The Leadership Forge

This book is designed to help you solve your toughest problems, take care of your people, and get great results. You will benefit from the fifty insights by incorporating them into your personal leadership practice and growing as a leader. Each insight is structured as a self-contained “lesson.” You can read the book from start to finish, or you can select the insights that are most relevant to you or your situation. Ultimately, this book is all about you becoming the best leader you can be in order to mobilize people to achieve worthy goals. If you are a leader, this book is for you.

This book is designed to help you solve your toughest problems, take care of your people, and get great results. You will benefit from the fifty insights by incorporating them into your personal leadership practice and growing as a leader. Each insight is structured as a self-contained “lesson.” Following is a list of the insights: Insight #1: Leadership is a Hero’s Journey. Start Yours Now Insight #2: Get Clear on Your Leadership Sight Picture—How to Power Your Leadership by Knowing Who You Are and What You Stand For Insight #3: It’s about “Duty, Honor, Country”—Lead with the Power of Your Values Insight #4: Washington at Newburgh—Compromise Your Morals, Forfeit Your Right to Lead Insight #5: Lead With Superpowers--Leverage Your Strengths Insight #6: Powell, Rumsfeld, or Wooden? Base Your Leadership Success on a Great Model Insight #7: “I Do Solemnly Swear to Support and Defend”—Do You Pass the Buck or Accept the Blame? Insight #8: Of Generals and Admirals—Work Incessantly to Achieve Leadership Mastery Insight #9: Win the War! Create and Implement Your Campaign Strategy Insight #10: Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR)—Sense the Competitive Environment Insight #11: Stirrups, Airplanes, and Radios—You Must Deal With Change Insight #12: Power from the Edge—Leverage the Field for Innovation Insight #13: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”—The Absolute Importance of Strong Functioning Relationships Insight #14: Successfully Navigate Your Political Force Field Insight #15: Appreciate Your Friends, Allies, and Coalitions—Strengthening Your Power Base Insight #16: Getting What You Need—Using Your Power Base for Influence and Leverage to Get Things Done Insight #17: “To End a War”—Negotiating Your Way to Success Insight #18: Peacetime and Wartime Decision Making—Having the Courage to Make Decisions That Count Insight #19: “Life is Tough, But It’s Tougher if You’re Stupid”—How to Work the Wicked Problems Insight #20: Attack in Any Direction—How to Deal with the Pressures of Leadership Insight #21: Open the Aperture to Gain Perspective Insight #22: Trusted Advisors and Mentors—The Importance of High-Quality Advice Insight #23: Losing a Battle, But Not the War—Learning from Failure Insight #24: “Twelve ‘O Clock High”—Rebuilding Distressed Organizations Insight #25: Communicate like Churchill—Inspire Through Authenticity Insight #26: “Under the Oak Tree Counseling”—Build Trust with Your People Insight #27: “Dear Mrs. Ryan”—The Power of Empathic Communication Insight #28: “Bad News Doesn’t Get Better With Time”—Delivering Bad News Insight #29: Commander’s Intent—Empowering Your People to Adapt and Act Insight #30: “Everything in War Is Simple, but the Simplest Thing Is Difficult”—No Hassle Time Management Insight #31: The Stand-Up—How to Run Great Meetings Insight #32: “Adapt, Improvise, Overcome”—Coaching Your Team Insight #33: “The Snowstorm Has Stopped”—Ask Powerful Questions Insight #34: Spartans at Thermopylae—Inculcating Esprit de Corps Insight #35: “Giving Your Best Military Advice”—Managing Your Boss Insight #36: “Airman Lateer”—Leading from Below Insight #37: Building Future Leaders—Succession Planning Insight #38: Making Rank—Moving Up in Your Career Insight #39: Achieving Warrior Resilience Insight #40: Get Your PT In—Take Care of Yourself Insight #41: Be Family Strong—Take Care of Your Family Insight #42: We Appreciate You—Serving Your Community Insight #43: Setting the Conditions for Your People to Perform—Your Role in Motivation Insight #44: Celebrate Your Victories, Large and Small Insight #45: Earning Medals and Winning Awards—Tell Your People You Love Them Insight #46: Cultivate Humility in Service Insight #47: Working for Napoleon—How Deal With Negative Leadership Insight #48: Dealing with Tragedy Insight #49: Commanding the Room--Leading with Presence Insight #50: Commit to Reflection, Growth, and Renewal as a Heroic Leader

Joe Scherrer’s career as a leader was forged during twenty-four years as an officer in the United States Air Force. He is a highly decorated Air Force veteran, who had been deployed in support of seven overseas operations. He completed his career as the commander of the Air Force’s only combat-coded deployable communications wing. His military background, particularly in the area of leading airmen, has definitively shaped his personality and character. Throughout his career, Joe’s greatest passion has been to see airmen succeed in their missions and their careers. In addition to commanding five units at the wing, group, and squadron level, Joe attended the Naval War College, Air War College, and Air Force Institute of Technology, earning master’s degrees and distinguished graduate honors from each. He earned an MBA from Boston University and a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is on the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis where he teaches in the master of cyber security management program. Joe has published articles and papers on cyberspace operations, network-centric warfare, deployed communication, and command and control. He was also the principal author and team leader for the first National Military Strategy for Cyberspace Operations. This policy document subsequently shaped the Department of Defense’s response to the challenges and threats in that domain. He is well versed in teaching leadership skills, as well as in creating the total team effort required to fight and win on the battlefield, in the business environment, and in service organizations. He is also a sought after speaker.