Karl

I often think of what it takes to be a good leader. Providing a culture of leadership that allows employees to grow and excel in their roles is important in building a winning team. Leadership styles vary in how to do this. I believe in a culture that finds employees doing something right. When you finding them doing something right praise them in public. Let them know you appreciate what they are doing. Many employees work hard to be successful with just a small token of appreciation. In my program at work we have started a new approach to increase safety awareness. My leaders and I find employees doing something right for safety and give them a small token of gold $1 coin. To many this may seem small but the response has been terrific.  Positive reinforcement outweighs negative reinforcement when a leader is trying to provide a culture of winning. My role as a deputy program manager allows me to work with a diverse group. It is gratifying to see this diverse group come together to meet our program and company goals by influencing them with a culture of positive reinforcement.

It is early morning, Saturday, July 1st. Early rising has just become a norm for Michele and me. My thoughts this morning are about how to be a more effective leader. I read and listen a lot (Michele  may dispute the listening part) about the actions of people around me. Leadership is a passion of mine. I always want to be part of a team that is successful and has fun being together. I learned this early in life when I was playing Little League Baseball. I was part of  2 championship seasons with the Moline Elks. Being a part of Morris football was special where winning became common.  Throughout my life I have been influenced by mentors who I watched closely. Some didn’t even know they were there. Guys like Johnny Austin showed my how to be a great First Sergeant. I was only 17 when I met him and he would influence my life forever. As my own team takes a 5 day well deserved break I hope that I can continue to influence them to keep being successful. We are a high performing team that will need to grow in some other areas to become even better. I am up for the job because of the mentors and experiences I had the last 51 years of life.

I recently read an article where Google employees were surveyed about what makes an highly effective leader. I was not surprised by what the writer, Michael Schneider, shared with his readers. Leadership is about communicating with others. Google employees shared what many employees would say about their leadership. They want leaders who don’t stress them but can “stretch” them. Good leaders help employees and future leaders goals by coaching and mentoring. We tend to find the fault in others when we should be finding them doing “something right”.

We have grown so much in our love over the past 4 years. Michele is the light of my life and pushed me to become a better person. She is supportive and will do anything for anyone.

June 1st was our 4th Wedding Anniversary. We spent it at the Omni Resort in Hilton Head Island where we were married. We love this place. This a view of the courtyard from our room

Michele really wowed me when she looked so beautiful as we prepared to go to dinner.

I woke this morning to learn of the terrorism in England. It is so sad to see our children hurt by things that they don’t know about. My grandchildren are precious and don’t know what it is to fight terror. President Trump put it well when he called these terrorist as “losers”. We can’t let them win.

Lot of things happening in our lives. Family moving away and family moving closer. New beginnings for everyone. God’s blessings!

Having been in several different leadership roles I have found that I cannot be one type of leader. Each situation asks me to use different skills to help resolve the issue. An important issue I learned this week is to listen to what other leaders are saying. Too many leaders want everything to go their way but I believe it is important to develop leaders to be able to make decisions in my absence. This isn’t easy in stressful situations. It take several types of leadership styles to be a good leader

Karl

Marriage is a partnership that must grow everyday to be effective. This was a photo of Michele and I early in our marriage. So much has changed in the last 4 years. We have become a strong team.

We will be adding pictures to our blog of our family and friends. Can’t wait