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President's Message
Spring has finally sprung in Gettysburg! The battlefields are greening and soon the area’s apple blossoms will follow — just in time for us to welcome leaders from the Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection team, and Pfizer leaders hailing from Ohio, who are coming to our next Transformational Journey from Gettysburg programs.
It is truly a privilege to work with individuals from such diverse backgrounds and help guide them on their own leadership journeys. One person who helps us do this is General Jim Anderson, a retired U.S. Army general who teaches our Journeys classes about how the brilliant tactics of Col. Joshua Chamberlain — a man who changed the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg — helped save General Anderson’s life during an actual combat situation in Vietnam. (Read below to learn more.)
Get out your trivia notebooks because this month marks two important Civil War events:
- On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General U.S. Grant in the town of Appomattox Courthouse, VA.
- Just five days later, on April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC.
It is amazing to think of the impact of these two events on our nation and even more so when you consider that they happened so close together. For more information on Lincoln’s life and ongoing impact on our country, please visit the Lincoln Bicentennial website.
Enjoy the rest of your month, and we’ll look forward to seeing you in Gettysburg soon!
Warmly, Steven B. Wiley
As always, send your comments and ideas to our managing director, Angela Sontheimer, at angela@lincolnleadershipinstitute.com. |
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TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY: The Pfizer Solution
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Pfizer Pharmaceuticals executive Larry Sabino has been working with Steven B. Wiley and his staff at Gettysburg for nearly two decades. Every time the district business manager for Pfizer’s Cincinnati office needs to train a new team, he signs his employees up for the Transformational Journey from Gettysburg program.
“Hundreds of Pfizer managers and sales team leaders have gone through the Lincoln Leadership Institute’s program to date because it's the most effective leadership training session I've ever experienced,” explains Sabino. “The lessons are memorable and have an entertaining quality, and that makes them easy to apply as soon as you get back to work.”
Sabino has been so satisfied with Wiley's program that he's now sharing his secret leadership training weapon with every Pfizer district manager in Ohio. Next week, they'll be heading to Gettysburg to experience the high-level professional development course. Then later this summer, those managers will be bringing their teams through the Transformational Journey program, as well.
"It's just good business," notes Sabino, who admits that the leadership lessons of Gettysburg have spilled into his personal life.
“When I’m making a major purchase, interacting with my wife, or trying to be an example to my kids, I think about what Steve and his team have taught me,” he shares. “For example, I never start off the negotiation by asking for the price or goal that I want. I start high, so I have room to give a little, and that way everyone feels like they win. Steve says it’s a way to ‘Leave a mint on the pillow.’ It’s common sense, but it’s also quite wise. And, it works every time.”
Tune in next month to watch Larry Sabino and his team on YouTube — we’ll be videotaping the Pfizer Transformational Journey from Gettysburg and sharing more of Sabino’s insights in a special video presentation.
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FACULTY INSIGHTS: Creating Leaders with Character
By General James L. Anderson
U.S. Army, Retired / Faculty member, Lincoln Leadership Institute
At the Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg, we use the battlefield and metaphors about each of the three days of the 1863 battle to help today’s leaders consider what gives their organizations their “greatest advantage” over competitors. We ask them to reflect on their greatest vulnerabilities, and then work with them to become more effective by implementing a series of strategies — such as practicing Courageous Communication between leaders and followers.
The metaphor from the second day of our Transformational Journey from Gettysburg program is where I step in to talk about The Left Flank. This was the Union Army’s area of greatest weakness — and it was where the now revered Colonel Joshua Chamberlain of Maine and his regiment were placed, and told they must hold the flank at all costs.
I first learned about Col. Joshua Chamberlain in my studies of the American Civil War during the History of the Military Art course at West Point. That was when I learned that Chamberlain was a leader of character. Of course, I was not aware at that time that what I learned would save my life — and the lives of countless other soldiers — on another battlefield more than a century later. But that’s a story I’ll reserve for you when you attend an upcoming Transformational Journey program.
I will say that studying what it means to be a leader of character helped me to form my philosophy that “Leadership is a blend of Competence and Character” — with the operative word being “character.” But I’m often asked, what does it really mean to have a strong character?
In my 24 years as a professor at West Point, we emphasized that our purpose was to provide the nation with leaders of character to serve the common defense. With this as the academy’s reason for being, we were required to wrestle with the definition, and I think that made us better teachers, and better citizens. Perhaps everyone would be better off if they spent some time considering the meaning of character, and whether or not they themselves meet the standards they hold others to.
Organizations most definitely would benefit from this exercise, which is one of the lessons I hope to impart to the businessmen and women who pass through our Transformational Journeys program. Think about it: In your organization, who is your Joshua Chamberlain? Is it you?
About General James Anderson
James Anderson graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1956, and served with distinction as an infantry officer, including two tours in Vietnam. After returning from Vietnam in 1970, he served in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army as a Special Assistant for the Modern Volunteer Army, working with Congress and the White House to create an all-volunteer army. After completing studies for his Ph.D., he served as a tenured professor and department head at West Point, until his retirement from the Army in 1997 at the rank of Brigadier General. Click here to read more.
About Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
Born September 8, 1828, Col. Joshua Chamberlain was a college professor from Maine who volunteered to join the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although he had no military education, Chamberlain became a highly decorated Union officer, eventually reaching the rank of brigadier general. For his gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg he was awarded the Medal of Honor. After the war, Chamberlain entered politics as a Republican and served four terms as Governor of Maine. Later he returned to Bowdoin College, his alma mater, where he was appointed president. Chamberlain died on February 24, 1914. |
In the News
Another Famous Gettysburg Address
The David Wills House is still getting national attention, thanks to the popular museum that now stands in the renovated building where the Lincoln Leadership Institute is headquartered.
On April 12, reporter Diane Stoneback of The Morning Call, commented that “Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address lasted only two minutes, and yet it has been called the ‘most enduring speech in American history.’”
For details about Lincoln’s time in Gettysburg and the new Wills House Museum, read her entire article here.
Could we be seeing more government execs make their way through Lincoln Leadership Institute programs?
We certainly could. Note an article published March 25 on FederalNewsRadio.com entitled, “New Performance Standards Considered.” Reporters Robert Laurence and Suzanne Kubota wrote: “The Senate will consider providing more training while adding new performance standards for federal managers. The 2009 Federal Supervisor Training Act would require all agencies to provide new managers with training on developing performance expectations and would require an evaluation of those managers within their first year on the job.”
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who introduced the act, told the Federal Times, “Given the growing number of federal managers who are eligible to retire, it is increasingly important to train new supervisors to manage effectively. Good leadership begins with strong management training. It is time to ensure that federal managers receive appropriate training to supervise federal employees."
The bill sets standards that supervisors should meet in order to manage employees effectively, assesses a manager's ability to meet those standards; and provides training to improve areas identified in personnel assessments. We’ll keep you posted on further developments. Read the entire article here.
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Copyright 2009, The Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg |
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