I have not done a leadership blog in years. My Corps2Corporate site has several dozen entries, yet only 20 percent are from my Marine Corps peers and others. It just didn’t get the requisite legs, though it still exists.
I will be posting this on both my blog sites, ourcultureinchoate and corps2corporate. As an aside, hilariously, my OCI podcast still has technical difficulties that should be rectified next week. Such is life.
This morning, I read a friend’s LinkedIn post referring to the career consequences of US Army officers surrounding the mass shooting in Maine last year where reserve SFC Andrew Card killed 18 unarmed people and wounded another 13.
That guy, may he rot in hell, was batshit crazy and everyone knew it. A few months before he had spent 19 days in a psychiatric facility and was sent home. The follow-up process failed, as several small but crucial layers and redundancies were not checked off the list.
Compare that tragedy to the debacle of the near assassination on Donald Trump. Each revelation is worse than the last, and critical questions remain unanswered.
I was in the minority not to ask for the resignation of former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation. I still believe it was premature as she is essential to the investigation. Cheatle did have a commendable 27-year career, as did the Army officers whose paths to more responsibility and promotion have been deservedly stopped cold.
The failures in the above examples? Leaders were too comfortable and were mis-served by subordinates who were also too comfortable, right down the line. Of course, the buck stops with the boss, but everyone should get slapped silly, like a Three Stooges clip.
A massive failure of the core mission and lives were lost and destroyed by the weight of leadership complacency.
DEI did not cause the deaths and near-deaths, but it distracts and unnecessarily creates conflicting priorities that crater effort and focus on the leader’s purpose for existence.
Which is the Mission, in one case a broken soldier’s welfare, and in the other the protection of a once and perhaps future US president.
DEI makes the natural phenomenon of temporary complacency worse.
A massive failure not of one deed, or lack of initiative, or even lapse of judgment, but a cascading series of small acts. Trifling, routine, easy stuff. And people died, brutally, needlessly, and ultimately without real accountability.
I retired from a 33-year career with UPS. I was far from perfect, and some might say not even very good, but I learned early about complacency from three specific UPSers, who rose to great heights with our Fortune 100 organization. Sure, the USMC lessons were a tremendous foundation…
The first UPS boss, Joe, gave me a key promotion. A man of few words, everyone knew where they stood with him from the jump. That promotion was a career highlight and began a trajectory I will always be grateful for.
Joe had one admonishment for me that day. “Don’t get porky.”
The Army officers and Secret Service people got porky. And lazy.
Another peer and friend of mine, Lou, who rose to the highest levels through grit and hard work used to tell everyone, “Don’t let your head hit the pillow until everything is covered.” That quote might never hit a book cover, but it could, because Lou led by example. I think he slept four hours a day.
The Army officers and Secret Service people slept too much.
Last, a peer and then boss and good friend, Rocky, had a folksy style and he burst with enthusiasm whenever he entered a room. He told stories, lots of ‘em, and expected leaders to be closely engaged with their immediate subordinates – not cloying, but coaching, staying close without suffocation. Rocky was friendly to everyone, yet he had a gift for giving a semi-private beatdown that was fierce – but the recipient would walk away almost… happy.
The Army officers and Secret Service people did not coach with enthusiasm.
Porky, sleepy, and not enthused complacent bosses, and subordinate bosses.
Inexcusable for leaders. Fatal for the innocent.
I want to make a brazen unsolicited plug. Rocky Romanella has a “Leadership Library Podcast,” hundreds of 5 to 10 minute stories and quips that draw upon his illustrious career in business management. They are free and worthy of your time. His best-selling book “Tighten the Lug Nuts” is available on Amazon and his website 3sixtymanagementservices.com .
Now to all my many great bosses and friends over the years whomI did not mention today, know and understand that you and your leadership lessons are not forgotten.
Joe, Lou, and Rocky came to my life and my mind this morning when reading of the Maine tragedy and the ripple effect. Good stuff to remember.
Peace. Out.
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