as a leader you have to put others before yourself and that starts at the
beginning and it starts with everything that you do you have to let the men eat
first you have to make sure that they have the gear that they need you have to
let them get rest before you do that's how it works you have to make sure that
they have what they need to accomplish the mission and then on top of that you
have to make sure that the mission aligns with the good of the troops this
is hard for some people to understand but this applies to any organization the
military a business a sports team and you have to make sure that the troops
understand that there may be short term sacrifice there may even be the ultimate
sacrifice in war men may be killed for the cause but that cause must be just
and that cause must even in death benefit those who may have to give that
last full measure and that that may sound impossible actually because how
can anyone benefit from their own death and the answer is actually quite simple
when military personnel risk their lives they do so to provide safety and
security for their country the country where their families live and those
individuals put their families above themselves and as a military leader if
you do see that emission does not ultimately lead
to the safety and security of the families of the people that you do lead
then it's your obligation to raise this up the chain of command and fix it then
the same thing holds true in business as a leader you must put the good of the
troops above yourself now the thing that might seem impossible here is that the
overarching measurement of the success of a business is to be profitable and to
maximize profit one of the things that you do is you cut costs and one of the
easiest places to cut costs in any business these people you minimize what
you're paying people or you get rid of people and then you maximize profit so
how can this leadership principle work how can you take care of people while at
the same time maximizing profitability and the answer is that you have to look
at the long game you have to see that the stronger you build a business the
more long-term stability you build and the more long-term stability you build
the more stability you build for your employees and when you're stable that
allows you to grow and when you grow your business the employees have the
opportunity for growth and those opportunities improve the lives for
everyone for the employees for their family and thereby the whole community
that's what happens but then what happens when leaders don't put their
people first in the military it can result in operations gone wrong it can
result in senseless strategies and in the military it can result
in wasted lives and in business you can see another kind of destruction in
business it can mean loss of growth for sure that can mean loss of revenue yes
it can mean loss of jobs but eventually it can mean the collapsing of
communities the collapsing of cultures
now of course a balance has to be found and profitability must be maintained but
the dollar must not Trump the people and it certainly must not regardless of your
capitalistic goals the dollar must not Trump the communities that built the
businesses in the first place the pursuit of money must not jeopardize the
very fabric of the country that gives us the promise for the unhindered pursuit
of that money in the first place and yet we've seen that take place we've seen
that take place in our own country in cities and in towns and in states where
saving a dollar meant closing a mill and then shutting down a factory in places
where making more money in the next financial quarter caused leadership to
forget the long term impact and sell the future of those people for cash in hand
in the immediate
and that disease that plague of greed can spread and it has hurt various parts
of America at various times and when that's happening while the people at the
top might build themselves a fortune it's a fortune built on despair and it's
a fortune built on destruction and in the end that will come back to haunt
them because it is not the right thing to do and it does not have to be that
way because there are leaders who recognize the long-term positive impact
of growth and the long-term positive impact of putting your people first
putting your community first putting your country first