Video
Lessons From a Third Grade Dropout
Dr. Rick Rigsby
"If you're outraged by those words, then you're in the right place."
After someone left racist slurs on the message boards of five black cadets candidates, Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria ordered his cadets to line up and pull out their phones. Then he delivered this impassioned speech about tolerance.
ELDP Orientation Notes:
For DoD peeps, some training opportunities to look into:
DCELP is for grades 7-12 (teaches you to lead self)
ELDP for grades 12-14 and 03-04 (10 months - teaches you to lead people)
DSLPD for grades 14-15 (2 years – teaches you to lead programs and organizations)
White House and Vanguard (SES level)
- 70/20/10 = individuals obtain 70 percent of their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others, and 10 percent from formal educational events
- Book recommendation: Blink by Malcom Gladwell. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren't as simple as they seem.
- Discussion on Core Competencies (Need these qualities to get an SES position in the government)
Leadership 101 & Personal Leadership Framework
- Why do you want to be a leader?
- If you want to grow leaders.. to what end? What do you want those leaders to accomplish?
- Leadership is not abdication, it is hard- more responsibility, more stress, more negotiations, more conflict the higher positions you take
- Leadership is the ability to influence others, it changes depending on the leader, follower and situation, there is a leadership dynamic
- Being able to influence others doesn’t have to come from a position of power
- There is a need to translate your vision into reality, and explain how each person fits into that vision
- Management implies you’re continuing current operations in stasis, no change, no different end state
- 4 Pillars of effective leadership: vision, motivation, competence, accountability
- Check out Center for Creative Leadership
- Effective and situationally appropriate use of power and influence
- Use leadership as a force for meaning. Invitation – invite others
- How can I lead in ways that are mature, thoughtful, what other ways do I want to lead?
National Archives
- Steve and I sat down and discussed which project we wanted to present, we had both been to the National Archives before. The Constitution is in much better shape and able to be displayed because it did not travel as much as the Declaration of Independence
Team Building Activity 1
- Blind folded participants are given a rope to work with and working as a team are tasked with forming a number of geometric shapes defined by the facilitator. Square, diamond, pentagon, the letter E, trapezoid, etc.
- Some members were given cards to not participate and be disruptive, some leaders couldn’t share their plan ahead of time, with feedback the objectives were completed faster and faster each time
Team Building Activity 2
-Snakes – A Trust Team-Building Activity That Focuses On Non-Verbal Communication
- The leader is in the back of the line, not blindfolded. The entire team in front of the leader is blindfolded. No verbal communication. Simple. One thing at a time. Toys and buckets were moved. Trust was established.
Debrief / Guided Discussion on National Archives and Team Building
- Vision- you have to share it with your team, if they don’t know where we are going or where they fit in that vision, its hard to contribute effectively.
- We put leaders on pedestals but to be a leader there must be followers. America values independence and individualism, so we don’t have a lot of language that praises followers except maybe “Great Team Player,” but to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower.
- The Archives was interesting in that it had an entire room of lesson plans built from each document and historical documents from each state
- We are in an environment where communication is so important – if you don’t speak up. Your team may die. If you don’t listen to others – your team may die. A good leader gives followers an opportunity to lead from their point of view.
- We need conflict to improve processes
- How do you build trust in a team? Create safety, make things clear, make things simple
- What did I learn about myself? How can I apply this information to work? What will I do differently?
Presentation
Dwight D Eisenhower is known for many things during his Presidency:
- Ending the Korean War
- Avoiding military intervention in Vietnam
- Avoiding confrontation during the Cold War
- Alaska and Hawaii entered into the Union
Only having time to focus on one of those things, we thought The Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State in 1953 would be a good place to start.
- It is on the list of 100 milestone documents, compiled by the National Archives
- It was the end of the longest negotiated armistice in history: 158 meetings spread over two years and 17 days. North and South Korea remain separate and occupy almost the same territory they had when the war began.
- It is a cease fire between military forces, not an agreement of peace between governments
- The Korean War hasn’t officially ended, and is very pertinent to current news.
President Eisenhower, who was keenly aware of the 1.8 million American men and women who had served in Korea and the 36,576 Americans who had died there, played a key role in bringing about a cease-fire.
- His speech to the American people was very profound about forgiveness and remaining vigilant. He ended the speech by quoting Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address…. words of reconciliation and healing that are carved in the Lincoln Memorial.
