Our Thinking

 Change Leadership Training Objectives We wrote The Leadership Campaign because we all live and work in a turbulent change environment. Challenge and opportunity are flung at us constantly. Decisions must be made lightning-fast. It takes a new model of leadership to manage in this change environment. The traditional model has become obsolete—yet it remains the dominant model for shaping and training leadership. Our model, Change Leadership, was developed in working with Steve Jobs. It is contrasted to the existing Bigness Leadership model that still dominates the corporate world and defines the “also-rans.” Back in the 1980s and 1990s, we were creating a new competitive model for Apple versus the incumbent leaders IBM and Microsoft. Today, this model fills the dangerous leadership vacuum we see in global business, politics and government. We suggest this training be designed for leaders and rising leaders as the essential coaching tool—to maximize their value, personal brand,…

What about “none of the above”? (Since 2013 Armada – Patrick Caddell, Scott Miller and Bob Perkins — has been conducting in-depth surveys with American voters. The most recent survey was concluded just before the Iowa caucuses and you can see a detailed summary of the results now at our web site, WeNeedSmith.com.) In brief, what we found in our new poll is that the experts — the media, establishment pundits and campaign strategists — don’t seem to understand what the American people are saying to them. Yes, there is anger, and it’s off the charts. But it’s not anger at immigration or income inequality or gun laws or minimum wage. This election is not about conservative or progressive values. It’s not about ideology. It’s not about issues. This is about insurgency: the people versus the status quo political duopoly in Washington, DC.  81% all voters of all parties and…

Okay, it’s officially a crisis. Doors on the executive floor are slamming shut. The CEO, chief counsel, group of senior managers and some lawyerly-looking types are huddled in the board room while the breakfast coffee turns cold. It’s a major screw-up. It’s a rogue trader or regional sales manager. It’s the bad stuff that somehow got into the grain bins. It’s what somebody forgot to tell somebody who forgot to tell somebody, or worse, what somebody was afraid to tell. You’re this CEO. You call your COO, the chief counsel and your spouse. It’s going be a long night, maybe a long weekend. And God knows what you’ll see on CNBC on Monday morning. It could be a long, long quarter. Somebody will call your team from McKinsey-Bain-BCG, and somebody will call your PR agency. They have that woman who was in the White House for those bimbo or ISIS…

You hear it all the time. “Act like a leader.” It’s your boss reading this off a script at the annual sales meeting, trying to encourage you in your performance review, or raising a glass of cheap Prosecco in a rambling toast at the holiday party, recounting the greatest advice they ever got. Okay, it’s your boss, but your boss is probably wrong. Still, bosses keep advising it year after year and generation after generation. And that’s why we’ve got boatloads of bosses in business, but very, very few leaders. The problem is the traditional model for leadership training in business, politics, sports and the military is obsolete and ineffective. The model is broken. Why do so many businesses act like, quack like, but fail to perform like their market’s leader? Why do so many organizations fail to create real value through relevant differentiation? Why do most markets flooded with…