What I Learned Downrange

I recently had the privilege of participating in a leadership experience put together by some amazing Army Rangers who were in the battle of Mogadishu. You might recall the movie Black Hawk Down. These were the real guys. Beyond the amazing stories and incredible admiration, I walked away with what I believe are some incredibly valuable takeaways that I wanted to share.

Slow Is Fast

So much of my job as a leader and CEO is to slow us down so we can do the right work and execute. I realize this might be counterintuitive for many, especially those who are wired to go fast all the time and who are "uber" results driven. Slowing us down allows us to align and work with intention in a way that minimizes mistakes and false starts. During our mission "rehearsal" one ranger shared with me that on the battlefield "slow is fast". I also recently heard that "slow is smooth and smooth is fast". Mistakes in that environment have dire consequences in the way of causing harm. In your world the harm is time, money, unmotivated employees and potentially unhappy customers.

Clearly Define The End State

I think I do an fairly effective job with articulating the "why" within our organization. However, Downrange I realized that I haven't done a very good job clearly defining the end state when I ask people on our team to do certain things. The lightbulb moment for me is that if I can clearly articulate the why AND the desired end state with real clarity, it leaves room for everyone else to explore the seemingly infinite number of "hows". As long as everyone in that mix has a voice and can contribute, there is a high percentage chance of a great solution that gets us to where we need to be with the best, most effective way possible.

I am happy and grateful to report that as a result of this "new" way of thinking, I have seen a real increase in our level of execution. Ultimately, that saves everyone time, money and resources while allowing me even great focus on the things that will move us forward as an organization.

Rock On,

Alan