Ender's Game

I re-read a favorite sci-fi classic recently called Ender's Game. It's about a genetically engineered little boy born in the far distant future who is chosen at an early age to be trained for military command. If I were going to teach a class on leadership I'd use this book, along with the movie Twelve O'Clock High, as tools to explore the many different styles of leadership. Ender's Game is the first in a four-part series of books about the life of the boy we meet in that first book. It's a great read and a great story - even if you don't care for sci-fi. In fact, it shows up on many lists of the greatest books of all time on Amazon. Give it a look. And if you haven't seen Twelve O'Clock High you've missed a truly great movie.

It's Not Just Words That Speak

Here's another Q&A response I posted on LinkedIn regarding non-verbal communication skills and how they can be best used in your professional life.

I'd like to add two thoughts to the excellent previous responses. First - just as your voice is your instrument for verbal communication, your body is your instrument for non-verbal communication. You want those two instruments to play in harmony - on the same sheet of music. If they don't harmonize, your audience will have the same reaction you would if you were listening to a duet and one musician began playing a very different tune that the other - or even the exact same song in a different key. Both musicians may be playing masterfully but the result is still confusing, discordant or even annoying. In short, your body and your mouth are an inseparable communication duet and they must be on the same sheet of music every time you communicate verbally - every time. Yes, even on the phone, you can "hear" a smile. Second - ALL the ways you communicate are a big part of your personal brand. And strong brands do not develop by accident or luck. Decide exactly what you want people to think when they say your name. Then communicate accordingly. Shakespeare figured it out back in 1599 when he wrote, "All the world's a stage..." And, yes, I agree that this communication stuff is far, far easier said than done (no pun intended).

Leadership CAPs

A friend of mine recently asked if I'd been blogging lately - which I haven't - so I thought I might add a few new items. The following was my answer to a question regarding leadership posed via the online professional networking site called LinkedIn.

Pilots have checklists. Some checklists are routine. Some are needed only for emergencies. But there are a few checklists that are so critical that they must be committed to memory. Pilots call these checklists Critical Action Procedures (CAPs) or "Redbox Items" because they are surrounded by a red outline in the aircraft operating manual. CAPs (AKA Redbox Items) are the steps that must be taken, perfectly in order and without delay, when the safety of an aircraft is in jeopardy. When pilots undergo the periodic simulator evaluation required to be rated to operate a particular aircraft, the evaluator always tests the redbox items – verbally and within simulator emergency sequences. How seriously do pilots take these CAPs? Air Force F-16 pilots are required to write out their CAPs – in ink, perfectly – at least once a month or they are grounded pending additional training. When the experience level of a squadron is relatively low, Commanders routinely require completion of a written CAPs test every week. Failure to speak or perform the CAPs perfectly in a simulator evaluation results in a permanent "failed" entry in the pilots record. As the Commander of a fighter outfit, I gave my pilots and other officers another set of CAPs – Leadership CAPs - and tested them often, measured their performance, and figured that performance heavily into my promotion decisions. My Leadership CAPs were adapted from an idea on loan from the book “The Leadership Challenge.” There are dozens of qualities that can be valuable to a leader. But extensive research has clearly identified four qualities – worldwide, across cultures and generations – which every leader MUST have if others are to willingly follow that leader. Those four qualities became my Leadership CAPs. 1. Honest 2. Competent 3. Inspiring 4. Forward Looking. Kouzes and Posner (the authors of “The Leadership Challenge) elaborate on those four qualities. Their findings are profound. Their research matched perfectly with my experience both in the military and in the civilian business world.

Don Quixote Rides Again - Chapter One: Hyper Creative Class

(This post begins the last installment of my four part post addressing the issue of building a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas.)

When I concluded my previous post on this topic (part 3 of 4), I promised to suggest several possibilities that might give Fort Smith a bigger rudder – one powerful enough to steer our ship clear of the Tipping Point report’s icebergs.

