A635.8.3.RB_MaceRoyce
Both Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale and General (Ret.) Stanley McChrystal faced a large amount of uncertainty. What truly defined them as leaders is what they did in response their individual uncertainties. They had the foresight and the fortitude to overcome very large obstacles that took shape in different forms. While Mattress Mack faced leadership decisions as they related to an economic downturn, General (Ret.) McChrystal faced a technological and generational change (militarily) that he had never before faced.
Instead of waiting around for answers to the issues that they faced, each man sought out an answer on how to deal with them. Each man exhibited a form of achievement-oriented, transformational and supportive leadership. Mattress Mack chose to implement "Influencer" training which utilized employee training, rewards, and recognition in order to improve processes and become profitable during the recession in 2008. He makes it clear that many of the employees were resistant to some of the training, but in order to offset this frustration, he rewarded those employees who used to the tools learned as a result of the training and actually produced better results/more profits.
Alternatively, General (Ret.) McChrystal faced a different problem. He points out that the attacks after 9/11 created a chaotic environment where generational and technological coordination became a lesson that he had to learn. McChrystal realized that technology, a "shared" purpose, and inversion of experience could help pave the way forward. Coordination with his forces overseas, who were also much younger than he was, came in the form of communication through video teleconferences, e-mail, and phone call (electronic medium). This obstacle led to failure and a lost of trust in his forces, but McChrystal quickly learned how to reach out, gain back the trust, and understand how to better lead/communicate through these new times of war.
For myself personally, I think that leadership is more so about the willingness to change and find new ways to lead transformationally. Sharing a vision and empowering your team to help create viable solutions will allow for trust to be gained. Once this occurs, the strategy and change agent created by the team can be implemented. When things go according to plan, reward and recognize the team and individuals for a job well done. If they don't go according to plan, go back to the drawing board with your team and figure out where things went wrong.
Each of these men had that willingness and were ale to create trust as a baseline for change. Their people trusted them and had the "buy-in" necessary to get to where they wanted to go. Vision, coupled with learning and trust, made it possible for each individual to make progress during turbulent, unknown times. Brown (2011) states that people will buy into a clear challenging vision that has meaning for them and improve society. Subsequently, empowerment, trust development, and rewards for performance must occur at each stage of the change process in order to be successful in its implementation.
Previous lessons learned about leadership also came into play. For example, McChystal (2011) stated, "Leaders can let you fail and yet not let you be a failure." He understood that failure was a part of leadership and this lesson allowed him to fail over and over again, but with the understanding that failure is what allows leaders to continuously get better. In referencing figures 15.4 and 15.5 below, we can see that the biggest takeaway in the strategies of both Mattress Mack and McChrystal come in their abilities to deliver just the right mount of change for success.
Mattress Mack understood that he had a good set of employees where he could manage change, but due to external economic pressures, he had to build strategy around the culture that he had already created. While Mattress Mack used an outside source for strategic change, McChrystal became that change individually and allowed himself to be taught and mentored by others. Something that many leaders of his experience level never do. This led to a more thorough understanding on how change was occurring and the best ways to mix strategy with a changing military culture.
References
Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Boston,
MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
McChrystal, S. (2013, March). Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn... then lead [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal#t-919422
Instead of waiting around for answers to the issues that they faced, each man sought out an answer on how to deal with them. Each man exhibited a form of achievement-oriented, transformational and supportive leadership. Mattress Mack chose to implement "Influencer" training which utilized employee training, rewards, and recognition in order to improve processes and become profitable during the recession in 2008. He makes it clear that many of the employees were resistant to some of the training, but in order to offset this frustration, he rewarded those employees who used to the tools learned as a result of the training and actually produced better results/more profits.
Alternatively, General (Ret.) McChrystal faced a different problem. He points out that the attacks after 9/11 created a chaotic environment where generational and technological coordination became a lesson that he had to learn. McChrystal realized that technology, a "shared" purpose, and inversion of experience could help pave the way forward. Coordination with his forces overseas, who were also much younger than he was, came in the form of communication through video teleconferences, e-mail, and phone call (electronic medium). This obstacle led to failure and a lost of trust in his forces, but McChrystal quickly learned how to reach out, gain back the trust, and understand how to better lead/communicate through these new times of war.
For myself personally, I think that leadership is more so about the willingness to change and find new ways to lead transformationally. Sharing a vision and empowering your team to help create viable solutions will allow for trust to be gained. Once this occurs, the strategy and change agent created by the team can be implemented. When things go according to plan, reward and recognize the team and individuals for a job well done. If they don't go according to plan, go back to the drawing board with your team and figure out where things went wrong.
Each of these men had that willingness and were ale to create trust as a baseline for change. Their people trusted them and had the "buy-in" necessary to get to where they wanted to go. Vision, coupled with learning and trust, made it possible for each individual to make progress during turbulent, unknown times. Brown (2011) states that people will buy into a clear challenging vision that has meaning for them and improve society. Subsequently, empowerment, trust development, and rewards for performance must occur at each stage of the change process in order to be successful in its implementation.
Previous lessons learned about leadership also came into play. For example, McChystal (2011) stated, "Leaders can let you fail and yet not let you be a failure." He understood that failure was a part of leadership and this lesson allowed him to fail over and over again, but with the understanding that failure is what allows leaders to continuously get better. In referencing figures 15.4 and 15.5 below, we can see that the biggest takeaway in the strategies of both Mattress Mack and McChrystal come in their abilities to deliver just the right mount of change for success.
Mattress Mack understood that he had a good set of employees where he could manage change, but due to external economic pressures, he had to build strategy around the culture that he had already created. While Mattress Mack used an outside source for strategic change, McChrystal became that change individually and allowed himself to be taught and mentored by others. Something that many leaders of his experience level never do. This led to a more thorough understanding on how change was occurring and the best ways to mix strategy with a changing military culture.
References
Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Boston,
MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
McChrystal, S. (2013, March). Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn... then lead [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal#t-919422
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