Business Council of Alabama, Governmental Affairs and General Stan McChrystal on Leadership

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This proverb which is credited to Thomas Reid in the 18th century is echoed again in the lecture on Leadership given by General Stan McChrystal at the recent Governmental Affairs conference weekend sponsored by the Business Council of Alabama. General McChrystal calls it Plywood Leadership. Referencing his team in combat, he discusses that like plywood, each man or woman is not that unique, but together as a team they are like the plywood used to build just about anything. Plywood, like his combat team, is quick to build with, agile to change, easy to fit to a need and focused on a purpose.


One thing is certainly true about our BCA leaders, they always create a strong venue for introspection for our government leadership at this conference and this year was no exception. With leadership from both sides of the political aisle present, as well as multiple Chambers of Commerce, the Birmingham Business Alliance and the Business Council of Alabama leadership in attendance, this meeting has for me been both insightful and motivating as I seek to learn more about what “good really looks like” in terms of civic, political and community leadership.

As the former Commander of U.S. and International Forces in Afghanistan

General McChrystal has received wide praise for creating a revolution in warfare that fused intelligence and operations. A four-star general, he is the former leader of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) which oversees the military’s most sensitive forces.

As the key note speaker for this event, McChrystal began by quickly connecting with our Alabama pulse. He commented on the importance of a Right To Work state, which Alabama is, taking ownership and responsibility for appropriately training the work force and the leadership that is needed to get you there. But taking the thought further, he emphasized not just the value of Leadership, but the real role of leaders at the heart of that leadership. “We all look to leaders, we all believe in our leaders, but what type of leader do I want to be?” he challenged. Whether at a personal level at home, in your business or if running a country, the organization will be what the leader makes of it. He reminded the group that winning is not an accident, and you will not win just because you have “right” on your side. Taking risk as a leader does not guarantee success, and with his military experience near at hand, I trust he knows this to be true and real.

He reminds us to “listen to our team.” Why? Because that is where your success will rise from of course. You will succeed or fail based on the people with which you surround yourself. It isn’t just how the leader responds, but how the goal and directives are communicated to the team that will execute the plan that matters the most. How does the team feel about the challenge? Do they have enough information to execute the plan? What do you LOSE by not sharing information and communicating at all levels? You may in fact lose more than you expect. In my world growing up as an Army Brat, we called it “winning the battle” but losing the war. The message here is don’t give up the long term goal for some insignificant short term win that satisfies a personal need for ego, status, prestige, money or glory. You may walk away with that, but nothing else, and in business where is the win in that?

According to McChrystal leaders are relentless in their focus. They are fearless and welcome the new experience. A leader does not fear change. A leader builds trust. A leader communicates goal and intent, not individual decisions. Ask yourself this: Am I surrounded by a leadership team that will carry on without me because they know what their job is and what the goal is? Or am I surrounded by minions waiting for their next directive because they can’t think or act alone? Ask yourself: Who would I turn my back on?

As you move into your week this week, spend some time thinking on your own leadership. Who do you follow? Who follows you? In fact, according to McChrystal, the purpose of the leader is to solve problems, and to do so with humility. A leader will recognize that change is difficult, but change anyway. A leader knows at his or her core that leadership is a human problem, not one of tasks.

Uncommon times need uncommon leadership, and I learned a great deal listening to the General. How often do you hear a leader speak of morale and purpose? He asked: Where is your soul? A team needs a leader that will create not just a relationship but a creed, not just a belief, but a purpose.

Washington, Your Vote and the Business Next Door

This week in Business has been particularly focused. The Business Council of Alabama hosted noted political contributor, author and speaker, Fred Barnes, for their 2010 Annual Meeting and Luncheon held at the Harbert Center. As a Beltway Boy who also is the Executive Director of the Weekly Standard, Barnes was the usual great choice by BCA to bring cutting edge, real time information to the business community. I look forward to enjoying the signed copy of his book The Rebel and Chief about his behind-the-scenes look at the George Bush Presidency.


Barnes positioned his discussion of the election outcomes by recalling Reagan’s Washington assessment, as an “island surrounded on all sides by reality.” As Barnes noted, you don’t always get what you expect during an election, and this year was no different for many and exhilarating for others. He noted that interestingly our very conservative state of Alabama had similar election outcomes to the very liberal state of Wisconsin. My goodness, New York even picked a lot of Republicans. According to the Hoover Institute, we are indeed a much more conservative country than we were a few years ago and our concerns over healthcare, spending and debt are more important now than ever. This may not be a welcomed message to remind our Washington front office about at this time, but certainly someone has to break them the news. According to Barnes, it is of striking interest that the Republican Party has emerged as the party of “Hope and Change,” and it is incumbent on the party not to blow it.

Barnes posed the question, “Can the Republican Party maintain the coalition?” Time will certainly tell, but a good beginning will be stick to the drivers that business is recommending which are: putting the break on spending and loosen up on the healthcare demands on small business for a good start. Citing Germany as an example, he revealed that not surprisingly, our current economic policies are to the left of many European countries. Germany has unemployment on the decline at 7.8%, and they did it by decreasing spending, decreasing the length and generosity of unemployment, and decreasing the size of government. The big message here that Washington just seems to have a tough time getting the old brain around is that the New Deal did not work. It did not work for FDR and it will not work for the current administration. All it achieves is creating a stronger government power base.