How do you bring China, North Korea and South Korea and the United States to the table at a time they wouldn’t acknowledge each other? How do you maintain the trust of the nation who sent 1.8 million people to fight and then justify an armistice?
- Leadership, in five specific ways.
- First, he was likeable. Morale can withstand shocks, even disasters of the battlefield, but can be destroyed utterly by favoritism, neglect or injustice.
- Second, he was an optimist. To have positive confident troops, you need to lead by example.Third, he controlled his ego. He could check his own ego and really saw himself as a normal GI. “Always take your job seriously, but never yourself.”Fourth, Knowing Your Purpose Eisenhower sold his people on the missionand got his men engaged in the larger cause—he was always able to make sure the team understood the “why” behind the “what.”The fifth point- taking responsibility Too often leaders want the credit, but when things don’t go well, they don’t want the blame. Eisenhower was different. Here was a man at the greatest moment of his life, who knew his attempts might not succeed, so he wrote a letter—“In Case of Failure”—because he was willing to take the blame.
The Eisenhower Foundation paraphrased a few of Eisenhower’s quotes. “As mature responsible human beings in a free society we must never abdicate our obligation to think, question, and judge for ourselves.” 2 mins 49 seconds
Cohort Presentations:
- Robert Gold Shaw- Robert Gould Shaw was an American soldier in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. Born into a prominent abolitionist family, he accepted command of the first all-black regiment in the Northeast and encouraged the men to refuse their pay until it was equal to the white troops’ wage. *His parents were leaders. *Watch the movie Glory
- Truman – stepped into Presidency and handed information on the atomic bomb, dropped in ’42, he had a willingness to challenge history
- Washington – stepped down after two terms, there was no name for his position, “his excellency” was offered but he chose to be called “Mr. President.”
- Mary Edwards Walker- Mary Edwards Walker was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon. As of 2017, she is the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor. Courage, character, passion, ahead of her time. Refused to say “obey” in her wedding vows and kept her last name, always wore trousers under her skirt
- Women’s Suffragist Movement- 19th Amendment, it came down to one vote. Henry Burns of Tennessee. His mother wrote him a letter asking him to support it. He did. Age: 24.
- Ida Wells- African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, feminist, Georgist, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
- Marbury v. Madison- In Marbury v. Madison (1803) the Supreme Court announced for the first time the principle that a court may declare an act of Congress void if it is inconsistent with the Constitution. William Marbury had been appointed a justice of the peace for the District of Columbia in the final hours of the Adams administration. “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is”1803 – carved in the wall of the Supreme Court Building.
Coaching and Mentoring
- What is Mentoring? Long term- guiding, educational, professional, personal
- What is coaching? Instructional, motivational, directional, short term
- It’s better to ask questions a coach or mentor. A method that works for you as a leader may not work for someone else. The tools and methods for being successful are already in that person. Help them create a process to find answers for themselves, they can repeat that process to solve your own problems.
- Socratic method
- Coaching is a very positive thing but thought of as negative, its not remedial, it’s a benefit, some senior leaders as part of their position receive coaching freely.
- We will receive 1 session a month for 10 months, sign up by the 20th at COR
- Conduct informational interviews at all levels, it will help you determine their life/work balance and what level you really want to achieve
- There is a federal coaching network – e-mail Dr. Fi to get signed up for one typically $200 and hour – we get it for free
Program Evaluation
- What is the most effective development program you ever attended?
- What made it so effective?
- Chose it instead of being voluntold, gets you out of your comfort zone, experiences, relationship building
- .002% of the government go through this program
- A good question for senior leaders: what keeps you up at night?
KirkPatrick’s 4 levels of learning:
- Reaction – if we liked it, we’ll take it further
- Learning – asking questions
- Behavior – we’ll apple something (14 week post check up, Oct. 2018 post checkup)
- Results- published early 2019
What was your most powerful leadership lesson from this week?
Talk about personal oath
"I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCETO THE SAME; THAT I TAKE THIS OBLIGATION FREELY, WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATION OR PURPOSE OF EVASION; AND THAT I WILL WELL AND FAITHFULLY DISCHARGE THE DUTIES OF THE OFFICE UPON WHICH I AM ABOUT TO ENTER. SO HELP ME GOD"
- How do you see yourself supporting and defending the Constitution?
- How are you bearing true faith and allegiance to the same?
- How are you faithfully discharging the duties of the office?
