Category Archives: Characteristics

Characteristic #10: Take Care of Employees

By | September 20, 2013

[September 20, 2013]  Taking care of employees can mean many things but what it should mean is that employee opportunities to succeed are in place.  The work environment and organization culture must be one that maximizes individual employee success.  People do work for money but there are other important reasons.  Research has shown that many times pay is… Read More »

Characteristic #9: The Right Values

By | September 19, 2013

[September 19, 2013]  Senior executive leaders recognize that values1 held by people will be one of the factors that determine the success or failure of that employee and of that organization. In today’s work environment, it is no longer politically correct to enquire about personal values.  This is unfortunate because there are values that directly contribute to a… Read More »

Characteristic #8: Developing Strategy

By | September 18, 2013

[September 18, 2013] He who defends everywhere, defends nowhere.  – Sun Tzu The senior executive leader is personally responsible to ensure that an effective strategy1 is developed and that their organization is properly guided along a path to achieve its objectives and goals.  Without a strategy, there is no map for this journey. What does strategy allow us… Read More »

Characteristic #7: Selecting the Right People

By | September 17, 2013

[September 17, 2013]  One of the key attributes of senior executive leaders is their ability to select the right people for the right job.  Unfortunately, sometimes people are chosen even to be senior leaders who turn out to be stunning failures. Choosing leaders is not just a difficult task, but new senior executive leaders should quickly establish their… Read More »

Profile: General Douglas MacArthur

By | September 15, 2013

[September 15, 2013]  As part of this blog’s profiles in senior executive leadership, the first great leader will be an obvious choice: General Douglas MacArthur.  William Manchester writes of General MacArthur that:  He was a great thundering paradox of a man, noble, and ignoble, inspiring and outrageous, arrogant and shy, the best of men and the worst of… Read More »

Characteristic #4: Urgent and Important Matters

By | September 12, 2013

[September 12, 2013]  Henry Kissinger saw that one of the challenges of senior leaders on foreign policy was being able to discern between urgent and important matters, and then developing procedures to keep the urgent from overcoming the important. What the Honorable Kissinger was saying is that leaders are sometimes so busy coping with urgent issues, like the… Read More »