Dog Days and Dogfights require true leadership
Posted by Frank Belzer on Tue, Apr 21, 2009 @ 10:04 AM
Guadalcanal 1942. A small group of airmen affectionately known as the cactus air force are tasked with protecting this island from a massive Japanese assault. Their planes - wildcats are less maneuverable than the enemy zero's and they are outnumbered. Yet Guadalcanal holds its historic place in history as one of the greatest U.S victories of World War II. The historians credit a large part of this victory to one man, John Smith. He was a seasoned fighter pilot that led his men through some of the toughest Dogfights of the entire pacific campaign.
John Smith became known as a natural born leader. His leadership style is credited with counteracting the enemy advantage!
So as a business leader in a tough economy you might feel outnumbered by the competition, they may have certain technical advantages or God forbid they are less expensive than you are. Can your leadership counteract these issues or is it time to raise the white flag? So you might be asking, what did John Smith do that made him such a leader? Well like most great Ideas in business it is pretty simple -
He led by Example. He would say "Focus on your strengths and your Enemies weaknesses not the other way around". He showed courage under fire and he made sure he thanked everyone of his 41 man crew whenever he could.
Simple lessons and simple habits could probably help you through the dogfights of this economy as well.
