In my last blog I talked about walking toward wisdom as one of the four major areas of growth for leaders and aspiring leaders, along with gaining knowledge, reaching out to others, and opening your world.  During your lifelong pursuit of wisdom, it is necessary to do a thorough self evaluation and also to be continually open to honest feedback from others. In addition, you must seek out the counsel of those with more wisdom and experience than yourself. I love the concept that feedback is about the past and counsel is about the future. My friend Marshall Goldsmith, who is a great author, says that even when some people aren’t too excited about feedback, they are excited about what he calls "feedforward." He has a great exercise where he has people get up and walk around the room and think about something they would like to accomplish this year. He has them go one on one with each other and ask, "Do you have any advice for me?"  They move around and meet ten or twelve people and get advice and counsel from everyone. Receiving counsel from others is about what lies ahead and is a tremendous opportunity to benefit from someone else’s wisdom. We can gain the most if we are open minded and guard our heart against pride and arrogance.  Over time, what we learn from the counsel of others will add to our own store of wisdom. Work with a mentor or mentors—particularly those who are further down the road than you are. Borrow from their wisdom and experience. A mentor is someone who has "been there and done that." One of the best ways to learn from a mentor’s experience and wisdom is to ask profound questions. You’ll be surprised what you’ll learn. For instance, ask an open-ended question such as, "What decisions in your life have made the greatest contribution to your success?" "What books have had the greatest impact in your life?" "What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned so far in your career?" Start making a list of profound questions such as these, and then look for opportunities to ask those questions. When you ask a profound question and listen—really listen—to the answer, that’s when the learning really soaks in. In my seminars I try to encourage more interaction by asking participants questions and then having them interact with others around them. That’s when learning really seems to come alive for everyone involved. A commitment to pursuing wisdom will enhance your leadership—but don’t expect to become wise overnight!  Walking toward wisdom is a lifelong journey. Every step you take will enhance your growth and bring you closer to your final destiny. So decide today: I will Walk Toward Wisdom. As are many of my books, Great Leaders Grow is an easy-to-read parable with an enduring message. If you read The Secret - What Great Leaders Know and Do, my first book with Mark Miller, you will be familiar with the characters in Great Leaders Grow. If you enjoy it, pass it around to other folks who may be able to benefit from it, and then leave a comment here to let me know what you think.  Remember, everyone is a leader and everyone needs to keep growing. Mark and I hope that Great Leaders Grow will fuel your passion to grow for the rest of your life.