I’ll start off thinking pretty far outside the box and work my way back in later on. But first, let me lay some ground work for an idea on loan from Richard Florida who wrote a series of books describing the coming rise of the Creative Class and the Hyper Creative Class. And just to make sure I give credit where it is due, Mark also developed the key points of the related business development plan I'm about to describe in this post. Having said that, let me summarize Richard Florida's concepts. In short, the Creative Class includes those who utilize brain power as a primary tool to accomplish their job. The prime examples of this class include engineers, architects, accountants, attorneys, and others who combine advanced professional knowledge with skill and experience to create business solutions. The Hyper Creative Class takes the brain power of the Creative Class and compounds it by adding elements of traditionally creative processes. Hyper Creatives include software developers, video game developers, interactive designers, interactive developers, advertising planners, graphic designers, interior designers, and many others.

The Hyper Creative Class is people who have the right-brain ability of the Creative Class, but must add a left-brain component. These people have jobs seek them out rather than seek out jobs. These type people find cultural amenities a priority for themselves. The Hyper Creative Class finds what they want and then relocate to the place that provides it - knowing their work will follow them.

And at this point I want to make an absolutely critical point. The Tip Strategies report created for Fort Smith strongly urged our region to commit itself to creating a “quality of place” that would attract new residents. That “quality of place” concept was the brain child of Richard Florida and he specifically states that quality of place is something that motivates only the Creative Class to relocate or homestead. The rest of us may enjoy it, but only the Creative Class chooses where they will live based on quality of place. Remember, everyone else follows a job. The Creative Class moves to the place they want to live based on the quality of experience they find there knowing that jobs will find them. In the past a community attracted businesses in order to grow. Today, we need to attract people and, specifically, creative people who bring great jobs and disposable income with them.

Fort Smith can attract a small but growing segment of the Hyper Creative Class. The TIP Strategies report outlined that the sales and marketing services segment of the population was largely missing from our region. With modest effort but maximum focus, the Greater Fort Smith Region can attract Hyper Creatives who focus on interactive marketing components such as web site development, email marketing, on-line community creation, and video game development. I am not talking about people and companies who simply do business on-line, but rather those who create the brands and technical components used by companies who do e-commerce. UAFS has already added a greater focus to components of their curriculum related to this idea. Next year the university will graduate their first crop of students with B.S. degrees in Graphic Design. And I'd love to see the administration seriously consider developing a specialized school of video game design - linking highly technical and highly creative processes in precisely the kind of right-brain-left-brain cross-talk that characterizes the Hyper Creative Class.

Through focused individual recruitment, tradeshow marketing and trade magazine marketing, a thoughtful and well developed campaign can slowly move independent Hyper Creatives and related small companies (those with less than 100 employees) to Fort Smith. 75 to 100 target companies can be identified immediately. By working with one of the trade publications which target members of this industry, Fort Smith could create, promote and host a conference built around the interactive industry, particularly the small shop business with less than 25 employees. The trade publication would brand the conference with their name in order to provide legitimacy and encourage attendance. A conservative first year goal would be 50 attendees at the conference. A working title for the conference would be "The Interactive Agency Workshop." UAFS's related programs could be featured and promoted.

Additionally, the Greater Fort Smith Region would conduct trade show marketing at two or three other conferences a year. This can be pricey - conferences can cost up to $10,000 each just to exhibit and that does not include any of the collateral materials, promotional items, or travel expenses associated with truly effective trade show marketing. The upside of the tradeshow experience is that the exhibitor can meet one-on-one with potential recruits simply by pre-scheduling meetings during non-conference time. And that increases the success rate dramatically.

The “Find Yourself In Fort Smith” (FYIFS) brand would be a perfect fit for this campaign and could easily be expanded to highlight the many genuine amenities we have that, when properly marketed, represent a strong attraction to Hyper Creative Class members looking for quality of place. The expansion of the FYIFS would need to be specifically targeted to the Hyper Creative Class. Cameron Clement at Rockfish Interactive is already working closely with the Greater Fort Smith Regional Chamber marketing effort and he knows what the Hyper Creative Class wants. We need to listen closely and utilize his wisdom, knowledge and passion to see Fort Smith move toward a brighter future.

