Before Mary Saunders became Executive Director of the TWU Leadership Institute, she rose to the rank of Major General in the US Army and in particular held a position of Vice Director for the Defence Logistics Agency where she was responsible for a workforce of over 22,000 military and civilian personnel, both overseas and in the US.
In our interview she brings together a range of very interesting perspectives on Great Work and on leadership: her military experience, her work in a complex and large-scale system, the international element of her work and the fact that she now leads and teaches an organization that actually promotes leadership in the world.
In this interview you’ll:
- hear Mary describe her first big leadership test when she ran a unit in Japan – and the tactics she used to move it from Good to Great
- learn a simple but powerful way to celebrate success
- hear Mary discuss The 90 Day Rule – and why that matters when you’re starting a new role
- discover the importance of accountability and how crucial it is to Great Work
If you enjoyed this interview, you’ll also enjoy my interviews with:
Posted on December 4, 2009
Before becoming the Chief Strategy Officer for Accenture National Security Services, Keith Lippert spent thirty-eight years in the US Navy and rose to the rank of Vice Admiral. In his final posting, he was the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, a role he assumed just two months before the events of 9/11 and at a time when there was some discussion about doing away with the DLA.
Just to set some context, leading the DLA is no small thing. It manages 5.2 million items and the twenty-three thousand civilian and military personnel deal with fifty-eight thousand requests for material a day.
In this conversation with Keith we talk about what had to happen to focus on more Great Work, how the burning platform of 9/11 was important but not sufficient to drive change, and the role of communication is driving success. Here are two gems from the interview. Keith’s perspective on changing a legacy system, and the degree of maturity required to do that. And that in an organization focused on moving and managing material, the need to better focus on and engage the people of the DLA became critical.
The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.
Posted on September 25, 2009
