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Permalink Reply by Cam Caldwell on December 15, 2008 at 9:18pm

Dr. Welbourne:

I have always thought that the key to successful growth is to get good people, or "the right people on the bus" as Collins (2001) has suggested. Choosing the right people takes discipline and insight about excellence. Some people have a passion for being excellent and for helping an organization to do whatever it takes to be superb. Great employees choose to be empowered. Great leaders encourage employee initiative and partnership.

Leaders who understand what contributes to competitive advantage are critical to the success of any organization. It's not enough to have a clever idea or a great product. Effective leaders put the pieces together because they understand the puzzle. Great leaders tell employees the truth, share information with them, and help create an environment for learning wherein everyone contributes to the learning process. Part of honoring the commitment to excellence is in understanding what it takes to plan strategically. Vision must start at the top. Vision is about putting a good strategy into practice. Implementation skills are leadership skills. Cash flow problems occur because leaders have overlooked key variables and their implementation falls flat in the critical area of key resources.

As a practicing manager who faced tough cutbacks, I was able to help an organization downsize by 19% while improving morale. We did it by creating a high trust and high performance culture that invested heavily in training employees, despite the downsizing that occurred. Our employees became owners and partners in improving the organization and we treated them like the partners that they had become. As a management consultant I found that many leaders failed to communicate issues and problems that their organizations faced -- to everyone's detriment.

Cam Caldwell

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