The Central Business Improvement District should consider developing a loft or condo style building that would be a turnkey solution for related businesses. Obviously, this requires private development dollars working in tandem public money to create this specific building opportunity. And the CBID needs to see this project as a very long-term investment in the infrastructure of the city they love. They need to make a commitment to enhance the results of this specific campaign by creating a unique, authentic and remarkable space - while resisting the understandable urge to extract direct profit today at the expense of greater but indirect profit in the decades to come.

And here’s something I bet you didn’t know. We are very fortunate that we have five interlocking pieces of the internet backbone running through Fort Smith. Those who create within and for the internet need not be in close physical proximity to such a monstrous bandwidth pipeline. But the companies who employ large numbers of those people and employ the tools they create would definitely benefit from it. To put this in perspective, the internet pipeline running through Fort Smith is one of the ten largest in the United States. Dallas does not currently have access to as much internet bandwidth as does Fort Smith. This fact has to become one of the highlights of the campaign.

So here’s what we need to make this happen. The City of Fort Smith, The Greater Fort Smith Region Chamber of Commerce, the City of Van Buren, surrounding communities, and the State of Arkansas Department of Economic Development must all get on the same page - now. We need to fund and implement this campaign within the next six months. To my knowledge, no other community is specifically targeting this segment of the Hyper Creative Class – but that won’t last long. And, as I've said in previous posts, there must be a champion with the pedigree and capability of a Bennie Westphal to lead the way.

The author of “Rise of the Creative Class,” Richard Florida notes, "the creative class, 38 million strong in the U.S., produces a disproportionate share of wealth, accounting for nearly half of all wages and salaries earned - as much as the manufacturing and service sectors combined." Targeting this growing segment of the economy would move the Fort Smith region to the front of the pack in the country. Unfortunately, we are currently ranked near the bottom of the pack in Arkansas when it comes to current jobs in the Hyper Creative Class. It won't be cheap or easy to recruit and retain those who work within this segment of our economy. Creative types are appreciate but demanding. But the effort to incorporate this group of people into our community will pay future dividends we can only begin to imagine today.

The Horseshoe Footprint

(This is part three of my four part post addressing the issue of building a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Please read part one, "Milking The Cobra," and part two, “Brutal Reality,” before tackling this part.)

While in Omaha last week I picked up a copy of the local newspaper. I didn’t have to buy the paper because it was a complimentary copy furnished by the nearby Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs. My paper was wrapped in a double-sided-full-color-heavyweight-newsprint advertisement for the Horseshoe. The front side of the page told me I could “indulge without apology” in their 100,000 square foot casino. The back side promised “Five Times the Fun” and a $9.99 all-you-can-eat buffet. A complimentary shuttle would pick me up at my hotel upon request. In case you’re wondering, Council Bluffs http://www.councilbluffsiowa.com/ is in Iowa – just across the Missouri River from Omaha. http://www.visitomaha.com/

The Horseshoe is operated by Harrah’s, the same company that would operate the proposed casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith, and it’s a totally professional set up. Once you’re inside you can’t tell the difference between The Horseshoe and any casino you might visit in Vegas. So Harrah’s does everything possible to get you and your money inside The Horseshoe Casino - and they do just as much to make sure you and your money never have any reason to leave. If you’re actively gambling, your preferred beverage will be delivered to your location on the gaming floor by an attractive cocktail waitress. If you are known to the staff as a frequent gambler, your food will be furnished free of charge at one of the casino’s three gourmet restaurants. And if you leave enough money behind at the tables you’ll find the concierge happy to provide you with a complimentary hotel room, the size and luxury of which are mysteriously connected to the depth of your losses. In fact, it is a fundamental business principal for any successful casino to keep the customer on the property and at the tables as long as possible. And there’s the rub…

No matter what statistics may say, and no matter what positive benefits may be connected with a world-class casino/hotel complex in a town like Fort Smith, I just can’t get past what I’ve seen with my own bad eye. Casinos like the one proposed for Fort Smith do everything in their power to keep people and their money on the casino property. And it will be pretty much impossible to convince me that the future Fort Smith casino operation would be truly pleased if anyone attracted to Fort Smith by that casino spent a single dollar “off the reservation.”

