Lead Star: The Art of War is on the Commandant of the Marine Corps' Reading List; therefore every officer is required to read the book. Sun Tzu has relevancy to leadership, specifically in terms of decisiveness. The Art of War stresses speed and aggressiveness on the battlefield, and at Lead Star, one of our leadership principles focuses on the importance of timely decisions. Speed and aggressiveness create opportunities for leaders in decision-making. Without speed, or timely decisions, opportunities are lost.

Assertive leaders who are able to take calculated risks with their decisions never forfeit control over their situations. These types of leaders lead their lives … rather than have their lives lead them.


Sonshi.com: Who do you think have a larger influence on the US military and its leaders: Sun Tzu or Karl von Clausewitz?

Lead Star: Karl von Clausewitz informed the Western thinking of the nature and theory of war.  He introduced terms that helped us to understand war as an extension of policy, such as friction, fluidity and uncertainty.

In comparison, the Marine Corps' key warfighting philosophy is that of maneuver -- which is based upon Sun Tzu's approach to the conduct of war.  He favored the offense over defense in producing decisive results, and introduced the concept of surfaces and gaps -- avoiding enemy strengths and pitting friendly strength against enemy weaknesses.  Hence, the Marine Corps focuses on gaining advantage that shatters the enemy cohesion and destroys his will.

While Clausewitz defined war for the ages, regardless of warfighting philosophy; Sun Tzu gave us a philosophy that helped us discover how to fight and win regardless of the context.


Sonshi.com: Both of you were captains in the US Marine Corps and later went into the business world.  What are some of the valuable lessons learned in the military that aided you in your successful business careers?

Lead Star: The Marine Corps' “no excuse” culture focuses on accepting responsibility before you place blame. Additionally, one of Lead Star's Leadership Principles is Seek to take responsibility before you place blame. This principle is all about finding solutions to problems, rather than getting caught up in the blame game.

We realized that blaming was a huge problem in the civilian sector. Many of our business peers got caught up in “whose fault it was” and as a result efficiency was slow, or deadlines weren't getting met. Too much time and attention was placed on pinning blame, rather than seeking solutions.   As leaders, to make progress, you have to look at how you are responsible for problems -- any problems -- especially those that continue to happen among your subordinates. Once you see how you have contributed to a problem, only then can you seek a solution.


Sonshi.com: The mission of your company Lead Star is "to empower and inspire each and every woman to be the strongest leader she can be."  We would venture to guess almost all of us grew up with a mother figure who displayed extraordinary leadership ability. Contrary to popular belief, a good percentage of the most admired leaders (notably Abraham Lincoln and George Washington) were more influenced by their mothers than their fathers.  Why do you think that is? What are you teaching women that they don't already know intuitively?

Lead Star: Historically and intuitively, women are caretakers. This important quality makes women, and men for that matter, leaders. One of the Marine Corps' secrets to leadership is that leaders take care of those they lead. Many of the audiences we address are surprised to hear that the Marine Corps, this tough as nails organization, puts so much emphasis on caretaking. However, it's this important characteristic that makes the Marine Corps' camaraderie distinguishable among the other military services.

We teach women to embrace their caretaking abilities and bring them into the their work environments. This is something that even though women do, they don't intuit that this will make them successful leaders. Plus, we teach women to be decisive and to keep their emotions under control in the workplace.


Sonshi.com: In addition to coaching women workers and executives at Fortune 500 companies such as Wal-mart and Raytheon, you also work with community groups. For example, you recently did a workshop for 45 Girl Scout troop leaders.  Based on your experiences working with women and women leaders today, please tell us your thoughts on women -- their roles, their influence -- as leaders in the future.

Lead Star: Women are becoming more comfortable with the term “leader.” We've addressed thousands of women and many of them have never considered themselves to be leaders. These women are professionals, mothers, and volunteers and it's quite surprising that they've never considered these roles as leadership roles. We tell these women that they are leaders because, by definition, they are influencing outcomes and inspiring others every single day.  

Younger women, such as Girl Scouts, college-aged women and high school students, are growing up with a very different understanding of what it takes to be a leader. They don't prescribe gender to those in leadership roles, the way many women in older generations do. These younger women are becoming very comfortable with the title “leader” and, as a result, aren't as intimidated to pursue careers where they might be a minority, or even that aren't traditionally female.


Sonshi.com: We think you give excellent advice for women leaders and aspiring women leaders: be yourselves, don't say sorry if not at fault, don't ever cry at work, take a proactive approach.  On the flip side, what are some advice you would give to men working with women -- as subordinates, peers, leaders?

Lead Star: More so than women, men aren't comfortable being compassionate in their work environments. For many years women have been instructed on how to get along in a “man's world.” Now that so many women are emerging in the work force, men need to know that compassion, a critical element to being a caretaker, will contribute to their leadership success. Compassion is important when creating teamwork and loyalty.

It's also important for men to understand that “work/life” balance isn't just a woman's issue. Living a life in balance benefits both men and women in any organization. Employees who have balanced lives are more efficient in the office, effective in their roles and value their corporations because they know they're needs are being addressed.

Sonshi.com: Please share with our readers what they would learn in your workshops. What differentiates your workshops from other workshops and seminars?

Lead Star: Many workshops focus on bar graphs, pie charts and complex equations to define “leadership.” Lead Star's Leading From the Front Workshops address the definition of leadership head-on and offer ten easy to understand leadership principles that audiences can begin implementing in their lives immediately.  

We believe that while leadership can be simply stated, being a leader is a daily challenge. But it's a very realistic goal that everyone can accomplish. What's most important is that we address diverse audiences -- from administrative assistants to executives -- and we prove that leadership isn't just for those in managerial roles. Anyone can be a leader … and our workshops show attendees how.

Sonshi.com: We understand you have a new book coming out called Leading from the Front.  Tell us more about it.

Lead Star: Leading From the Front: No Excuse Leadership Tactics for Women (McGraw-Hill, Feb '06) offers ten leadership principles that can help every woman achieve both personal and professional success.

The principles are relayed through an honest, candid narrative, which discusses how we learned them in the Corps and then how we applied them to our business and personal lives. Readers will be surprised how relevant these leadership principles are to every aspect of their lives -- not just their business worlds. For more information on Lead Star and our book, visit our website at www.leadingfromthefront.com.

[End of interview]