Monday, November 06, 2006

Core Problem #5 ... in the news

In my book Leading People the Black Belt Way: Conquering the Five Core Problems Facing Leaders Today, I wrote about Core Problem #5:

Organizations lose viability when they follow the old structures that serve people at the top first.

Here's a perfect example of Core Problem #5 in the media. In his OpEd column, Washington Post columnist Colbert King writes about Colin Powell's book My American Journey as well as Bob Woodworth's State of Denial.

In his column, Mr. King explores Colin Powell's beliefs that his generation of military top brass would never make the same mistakes that were made in Vietnam.

While I respect General Powell tremendously, clearly he was wrong. Mr. King points out how we are making the exact same mistakes in Iraq.

What went wrong? Did General Powell's generation go bad?

Not by a longshot.

As I point out in Leading People the Black Belt Way, it's not the people, it's the system. Corrupt systems create corrupt decisions. By having a military and political system that serves people at the top first, we will all be paying for the mistakes made in Iraq.

Don't make the same leadership mistake.


BOTTOM LINE: Great Leaders create healthy systems.

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