Happy July 4th everyone.  I hope everyone is having a great day and enjoying some nice weather.  Kirkland had its annual July 4th parade downtown this morning and we are all pretty exhausted at this point.

To mark the holiday and to share a great story, we are having the first ever guest blogger on Reply to All.  My good friend Michael Barry wrote the post below after a recent trip.  If you have a comment, leave it here or drop him an email on rmichaelbarry at gmail dot com.  Enjoy!

US Troops – The Best Anywhere

I recently had the opportunity to visit Joshua Tree, California – one of a handful of places in the world where the Joshua Tree grows.

 

If you’ve never been to the high desert, I would highly recommend the visit. In particular, the Joshua Tree National Park has some of the most beautiful scenery in the west.  Stay at the Roughley Manor and enjoy the wonderful hospitality of Jan and Gary Peters. They have developed a real oasis in the desert.

While in Joshua Tree, I had the honor to visit Twenty Nine Palms Marine Base, in Twenty Nine Palms California.  Much is written about leadership, but regardless of your political views, you should be proud of the physical, technical, mental and emotional training that our men and women receive at Twenty Nine Palms – it is quite simply beyond compare and results in leaders that we would all be fortunate to work with and whom we should all be proud to serve our Country (we should also be proud that there were at least 3 other western countries training alongside our men and women).

Our U.S. Marines are trained to plan (and contingency plan) and execute on that plan (or modify as necessary), in a variety of scenarios.  From IED search and destroy, injury triage, clearing a room, to interacting with locals and press representatives, and other “lanes” of training, the base was realistic in every way that a civilian could find imaginable.  Lt. Col. “Dutch” Dietz was kind enough to spend a few hours with us and permit us to experience some of the in-depth training that our Marines receive.

The base itself is 600 square miles and, among other things, houses at least one full-size, mock town that is used for reality optimized training. 

Each of the men and women of the US Marine Corps that we met were respectful, well trained, confident in their training and proud to serve our Country. The degree of training, technology, responsiveness and pride of our men and women in uniform is rarely covered in the popular press, and it’s a shame.  Our troops provide our Country with the best service we could possibly expect and they deserve the best from us – all of us.   

The next time you are walking through an airport, or are seated next to one of our men or women in uniform, let them know you appreciate their service to our Country. A simple “thanks” will be meaningful to them. Remember that at places like Twenty Nine Palms, our men and women in uniform are prepared for days that make even our most demanding board / client interactions pale in comparison.

One of the most important elements of professional development as well as one of the most elusive is meaningful and positive mentorship.  I had a great deal of structured mentorship back during my Andersen days but start-ups and early stage companies seem to miss this element of structure.  There are more than a few things to sort as you get a company up and running so formal programs easily fall by the wayside.

Beyond formal or assigned mentors are those people you meet who become informal mentors (whether they know it or not).   I have been fortunate enough to have a few of both types over the years although I certainly still yearn for more.  I always seek to learn from those around me and am always interested in meeting new people.

I had the chance to connect in person last week with a great friend and mentor.  He continues to be a positive influence on me and is in the middle of a true entrepreneurial experience of his own.  We hadn't seen each other in many years but picked right up without missing a beat. 

These types of interactions help level-set and bring perspective to our efforts and challenges.  If you know someone you consider a mentor or someone that could be one, take the time, reach out, and grab a coffee, beer, lunch, or dinner.  The rewards are very much worth the effort.

A really great friend of mine, Michael Barry, has been recognized by the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business as the Outstanding Young Alumni for 2008.  Michael is a Partner with law firm Epstein, Becker, and Green in Atlanta and has earned three degrees from UGA (BBA, JD, & MBA). 

We met during fraternity rush in the fall of 1989 and have had no shortage of great memories together since that time including being my best man at my wedding.  Michael is a great lawyer, trusted adviser, and close friend.  If you know him, please reach out and congratulate him.  If you don’t know him, you should.

Congratulations Michael.  I look forward to celebrating with you on May 3.

Great post by Kevin Merritt of Blist on the difference between "foxholes and potholders" in your organization.  I read this a couple days ago and can’t get it out of my mind.

"I like to think of a team’s passion for and support of their leader as being measurable on an imaginary scale from foxhole to potholder. Foxhole leaders are the ones who jumped in the foxhole and fought the battle right alongside the soldiers. Potholders are the ones who seem to appear just as the pie is ready to come out of the oven. A potholder uses his position of authority to demand the potholders, with which he removes the pie from the oven and gleefully presents it as though he baked it."

I think we’ve all experienced more potholders than we care to remember.  Great stuff Kevin.

A business school classmate and great friend, Todd Dewett, has recently published a new book Leadership Redefined and launched a pretty cool website focused on leadership, development, and innovation.  We both joined Andersen after school and Todd went on to a stint at Ernst & Young, earned a PhD, and is now Dr. Dewett at Wright State University.  If you are looking for an energetic, knowledgeable, and entertaining speaker or group facilitator, reach out to Todd. 

Just a good quote from John McCain about commenting on an opponent in the New York Times:

"Never get into a wrestling match with a pig…you both get dirty, and the pig likes it."

"…all glory is fleeting"

I was reminded of this great quote by General George C. Patton today.  Humility (ironically not really Patton’s long suit) is a significant leadership quality and it is important keep things in perspective as we go about our daily lives.   

The entire quote is below:

"For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting."

 Also, check this site out.  I found it when I was looking for the full text of this.  Great follow-on quote from former Sec. of State James Baker.

I was having a discussion with my Dad about work and work challenges recently and he used this phrase as a way to  extract emotion out of the latest fire or emergency.  He spent many years turning things around and squeezing profits out of places few thought possible.   Combined with this is to take any problem and "break it down to dollars" or something to that effect.  Again, remove the emotion and approach the problem pragmatically.  Great advice.

There are plenty of books, thinkers, and pundits covering management techniques and leadership out there.  Moving beyond buzzwords and acronyms you begin to get to fundamentals.  One fundamental I use is the notion of "spot it, got it."  We have all been in meetings or discussions where a problem is restated over and over or someone will point out that something needs to be done about X.  My approach to these scenarios is that if you bring it up, you own it – be that figuring it out, researching it, or coming up with the solution.  I sincerely believe that merely stating a problem without a proposed solution is intellectually lazy.  You’d be surprised what kind of discipline that this will bring to a team or company – as well as drive creative thinking from those around you.