14 Pearls of Leadership Wisdom from General Steven Lorenz
These leadership pearls are located in various chapters of the General’s fine book titled “Lorenz on Leadership”. They are not offered in the book as 14 Pearls of Wisdom. I have portrayed them together as such for the sake of simplicity and to demonstrate the wisdom in each. In some cases and in parenthesis, I include some explanation or context.
Strive to make a difference in people’s lives,
Always leave the campground better than you found it (a perfect description of what I demanded from the troops when we departed a patrol base in South Vietman; it had to look like we had never been there),
Be fair, firm, and demanding (how can one better describe the persona of the best leaders?)
Situational awareness involves a 360 degree view of the organization or issue (there is not a better description of situational awareness, a term I use with my clients frequently),
Candor makes us stronger (some have written that leaders should say the “how” but not the “why” of a decision. I almost always gave both, which has its drawbacks too.)
Leadership is influence (some believe that leadership is all about giving orders - I beg to differ as the General implies here).,
Comfort leads to complacency and comfort kills. (I think he is speaking of a combat environment here, and I agree completely and gave a tragic example in my previous blog post)
Don’t let emotion play into the decision-making process. Emotion only clouds the issue.
Senior leaders are accountable for outcomes/results. (Even when the leaders is not present.),
You will never get what you want when you think you deserve it. (describes one’s sense of entitlement),
They (leaders) cannot afford to have a bad day. (At least one’s subordinates should not be aware of the leader’s bad day feelings),
One must be able to see the entire forest (360 degree view) before working on individual trees.
They (leaders) should never lose their temper - unless they plan to. (Patton wrote that he studied drama under the master - MacArthur.)
To be accountable is to be subject to the consequences of our choices. Be prepared to accept those consequences. (don’t we all wish we had been aware of this in the days of our youth).