You can be an author!  I am trying to share the next project with others who have also been leaders many years. This is my first book and at Amazon. Leadership and Management Lessons Learned, A Book of Management Vignettes This is the link to the current book. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G04EG1E   www.amazon.com ALCON, I am writing an email to many seasoned leaders and managers. We have experienced leadership and management which has given us some strong, practitioner-based realities imparted during our careers that really resonate. Point in case on life lived leadership lesson: "A single Marine SGT is a good thing." "A single Marine SGT DIRECTING his own squad is 12 times as good." I am reaching out because I seeking guidance and assistance in highlighting great lessons in leadership. Over the years, I have found that there are successful, unsuccessful, good, bad and ugly leaders that have a tremendous impact of the lives of soldiers and national security professionals across the board. My own experiences have led me to believe that imparting the wisdom gleamed through such encounters provides a learning tool for the next generation - which very easily could be our replacements! See below for information on how you can be part of the next project.

I am looking for vignettes from a former life as a private, NCO, senior NCO,
Warrant Officer or Commissioned Officer. We know the realities and the
impact of varying leadership styles on a command, platoon, and on overall
mission success. I also wish to include civilian lessons learned as well.
Many of us have transitioned into that world (civilians, government
contractors and even as GS/GG employees) following military careers and
knowing that such a transition can be jarring. Civilian learning points are
important, especially for mid-career readers who are contemplating what to
do next.

As many of you can relate, I have been spending my 'furloughed Friday's' and
'sequestered-forced no-work-day's' trying to stay out of trouble, but
productive at the same time. The extra 'time-off' has had one upside - I
have been able to put thought to pen.

In fact and during the recent government shutdown, I completed my first
e-book that I published about ten days ago, "Leadership and Management
Lessons Learned, A Book of Management Vignettes" [
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G04EG1E> Kindle Edition on Amazon]. I hope
that some of you have had an opportunity to review it, and while a shameless
plug, I would encourage others to take a look and let me know what they
think. <http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G04EG1E>
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G04EG1E

But I mention the book not solely for self-promotional purposes, but because
I want you to see the format of short stories with the types of lessons
learned I am seeking. (And for the record, you do not need to own a Kindle.
They have FREE Kindle readers/viewers for PCs, Android, and Apple iPad
products.)

My goal is to gather a series of seasoned professionals such as you to
participate in a project that shares the lessons learned with those that
wish to follow in our footsteps.

The idea is pretty straightforward, I am hoping to garner the sea stories,
war stories, and old-fashioned BS stories that still resonate, that
exemplify the consequence of leadership, and demonstrate the learning points
of significance.

I think most of us have something to give back and most of us believe we
should. The trouble is finding the avenue that allows it and achieves the
valuable ends. Most of us have had good times and bad, but we came out
ahead. I have learned a lot from many of you too. I have added at the
bottom of this a couple of short stories from my book, to give an example of
how you can contribute.

Most importantly, I want to be upfront here. This is not a moneymaker or a
retirement support effort. In fact, just like my first e-book, I intend to
donate 100% of my proceeds direct to the scholarship fund that I currently
run that many of you have and continue to support as mentors -
<http://www.LintCenter.org> www.LintCenter.org .

While I have not gotten rich off the book I recently published, I am pleased
to say that it did make #1 in sales on Amazon in a couple of categories.
Even so, I want to reiterate that no, I do not see a new leadership book
making us all wealthy, but I do see us having the ability to knock something
off the bucket list. It also makes a good resume bullet for those still
working.

In academia, they are happy if they can publish a chapter or co-publish the
book. This is also one way I can pay back some of my friends who have taught
me so much.

Every story and every contribution in the proposed book will have the
author's name with it. There will be a page in the front of contributing
authors. I will give each author the choice of receiving a percentage of the
proceeds after publishing or a donation to charity. If it is a donation, we
will send a receipt on your donation to help on taxes.

The methodology for deciding how much each author receives will be taking a
word count of the entire book and the word count of what you authored to
determine the percentage of the book you wrote. Obviously, that would be
your percentage of the profits after Amazon takes their cut.

So, think about it, and shoot me an email if you would like to be involved
in this project. Give me a rough idea how many good stories you have and
your timeline to put pen to paper. I am sending this to a bunch of people
and hope to get about 10+ writers. I have already broken the code on how to
get published, how to assemble the final formatted product for upload, and
how to make this work. If you have others who would be interested please
forward this email. The better slice of society we can get, the better the
end product. I know the Air Force senior NCO, retired, who says he has 1
million stories between a few people in his office. I know my Army and
Marine friends have many stories also. I actually know a few civilians who
can write and I've included them. I am also looking at some stories to go in
a chapter about culture. (Cross-cultural style not petri dish style!) I
think this could be a fun and interesting adventure constructing this book.
I will work on editing and put it in the right style to get published in an
e-reader. I hope to also get someone else to edit a few stories.

