| Leading change means making tough calls. There's | | | | smaller chopper and three weeks later when the |
| none tougher than making the calls regarding the | | | | assault came the Marine Corp had rolled out a |
| scope, timing and resources of the project. One | | | | new twin blade chopper and the rest is history as |
| of the biggest mistakes leaders make is getting | | | | they say, they crashed blades together. The point |
| happy and caught up in the moment trying to | | | | being is that Sergeant McGuinty is a true hero, |
| impress the boss and making commitments | | | | but he didn't plan it. He was a great leader who |
| you're not able to keep. | | | | reacted to the events around him. |
| The biggest problem I see is when otherwise | | | | On three different occasions in the past eight |
| good leaders and managers reach out and | | | | years I have been called in to 'bail out' a change |
| forecast what I call 'heroism'. With the war in Iraq | | | | project going under. To many I was a hero for |
| right now we read daily of the exploits of some | | | | coming in and fixing the project. But that isn't the |
| of our soldiers and Marines. They do some | | | | problem. The problem is that the prior planning |
| extraordinary things. They are heroes but heroism | | | | placed the project right in the path of a train |
| can't be forecast, it just happens. | | | | wreck because the leaders wouldn't stand their |
| I wrote a book called Dead Center about the | | | | ground on what they knew to be true. |
| exploits of a Marine sniper team in Vietnam. A | | | | When you start a project you start with the |
| couple of years after it came out I was traveling | | | | scope. Based on the scope, the work to be done, |
| on a consulting job in Ohio when one night in a | | | | you will need a certain amount of resources to |
| motel I saw this PBS special on Medals of Honor | | | | complete the work in a certain amount of time. If |
| winners. There before me was none other than | | | | someone wants to speed up the work then the |
| one of my Drill Instructors from boot camp in | | | | scope must come down or the resources must |
| Parris Island. I remembered the event, I was | | | | go up. It's that simple. |
| actually nearby when it happened and this great | | | | Now I know it is often difficult if not impossible to |
| Marine was later awarded the Medal of Honor. So | | | | get the Big Kahuna's to understand this, I get it. |
| I sent him one of my books. | | | | But... if you proceed with 'their' plans and fail, which |
| A few months later I happened to be home one | | | | can be predicted, then your career is going blub, |
| Friday morning and the phone rang and it was | | | | blub, blub, not your bosses. So speak up. Don't |
| Sergeant McGuinty as I knew him. We had a | | | | forecast heroism because the hero will be the |
| great talk and he was relating to me the | | | | guy like me who is called in to clean up the wreck. |
| experiences of that day in what was later known | | | | It's as common as the morning breeze to |
| as Helicopter Valley. He was trapped with his men | | | | forecast heroism on change projects. Don't let it |
| when four helicopters went down in the landing | | | | be you. In one major company I worked for they |
| zone. There were fifty or so who survived the | | | | called it 'the Spirit'. If it was Acme, they'd say we |
| crash and they were surrounded and fought off | | | | have the Acme Spirit and we can do anything. At |
| 1500 enemy for three days. I was amazed by his | | | | another it was called their 'magic'. We have the |
| exploits and said so. Then he said something I will | | | | Acme Magic! In both instances colossal change |
| never forget. He said, "Kugler, always remember | | | | projects were ran right down the tracks and |
| when somebody gets a medal like this it is | | | | crashed because of over commitments. |
| because somebody else screwed up". | | | | If you're smart you will fight the good fight in the |
| He explained that when the Recon teams | | | | beginning, not after the wreck when your name is |
| selected the landing zone it was for one type of | | | | placed as the cause of the debacle. |