General Peter Pace USMC (ret) culminated a career of service as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the first Marine to hold this position (I am pretty sure). I know someone who served as his aide and speaks highly of the General. Here are some comments from General Pace on leading and mentoring.

• Mentoring is a two-way street between Mentors and Protégés; both should be comfortable sharing thoughts and ideas with each other.
• Mentoring works when you can call someone you trust.
• If you want to succeed, look for companies and leaders who display qualities you like. (Organizations will change you, you won’t change them.)
• Trust other leaders’ opinion of your skills; they sometimes know you better than you think, and their perspective may lead to opportunities you might not have considered for yourself.
• Bloom where you are planted. Embrace every job you get, with the understanding that doing it well will lead you to other good jobs.
• Make decisions. If it’s your decision, make it. If it’s your boss’ decision, get it to him/her right away.
• Have a moral compass. Know ahead of time what you will allow yourself to do. Challenges come when you are least prepared to handle them, so having a clear understanding of who you want to be at the end of the day helps ensure you ARE that person at day’s end.
• Have the courage to speak your mind, especially when you’re not the senior person in the room. Learn to ask questions in a non-threatening manner. Senior leaders need people who have the moral courage to offer another perspective.
• Take care of the people in your charge. Take time to ask others about themselves, not just the business. People perform better when they know you care about them.
• When asked, “What is an appropriate way to recognize uniformed military personnel?” it’s as simple as saying, “Thank you for your service.” It goes a long way in making our service members – and their families — know we care.

Read and heed!

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