The world is in a desperate need of a different leadership role model. Everyone has seen the effects of self-serving leaders in every aspect of our society. What we need today are leaders who are servant leaders. When people hear the phrase servant leadership, they are often confused. They immediately conjure up thoughts of the inmates running the prison, or trying to please everyone. Others think servant leadership is only for church leaders. The problem is that they don’t understand leadership. They think you can’t lead and serve at the same time. From my experience, not only is it possible, it’s the only way over the long run to get great performance and human satisfaction. To prove my point, I’m always looking for good servant leader examples. As an ex-basketball player and coach, I love March Madness and the NCAA basketball run. This year was especially sweet with Coach John Calipari leading his Kentucky Wildcats to the National Championship. I have known Cal since his coaching days at the University of Massachusetts. He considers me part of his "kitchen cabinet."  What I admire most about Cal is that he is a classic servant leader. He proves season after season that you can lead and serve at the same time if you understand the three aspects of servant leadership: the servant, the steward, and the shepherd. As a servant, Coach Cal realizes that leadership is not about him; it’s about the people he is serving. When asked how he felt about winning the championship, Cal was quick to say, "This is not about me. This is about these thirteen players. This is about the Big Blue Nation." He always focuses on the kids and the fans who support the Wildcats. As a steward, Coach Cal knows that he doesn’t own these kids—they are "on loan" to him to nurture, support, and help develop. Some people criticize him because a number of his players are "one and done"—they leave after their Freshman year and go straight into professional basketball. Last year, four members of his team were drafted in the first round and this year there likely will be two. He is pushing the NBA to not draft any college players until they have completed a minimum of two years of college. Whatever Coach Cal does, though, it’s all about his kids and what’s best for them and their families. If he feels a player such as Terrence Jones is not ready for the pros after one year, he encourages the player to stay—which is what Terrence did. The Terrence Jones who played in the Final Four this year was very different from the Terrence Jones who played last year. Coach Cal does whatever he can to help each player develop to his own highest level of performance. As a shepherd, Coach Cal thinks every one of his players is important. This year’s team had six players who averaged 25 points or better in high school—in other words, they were all stars. The great gift that Coach Cal has is to get them to subvert their ego and realize that "none of us is as smart as all of us." Different players in every game stepped up when they needed to.  Anthony Davis, who was chosen the most outstanding player in the NCAA Final Four tournament as well as being the recipient of several National Player of the Year awards, realized the importance of everyone as well. When he was interviewed after the game about what a great game he had played even though he only scored six points, he said, "Well, it’s not me. It’s these guys behind me. They led us this whole tournament. This whole game, I was struggling offensively, and I told my team, ‘Every time down, you all score the ball; I’m just going to defend and rebound.’" What a great example of everyone depending on each other. Just think of these young people, who have learned to recognize that: As servants, life is not about them but about those whom they serve; As stewards, they don’t own anything—everything is on loan and they need to nurture and support what is given to them; and As shepherds, every human being is important. These are life lessons, whether they stay in college one year, two years, or four years. As Reid Cherner recently said in USA Today, "John Calipari persuaded teenagers to put others first, play unselfishly, and believe the whole is better than the sum of its parts. Every parent of a teen has to be in slack-jawed awe of that." Does servant leadership work?  You bet it does—and Coach John Calipari proves it. The result is great performance along with great human satisfaction. Not a bad outcome for a servant leader.

Shown in the picture from left to right: The Discovery Machine Behavior View Manager, The Discovery Machine Human-Communication Recognition (HCR) Client, and VBS2 from Bohemia Interactive.  Yesterday, Discovery Machine hosted  a webinar showcasing voice interaction. The webinar focused on how voice interaction could enhance training in simulations, specifically in Virtual Battle Space 2 (VBS2). Participants […]

I recently had a wonderful experience working with the founder and the head of leadership for a wonderful healthcare company in the Midwest whose main focus is elder care. It was inspirational to be with leaders who understand that the most important customer they have is their employees. They really want their employees to be excited about giving the absolutely best, most legendary service. The elder healthcare industry has tried hard to change a less-than-stellar reputation caused by news reports over the years of some facilities mistreating patients. But this organization has a great reputation for serving their patients. The workers respond to the needs of the patients and maintain an atmosphere that is stimulating and exciting for them. It all starts with the leaders of the organization creating a motivating environment for their people to work in. When that happens, it’s no surprise when the workers go out of their way to serve their patients—their customers. Then the patients, who are pleased with the way they are being treated, start bragging to their kids and friends about the great service they receive, and the good word gets around. The organization’s best salespeople are the customers they’re already serving. The end result of all of this good news is that the organization becomes sound financially. So often we think business is all about making money and that customers are the most important thing. But if you don’t treat your employees well and give them a reason to come to work, they aren’t going to be motivated to give excellent service to your customers, and customers who aren’t treated well have lots of other places they can go. Don’t forget that without your people, you’re nothing. Think of your organization as a stagecoach. Upper management might be the drivers of the stagecoach, but your people are the horses—the ones who create the forward movement. If the leaders get knocked out of the stagecoach, it keeps moving. But if something happens to the horses, everything comes to a screeching halt.  So serve and help each other, and then reach out to your customers with the enthusiasm and desire and fabulous service that will make them raving fans.

