after defeating an enemy force eight times its size. Through the battle, Hal Moore and his leaders displayed amazing leadership and were definitely in charge.
We believe that great leaders live by an absolute set of core values, 24/7. These individuals are hard wired to “walk the talk”.
One of our most prominent recollections from our cadet days at West Point is the farewell speech by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur to the Corps of Cadets when he received the Thayer Award on May 12, 1962. It is one of the most eloquent speeches we have ever heard — and we can only imagine what it must have been like to have been in the audience on that remarkable day.
Independence Day is an opportunity for all Americans to reconnect with our roots and rededicate ourselves to the ideals of our Republic. It is a day to reread the Declaration of Independence and consider the incredible foresight and courage of our founding fathers
Level Five leaders are developed over time. Indeed, considerable time. It takes a very special person to be blessed with a paradoxical mix of humility, persistence, and of course, competence. No one is born with these skills; rather, it takes a lifetime of education, experience, and mentoring in the school of hard knocks. Leaders are developed, not born. Frankly, the journey is akin to climbing a very high mountain for which there is no summit. We never arrive, but commit ourselves to the journey of continuous improvement.
