Seek Counsel to Unlock Success

Fox

“No man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.” Ben Jonson (British Playwright and Poet, 1572-1637) Seeking wise counsel has made all the difference during my military service; although, it hasn’t always been easy. I have learned the importance of finding the right advisor for the situation, using discernment to understand which advice is worth taking, and finally, having the humility to listen when the counsel takes me outside my comfort zone. Mentoring, coaching, and counseling are…

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Star Trek Generations: Accepting the Past

Pred

“This Nexus of yours, very clever.  I can start all over again and do things right from day one.” – Captain James Kirk (William Shatner), Star Trek Generations This author has watched Star Trek Generations at least three dozen times in his life and the focus has always been on the “passing of the torch” from The Original Series (TOS) and The Next Generation (TNG) casts.  So much so of a passing of one group to another, the writers specifically destroyed the Enterprise D to ensure Star Trek fans understood the the storyline was specifically moving into another creative segment. …

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Your Biggest Military Asset: Expectation Management

Jay Lee

Everyone is here for a different reason. Remember that.  In training, in conversation, and in work don’t be fooled.  You are there for a different reason than your contemporaries.  Your leadership has designs on capitalizing upon time spent in uniform and your subordinates’ snappy responses are likely separated from the reality of their plans – or neither have plans at all. Don’t assume. Your greatest military asset is understanding the commodity of military membership and Managing Expectations. This is not to encourage abandonment of expectations, but achieve an active management of occurrences at in internal level.  Manage how you react…

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Go For the Long Shot: More Successful Than You Realize

Shiny Rock

As a First Sergeant in the US Air Force I am asked to give advice on a near daily basis.   If I had to put a percentage on it, around 80% of the time, it is in reaction to some kind of event or problem. When Pred asked me to write an essay for Military Cheat Codes, I jumped at the opportunity as it gave me the chance to offer some proactive advice so that I could help enhance a career, and not just fix a problem. With that offer on the table, Pred asked me to write about……

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Get the Details Correct or Lose its Value

Pred

Pay attention to details.  The most important things are often overlooked in the search for things than the obvious.  —Unknown No matter how you phrase the axiom, the devil really is in the details.  Military members at all levels must be able to digest information (tactical, operational, strategic, or policy levels) and communicate the reasons for its importance to others up/down/lateral the chain of command.  How a message is crafted, what the message states, and the importance of making the correct decision are vital personnel who need authority to complete actions.  In time critical environments, communication information correctly with the…

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Military Lifehack: Make a True friend of Impermanence

Armitage Hawkshaw

Impermanence.  I wish that someone had illustrated how important that word could be to me as I was leaving MEPS for the airplane headed to Navy boot camp at Great Lakes in the 1990s. Being an unapologetic extrovert, I’d generally not experienced bona-fide stage fright, but I certainly had a full-blown case of it on a warm Hawai’i February day in 2018: it would be my final moment in military leadership there – or ever – standing before my 202-Sailor Department conducting morning Quarters (Navy-speak for “morning formation”) before I would begin my retirement out-processing.  I knew the day was…

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Spies Like Us: Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase Teach Us to Be Doctors… Sort Of

Pred

“These are our new surgeons, Dr. Trobridge and Greenbaum. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – Doctor. – And Doctor.” — Spies Like Us Sometimes lessons are not taught in the positive affirmative manner, but in the negative manner where one learns from false assumptions or incorrect behaviors.  The embarrassment of communicating incorrectly understood information to others can motivate someone to improve their actions or behavior to prevent…

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Caring Just the Right Amount: The AKU Process

Sandels

We are all familiar with the pitfalls of not caring enough. Some of the worst disasters in the world are caused by people being sloppy or even indifferent in their work. Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, sinking of the Titanic, and the loss of the space shuttle Challenger could all have been avoided if key actors paid more effort in the areas of their responsibility. Risks posed by careless planning are evident in the military context too, but on a personal level harm can be caused also by caring too much. How? Let me explain… In the 2016 action movie The Accountant…

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Sully: Tom Hanks Shows the World The Value of Self Improvement

Pred

SULLY:  I’ll tell you what I think… I’m just so damn proud. You were right there with me, through all those distractions. With so much at stake. We did this together. We were a team. SKILES:  Thanks Sully. SULLY:  We did our job. SKILES:  We did our job. Commercial aviation is a tricky and complex business; military aviation is no different.  When outsiders watch military or aviation movies, the viewer receives only a basic understanding of the aviation system and culture that they only see through news or the times they travel home to visit family.  People build their assumptions…

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Be More Machiavellian

Picard

Machiavelli gets a bad rap. His eponymous 16-century work, “The Prince,” placed Niccolo Machiavelli into the literary and cultural lexicon as the caricature of a coldly calculating opportunist, willing to discard scruples for political gain. But read the book and you will find a remarkably brief treatise with enormous wisdom about how to succeed in high-stakes leadership situations. For as much as present-day works on leadership have contributed constructively to the practice of collaborative leadership that builds win-win solutions, there are still times when resources are zero-sum and realpolitik will dictate a single winner to a dispute. Right about now,…

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