General Horst on Leadership

Major General Karl Horst and I met in New Orleans at the National World War Two Museum.  His entire career was in the Army.  He enlisted, went to West Point and rose to the rank of General.  He runs the Medal of Honor Foundation now.  He was in Chicago and we chatted about leadership.  This is the first of a series of podcasts courtesy of TopStepTrader and Dante32.  Thanks to them, and thanks to General Horst who made time in his busy day to do the show.

General Horst wrote a short book on leadership which you can read here.  Here is a list of General Horst’s principles.

Top Ten Leadership Tips

Horst’s “Top Ten” Leadership Tips

1. Live by a set of values. Integrity, Competency, Self-Discipline, Personal Courage, Selflessness, Humility, Accountability.

2. Have a creed or ethos to guide your daily activities. The Warrior Ethos reminds us: “Place the mission first,” “I will never quit,” “I will never accept defeat,” and “I will never leave a fallen comrade.” Those four tenants are as applicable in daily business as they are in combat.

3. Maintain Situational Awareness — Always be aware of your environment and the people around you, as well as their agendas.

4. Be clear and concise in both verbal and written communication.

5. Manage expectations – both your own and those who work around you. Tell people what you expect of them. Tell them what their mission is, give them guidance, give them authority to act on your behalf. Tell them what you expect the end product to look like. Praise them for their work – tell them thank you. If it goes well it is their success, but if it goes badly it is your fault for not giving clear enough guidance and supervisory support.

6. Build a Team — Make those who work with you, and for you feel, they are part of your team and what they do each day is important to you and to the team.

7. Lead by personal example. Don’t ask people to do something you are not willing to do yourself.

8. Be thoughtful of others. Never pass up an opportunity to be polite and professional, treat people with dignity and respect regardless of their rank or position. Say please and thank you…a lot.

9. Don’t forget where you come from and how you got to where you are – and remember you didn’t do it all on your own.

10. Maintain a healthy sense of humor and use it liberally. But never personalize it or use it in a demeaning way.

Hope you enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed speaking with General Horst.  It was a great conversation and I could pick his brain all day.