I have outlined a few ideas below for your review and consideration. I look
forward to hearing back and hope you view the lessons learned the hard way
as valuable and poignant enough to provide our replacements with a good
'must-read.'

BLUF:

1. I am looking for potential authors who want to write their sea
stories and add the lessons learned.

2. I am giving people a chance we often do not see, since I learned how
to get published already.

3. We can have fun and maybe help people not make the same mistakes,
and possibly help a charity.

Jim Lint, JRL

Below is a rough outline.

Short Stories with a Lesson Learned

Military

Army - G?

USAF - Cliff Harmon

USMC - (Grn side/brown side style)

Civilian View

College - T?

Contracting - Plenty

Cultural Chapter

Female Officers in Korea - LTC F

KATUSA and Americans - Roland & Anna

Below is a sample from my current book showing how we add the lessons
learned to every story.

The Squad Leader's Weapon

In the late 1970s, as new SGT in the Marine Corps, the new squad leader was
asked, "What is the weapon of a squad leader in combat?" At that time,
everyone in the platoon carried an M-16. Sounded like a silly question that
would be on the promotion board for a junior Private. It was actually a
great question asked by a seasoned senior NCO combat veteran. The new squad
leader had taught many times a clean M-16 was his best friend in combat. And
he gravitated to the stock answer of "my M-16 rifle." The seasoned veteran
explained the error in his way. A squad leader with a single M-16 is minor
compared to a leader of 12 Marines in combat. The firepower of a directed,
managed squad of Marines can be devastating when compared to 12 individuals
or even a single well trained Marine.

Lessons Learned = ((LL))

((LL)) A supervisor is powerful because of his/her skill in focusing his
employees.

"I was wrong and I will fix it."

There was a supervisor who as a union leader was offered promotion to a
senior manager grade. The supervisor knew he was beyond his capabilities,
but also knew that no one wanted him pushed back into a union level employee
because he knew how to cause trouble for management. This supervisor was a
mess and often made mistakes. He was promoted well past his abilities and he
knew it. He had one skill that was without a doubt excellent. That skill was
that he was good at sneaking alcohol into the secure building.

He knew how to make mistakes, errors, but was equally competent at escaping
impacts on his career for many sever incidents. Instead of going into his
superior with excuses, or blaming others...he would go in with the comment
of "I was wrong and I will fix it." This was brilliant. It takes all the
wind out of the senior who was getting ready to chew him out for the errors
of his way. The employee admitted wrong and says he will fix it.

The conversation is short when the employee admits and claims the
responsibility and blame. When the employee says he will work on the fix,
the only real decision left for the decision maker is if this is the person
who should be working on the fix to the problem. The employee solves most of
the problem that the senior had to work. This is a teachable moment.

When employees blame others or try to dodge responsibility for an error, it
is often more noticeable and an event that is well remember. People will
remember the conversation of you blaming others wrongly longer than you
admitting to the error. People will remember the loud argument with the
leaders over whose fault it is longer than the quick, "I was wrong and I
will fix it."

"Admitting that you're wrong is a sign of strength," says Guy Winch, author
of Emotional First Aid (Hudson Street, 2013; Goodman, 2013). "It takes
character and leadership to do it well."(Goodman, 2013). It is much better
to be remembered strongly than be remembered as the troublemaker. Accepting
ownership of the problem and bringing the solution to the table can make you
stronger in your manager's eyes, which can fuel increase speed up the
promotion ladder. All managers have failed and made mistakes. Surviving and
solving mistakes is a sure sign of strength and readiness to be promoted.

Lessons Learned = ((LL))

((LL1) You can learn a lot from bad supervisors, and it can be as valuable
as learning from a good supervisor. Your analysis is what brings out the
teachable moment.

((LL2)) Bringing a solution to the senior leaders for a problem either
discovered or caused by you, will improve your position in the eyes of
leader.

((LL3)) For complex problems, bring managers multiple potential course of
action solutions. They may not like your favorite idea, but they will be
impressed that you have the cognitive reasoning skills to look at a problem
from multiple directions to determine the solution.

((LL4)) When possible, leave the conversation about the problem with good
solutions that are not major budget busters, but, reasonable solutions that
senior leaders can authorize implementation.

((LL5)) When possible, turn a problem, even if caused by you, to an
improvement over the original plan. Think of the reaction of your leaders
when they see that type of positive thinking and attitude.