But in the end, although debate on the pros and cons of a casino/hotel complex in Fort Smith may energize those of us wrestling with the issues at hand, it will have little impact on the outcome. Why? For two reasons which represent opposite sides of the same coin. First, there is no support for the idea anywhere within the Arkansas political delegation. Second, the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes have already established nearby casinos from which a Fort Smith based casino/hotel would drain revenue – and those tribes spend millions of dollars every year on political lobbying campaigns to protect their interests.

So here is my conclusion. With all due respect to Bennie Westphal, I do not believe there is a way to complete the Keetowah Casino & Hotel complex before Fort Smith’s Titanic hits the iceberg identified in the TIP Strategies report.

I’ve only met Mr. Westphal once but from what I’ve seen and heard I seriously doubt that he will give up in the face of political opposition. And I am not so arrogant to think that I have all the information available. In fact, I am absolutely certain that Bennie Westphal knows far more about this issue than I ever will. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine what information could come to light that would alter my basic conclusion.

And now it’s time to put up or shut up. If I’m so willing to figure out what can’t be done, I owe it to my community to figure out what can be done - and take whatever action is within my power to help. I’m going to start by suggesting several possibilities here and elaborating in my next post.

1. Recruit members of the Hyper Creative Class and their related businesses to our region.
2. Establish a major intermodal port facility on the Arkansas River.
3. Develop a privately owned and operated multi-sport athletic complex along the riverfront.
4. Permanently locate an active duty Army Brigade at Fort Chaffee.
5. Create an entrepreneurial incubator designed specifically for the Hyper Creative business.
6. Continue to coordinate with and aggressively support UAFS

I guess this means that part four of this post will have six chapters. Look for chapter one in the next few days.

Space Wars - The Reality

I just finished reading a new book called Space Wars.

If you've ever read an issue of Aviation Week cover-to-cover and you have read more than one Tom Clancy book, you'll definitely want to read Space Wars as soon as possible.

If you prefer James Joyce or William Faulkner, skip it.

The book is heavy on weapons tech and light on character development but it rises above those limitations to grab your attention - particularly if you want to know what's really out there in the "black world" of covert and space military operations. My strongest criticism is that the authors write with a definite conservative political agenda that reduces anyone with an alternative point of view to one-dimensional, self-serving caricatures. The authors make no attempt at all to even guess what might cause other intelligent human beings to hold very different opinions than their own regarding what is right and what is wrong in the world. Even so, because of that very flaw, the book unintentionally opens a window into the mind of those in our country who believe that doves are traitors and hawks are the only true patriots.

But the most profound insight of all is how the authors quite accurately describe the astounding vulnerability of the spaced-based "assets" so many of us have unknowingly woven into the everyday fabric of our lives. As the authors quite accurately illustrate, U.S. national security has come to depend heavily on an incredibly fragile network of unguarded satellites whose amazing hi-tech capabilities can be rendered useless with relatively little effort.

Space Wars tells the story of what might very well happy if that network were attacked and disabled. Yes, the authors see the political world through a soda straw. But as narrow as their view of politics may be, they have an equally broad view of something very few people understand: World War III will be fought in and from a new military battleground - space.

A Great Friend

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
My 13-year-old Golden Retriever died today. His name was Maclean (pronounced "Mack Clain"). I took the name from the author of the book "A River Runs Through It." Maclean was an amazing dog.