We know the answer, and it sounds easy at least. Tax cuts and incentives work. Just ask any business owner who is trying to keep the doors open. Looking at business founders from across the globe with at least $1 million in annual revenue, Sally Ernst working for Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) tracks their attitude. These are the business leaders whose hiring and layoff decisions are most likely to drive the economy. Her findings are interesting. U. S. businesses were doing more hiring and making more money in the period from May to October 2010 than they were prior to the last Global Indicator Survey, released in May by EO. It seems that business isn’t bad for U. S. entrepreneurs with over half in the survey reporting a higher profit. However, Ernst said, “Things are improving in terms of their businesses although they see things around them as quite dire.” Continued difficult credit conditions and huge uncertainty over whether the U.S. economic recovery can sustain itself have left entrepreneurs worried. Compare this to half of global entrepreneurs who expect that it will be easier to obtain credit in the coming months. A full 57 percent of American entrepreneurs think it will become more difficult to obtain bank loans.

So where are the most excited entrepreneurs in the world today then, if not the U.S.? According to Ernst, we should look to the East. In the Asia-Pacific region, 78 percent of entrepreneurs are optimistic about the economy, 50 percent plan to increase their borrowing, 70 percent have seen profits rise since the spring, 60 percent have been creating jobs for the past year, and 79 percent expect to create still more jobs in the next quarter. And as we have discussed here  before, their Millennial Generation kids don’t mind doing the tough work, are ready to work and less concerned with work/life balance (NJNews 11/13/10).

So what’s a gloomy U.S. entrepreneur to do? Certainly you can look abroad, but let’s not forget to do a little house cleaning here at home. Work to prevent those Bush tax cuts from expiring by contacting your representative or congressman. That would be a nice start. Get informed, stay involved, and remember, take care of your customers, or someone else will.

Pick your Ally to Change the Change: BCA, US Chamber, NAM

            Change.  Not just a buzzword during the Presidential elections, but a word that rose to a frenzied mantra.  Now that the smoke is clearing from our  recent mid-term elections, we are beginning to get the clear picture that something really has changed in the collective conscience of the country, and it may not be what some in Washington had hoped for or envisioned.  It would seem that previous to the 2008 elections, it was enough to ask the civic minded person to engage and vote.  Now that is just not enough.  Gone are the days of passive involvement, and trust in leadership whether it would be corporate leadership (with a now 20% approval rating) or political leadership (with a now 11% approval.)  Enter the Watchdog.  Welcome the Self-Advocate.  All Hail the civic minded, highly engaged voter who not only shows up on Election Day, but is highly informed and ready to get involved.  

I want to share this thought with you on the heels of my participation in the recent Committee Days for the Business Council of Alabama (BCA).  Committee days are key to driving the Pro-Business Agenda that BCA supports for our state.  In their commitment to our legislative process, BCA looks to the business volunteer leadership who has led BCA for over a quarter of a century with vision, courage, integrity and commitment.  This weeks Committee days were filled with heavy hitter leadership participation from all business sectors for Alabama.  If your company supports BCA, your organization has taken a serious step toward not only civic engagement, but having personal ownership in driving the drivers of legislation and leadership. 

            Two key speakers supported the Committee days this week, and their messages were on target with the mission of BCA.  In attendance to support this event were Jay Timmons, Executive Vice President of the National Manufacturers Association (NAM) and Katie Hays, Executive Director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the US Chamber of Commerce. 

Timmons spoke to the need for “clearing the bureaucratic brush”.  According to Timmons, American companies want to compete and win in the aggressive war of competition, and do not need to be encumbered by taxes and legislation that is a functional anvil on the backs of manufacturing.  The United States is second now to Japan, but soon to be the highest in corporate tax rate with a cost to do business in the US at 17% higher than other countries.  NAM supports better policies to create jobs and bring us out of the recession, and it advocates for the Free Market System.  Timmons expressed concern that voters are less and less educated on benefits of a free market.  “We will not survive as a service economy alone, and a manufacturing economy born in innovation, advancement and competition is crucial to building tangible wealth and strength for us,” said Timmons.

Hayes gave an election recap with recognition that there is certainly a lot of new blood in office with 13 new senators and 30 new governors.  “The role of the new governors is clearly significant as they work to interpret for the state what is happening at the national level and as well they should,” said Hayes.  As we exit this week from our Lame Duck Session with only one more session this year, there is a lot to accomplish in a very short period of time.  According to Hayes and the US Chamber of Commerce, President Obama must signal openness to compromise.  If the 2001/2003 Bush tax cuts expire, we will experience one of the largest tax hikes in America’s history.  $3.8 Trillion will be placed in the government’s hands only 45 days from now unless action is taken.   There is a lot of legislation in limbo in addition to the expiring tax cuts.  Other business tax provisions that are a priority for businesses are card check legislation, climate change legislation, transportation funding (SAFETEA-LU) reauthorization, discussion of the Debt Commission's budget report suggestions, immigration legislation (the DREAM Act), cyber security bill, trade legislation, and Medicare insurance legislation. 

The list is daunting, but chins up; Washington is listening now and now is our time to change the change.  We are the small-business bloc which is code for the “hardworking voter” or the “everyman.”  It is rare to find a small business person that does not complain about competition against the Big Box Company so here is your word of caution.  Politics is now truly big business.  More money from outside groups has been spent on the 2010 midterms than was spent in 2004, which was a presidential election year.  Don’t think about this as money spent buying votes, but think instead of the broadcasters, publications, campaign ads, event companies, restaurants, and the political consultants that help to bring it all together.  It may continue to be a tough fight for the small business bloc to compete with big politics in this type of financial arena, so square up with some good allies.  BCA may be that great lineman to your business big or small when it comes to the pro-business grid iron.