Mar 13, 2019
Professor Bill DeMarco (Retired
Air Force Colonel) holds 3 Masters degrees, and holds fellowships
at Stanford and Cambridge. He is a five-time commander and teaches
leadership at Air University, Auburn and Michigan. Bill explains
what he means when he says we are all just students in “permanent
beta,” and ways in which we can be humble, hungry, and heroes of
the heart.
Key Takeaways
[3:10] Bill’s structured courses
as the Air Academy feature three themes:
- Know
yourself to lead yourself.
- Lead
yourself to lead your team.
- Create organizations where everyone is
valued.
[4:37] When we encourage others
to lead from their strengths, we create organizations where people
feel valued.
[10:08] A huge measure of
success - are you creating more leaders?
[11:19] In his Leaders by Design
course, Bill delves into the idea of stoicism and the teachings
from ancient leaders.
[13:01] In his role as the
National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War,
Peace, and Revolution at Stanford, Bill looked at the intersection
of strategy and leadership.
[14:46] Highly
knowledgeable, capable, and hungry in leadership and support.
Permanent beta continually trying to grow and learn.
[17:18] The advice Bill would
convey to a commander regarding leadership:
- It’s
not about you.
- Understand your mission.
- Develop a strong vision.
- Build
your strategy to achieve that vision even before Day 1.
[21:37] The Four H’s:
- Humble - It’s not about you, it’s about helping
others.
- Hungry - Not hungry for the cool office or the
rank status, but hungry to learn and be of service.
- Hero
- Moral character
- Heart
- How do we become empathetic and lead from the heart. In the
military, it is important to be a people person.
[22:41] It’s important for
Bill’s students to know themselves in order to lead themselves, to
understand the theory, and put that practice into an experience
where they can use it. The classroom is knowledge and the training
is skills.
[36:12] A great leader knows
they need to shake it up and create a diverse team not only in
backgrounds but in thought and perspective.
[39:14] Bill is doing some work
right now studying centennials and will pull the information to
work even better with senior leaders.
[41:33] The world is only going
to get faster. We must fail at a younger age, and learn from our
experience quicker.
[42:16] Bill’s challenge: really
get to know yourself, and where your strengths and challenges
lie.
[42:56] Leadership sits in the
middle of anthropology, philosophy, psychology, and
sociology.
Quotes
- “There’s nothing new under the sun. It goes
back to the ancients.”
- “There’s so much to learn in leadership, we are
all just students.”
- “I’m
not an expert, I’m a student.”
- “Use
the vision to know where you are going, and then lay out the right
things to help you get there.”
- “We
can’t be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes increase
learning.”
- “Once
you know yourself, you build stronger teams and
entities.”
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