After my wife and I spent our last year in the Air Force stationed at separate bases in Korea, we left the military and moved in temporarily with my father in Oklahoma City. We were going to move to Fort Smith, Arkansas where I was to continue flying the F-16 as a member of the 188th Fighter Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard. Not long after returning from Korea I interviewed for a job as a pilot at American Airlines and was hired there in May of 1992. I bought a Golden Retriever puppy for Sherri from a breeder in Oklahoma City. We named him Pratt. When we moved to our new home in Fort Smith we bought another Golden Retriever and named her Whitney. Shortly after that I began to spend a great deal of time away from home - either flying for American Airlines or flying for the Air National Guard. Pratt & Whitney became Sherri’s close friends. When Pratt was one year old he was out with Sherri for a walk in an open field near our house. Our best guess is that Pratt had a sudden heart attack. He was dead long before we got him to the vet. Sherri and I were heartbroken and Sherri was very lonely. So was Whitney.

And that led me to begin the search for the Golden Retriever who would become Maclean. I made a lot of phone calls, read a lot of books and magazines, talked to a lot of breeders and finally made contact with a lady named Mickey Strandberg in Wisconsin. One of her big-time hunting Golden Retrievers was about to have a litter of puppies. Seven weeks later I flew into Milwaukee, rented a car and drove halfway to Madison and was rewarded with the pick of the litter. I chose one that looked like all the rest but seemed to have the greatest interest in chasing a small rolled up sock. He was energetic, would look me in the eye, would lie on his back in my arms (but not for too long) and liked to play. I placed a blanket in my small pet carrier and brought the pup home with me on the airplane. We drove together to O’Hare Airport where I returned the rental car, cleared security and carefully placed Maclean in the front cargo compartment of an American Airlines jet. The flight took us to Tulsa, Oklahoma where Sherri was waiting to pick up us for the two hour drive to Fort Smith. It was a two-dog house again.

Whitney, our other Golden Retriever, was patient with Maclean – and she had to be. He climbed all over her, chewed on her ears, chased her around the house and generally annoyed her with his constant motion. I began to train Maclean to retrieve from the first day he moved in with us. It was all a game – a fun, wonderful game – where I would throw a rolled up sock and he would run and retrieve. Even as a two-month old pup, Maclean lived to run.

As time went on I began to train Maclean more seriously using the small pond located at the Air National Guard base ten minutes from our house. Before he was one year old, Maclean was retrieving dummies from land and water. He ran faster than any dog I’d ever seen short of a greyhound. And he swam so fast that he created a wake in the water. The colder the air or water the better he liked it. One frigid February day we went out to the pond to find it completely frozen. Maclean looked at me and whined like a baby until I finally broke a hole in the ice. He promptly plopped his butt in the frigid water and lay down on the ice. There was a dirt road that circled the open field nearby and I would let Maclean follow me as I drove my old pick up truck around the track. Before long he was effortlessly running over a mile non-stop. After several months of training I decided to see how fast Maclean could run for a short burst. When he finally started to fall behind the speedometer was at 28 mph. He was an amazing athlete.

Not long after that, American Airlines decided that it no longer had need of my services and furloughed me along with 450 other pilots. I was faced with earning a living for my family in whatever way I could. And that meant taking short-term military assignments in various places throughout the country and the world. Maclean’s serious training came to a halt but we replaced the training with frequent trips to the pond or field to retrieve for fun. But in the end, my dreams of Maclean earning ribbons and titles at field trials and hunt tests evaporated. But our friendship grew stronger.

There were many times that Maclean was the first to great me when I came home late at night after a longer than normal work day. He was always ready to go whenever I was – always ready to chase another dummy – always looking for an excuse to run fast. The first time I went hunting with Maclean - for pheasant in Missouri - he scented a bird in the brush that had grown up around a barbed wire fence and jumped in to chase. When I finally got him out of the brush he was cut in several places and bleeding profusely from his ear. He acted as if he hadn’t felt a thing. Obviously, Maclean’s tolerance for pain was off the scale. I finally got his ear to stop bleeding and patched him up with a butterfly bandage. When I cleaned the wound he never even flinched.