As you may have noticed, my posts have mostly been about instruction and different ways AI can improve the learning process. This is mostly because I had spent 10 years in higher education before coming to Discovery Machine Inc. While working in distance education, instructional design, and instructional media, I noticed that online education is […]

In all my years of participating in and observing presidential elections, I have never heard so many people—both Democrats and Republicans—expressing disappointment with what’s going on in Washington. The complaints are not so much about the leadership capability of the current president as they are about the political system in general. Probably at no time in our country have we had so many major problems—yet we don’t seem to be making much progress in addressing them. Both parties seem to be more interested in getting their incumbents reelected than in problem solving. In light of this situation several people have said to me, "Ken, you ought to write a book called The One Minute Manager Goes to Washington." When I mention this to others, they laugh but often follow with, "That might not be a bad idea." Perhaps because my mission statement has to do with being a "loving teacher and example of simple truths," some people think I might have some suggestions that could make a difference. So finally, after much prodding, I’ve decided to give it a try—because our leaders need some new ideas if America is going to regain our reputation as "a shining city upon a hill." Instead of writing a book, though, I’m writing a series of twelve blogs that will focus on leading Government at a higher level. So watch this space! Every two weeks, you are invited to read a new installment of my ideas for alleviating Washington’s leadership woes. As blog-worthy incidents arise—as they surely will during any election season—I’ll throw in a few of my thoughts regarding those events as well. I hope you will feel free to participate in this dialogue by leaving a comment or two along the way. In thinking about what could help to turn around the system in Washington, I have been struck by four leadership secrets I have learned over the years that could lead to effective solutions to many of America’s dilemmas. In the next segment of this series I will introduce you to the first secret.

Simulation-based training has proven to be an efficient and effective approach to training cognitive decision making.  Militaries around the globe have adopted simulation-based training into their curriculum (as evidenced by I/ITSEC) and it is being seen more and more in the corporate world. At the end of his blog, "Psychological Research Guides Next Generation Computing", […]

I/ITSEC 2013 was a great success for Discovery Machine. Our demonstrations this year showcased the power of our AI, intelligent behavior models, and voice capabilities for training in a variety of simulations including Bohemia Interactive’s VBS3, the US Navy’s Joint Semi-Automated Forces (JSAF), and the Unity3D game engine. You can read all about our demonstrations […]

(The second installment in my twelve-part blog series A Leadership Vision for America) The first of my four secrets toward effective solutions in Washington is really not a secret at all—I have been promoting it as a requirement for organizational success for over thirty years: The First Secret: Have A Compelling Vision Assumption:If people don’t have a larger purpose to serve, the only thing they have to serve is themselves. We are in desperate need of a clear and compelling vision for our country. A vision is a picture of the future that produces passion, and it’s this passion that people want to follow. An organization without a clear vision or goals is like a river without banks—it stagnates and goes nowhere. A colleague of mine, Jack Bowsher, former Director of Education for IBM, agrees with my assessment in his book Educating Voters for Rebuilding America. According to Jack: "As the old saying goes, ‘If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.’ Unfortunately, this adage describes our country in recent years. Americans need to develop a vision of where they want their country to be in future years. Political parties can then develop and implement the strategies and programs that … will achieve the vision. This vision will motivate voters to support the fundamental changes that are necessary to achieve the vision." To help people create a compelling vision for their organization, I wrote a book with Jesse Lyn Stoner entitled Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision In Your Work and Your Life.  In our work with organizations all over the world, we have observed that the biggest impediment to success and goal achievement is the lack of a compelling vision—knowing who you are (your significant purpose), where you’re going (your picture of the future), and what will guide your journey (your values). In fact, fewer than ten percent of the organizations we have visited have been led by managers who had a clear sense of where they were trying to lead people. Next time: What is America’s significant purpose—what makes us who we are?

Why do humans anthropomorphize Non-player characters in games?  Studies have shown that even a circle with facial expressions and the right motion can engage a human.  Part of this anthropomorphism may stem from how we, as humans, naturally interact with each other. When you observe another person’s actions, you naturally attribute a sentient mental model […]