Which probably explains why we didn’t know he had a tumor growing in his belly until it was too late. One day a few weeks ago Maclean began to lay around the house all day. Now that’s not unusual for a 13 year old dog who isn’t supposed to live longer than 15 years anyway. But it was unusual for Maclean. We wondered if he was getting arthritis or just slowing down. Even so, he was always up and around whenever we called. But then one day he didn’t want to get up at all.

Maclean began to want to lay still. And then he lost his appetite. When we took him to our vet we discovered that Maclean had a large mass in his abdomen that would require surgery to remove. Our vet warned us that a dog as old as Maclean might not tolerate surgery well and that the mass would likely be cancer of the spleen. Our choice was difficult: put a 13-year-old dog through major abdominal surgery in hopes that the cancer had not spread and the tumor could be removed granting him another 2 to 3 years of life or.... I didn’t like the “or.”

In the end, we talked about it as a family and decided that Maclean was a truly exceptional dog and that he would probably be able to recover from the surgery. We also decided that it just would not be right to put Maclean to sleep – euthanize him – without knowing for sure that there was no way he could get well. So, last Wednesday, we put Maclean in the back of the pickup and took a ride to the vet’s office. Dr. Thames’ schedule was full that day so he graciously agreed to do the surgery after business hours later that evening. We waited in the open field adjacent to the animal clinic and let Maclean explore and sniff and do what dogs do in an open field knowing that this might be his last day with us. While we waited, a man pulled up in a pick up truck towing a duck hunting boat. In the bag of the pick up was a very old and frail Black Lab. The dog’s owner, a hulk of a man, picked the dog up out of the truck, set him gently on the ground and let him wander around the open field with Maclean. The two dogs sniffed each other briefly and went back to exploring other things. The Lab was terribly thin and couldn't walk well but his nose must have been working as well as ever because he found all the places Maclean had marked in the past few minutes. The man led his old friend back over to the duck boat just as Dr. Thames came out of his clinic. They put the dog into the boat. The man looked into the lab's eyes and took the dog’s head in his hands while the doctor did what had to be done. The hulk of a man started shaking, bent over the side of the boat. Dr. Thames and his assistant did the only thing they could do – they cried with the man and then walked back into the clinic to prepare for the surgery they would do on Maclean. After a few long minutes the man’s body stopped shaking and he lifted his head, wiped his face, and walked back to the truck. Just as he opened the door he stopped short, turned and walked back to the boat where he bent over and began shaking all over again. This time the shaking lasted a little longer but when he raised his head and wiped his eyes he walked back to the truck without hesitation, got in and drove away.

A few minutes later, the vet’s assistant came out of the clinic to tell us that Dr. Thames was ready to start the surgery. My youngest son took Maclean’s leash and walked him into the building and into the surgery room. Now came the hardest part. We had to tell Maclean goodbye before he was sedated because if he couldn’t get well we would not wake him up from the surgery. The last words Maclean heard were mine, “Good boy! Maclean is a good boy!” I said it loudly because he couldn’t hear so well anymore. I took Maclean’s head in my hands and held him as the doc sedated him.

The surgery started several minutes later. It wasn’t long before I saw for myself what had made Maclean want to lay still. He had a large tumor growing on his spleen. I asked the doctor if there was any point in continuing the surgery. He was optimistic because he did not see any immediate evidence that the cancer had spread. He carefully removed the tumor and began to examine the other organs in the body. It was then that he looked up and said, with tears in his eyes, “I’m so sorry.” The tumor had spread to Maclean’s liver and other internal organs. I left the room long enough to tell my waiting family the bad news – to hold them as they cried – and then returned to Maclean. I put my head on his and I after I stopped shaking I raised my head, wiped my eyes, asked the doc to stop Maclean’s heart. A few moments later, my buddy stopped breathing – and stopped hurting – and I was alone in a room with two people who just watched another man lose his best friend.

My youngest son, the one who loves to hunt and had a special connection wtih Maclean asked "the" question later that night. "Dad, will Maclean be in heaven when we get there?"

I was as honest as I knew how to be and told him that I really, really hoped so.

We both cried a while and told each other our favorite stories about the life we shared with a great friend named Maclean.