July's Topic - Is it time to redefine Leadership?

This July, the Thought Distillery will listen to and respond in kind to chapter 10 from Stanley McChrystal's book, Leaders: Myth and Reality. Mike Gourgues and Mike Shaw will moderate the discussion following the audio presentation. Leadership in its essence is the core of everything we as Soldiers do. If we succeed, people see leadership, if we fail, people see a lack of leadership. Perhaps instead we need to look at the definition a little differently. The audio selected for this gathering comes from the closing chapter in Stanley McCrystal's book, Leaders: Myth and Reality. While some of the individuals discussed in the audio segment will be unfamiliar if you have not read the book prior, the discussion surrounding an overall redefinition is where this conversation will travel. I encourage you to read the book on your own time as the text itself has several very illumination points, historical and fundamental that I believe are of importance but reading the book is not necessary or even expected for this event.

As always, there are no right answers. All the more reason to sit around, enjoy a beverage of your choice and discuss.

Bring your favorite mug, order your favorite beverage, and share your perspective. Articles, books, podcasts, and personal experiences encouraged for sharing with the group.

It is time to distill some knowledge.

See you there!

Junes Topic - The concept of counseling and evaluation: how does one successfully navigate these demanding expectations? Do they need to be navigated at all?

This June, the Thought Distillery delves into a topic that effects professionals throughout the world, employee counseling and evaluation. Mike Gourgues and Mike Shaw will moderate the discussion while sharing personal experiences.  This topic picks at the core of many of us either as supervisors or as those who are being supervised. What is too much vice what is not enough when it comes to leader oversight? Does it matter if your superior is a manager as opposed to a leader? Do conditions change with the type and quantity of counseling the more senior you become?

This subject is near and dear too many who strive for personal enlightenment and improvement. Many constantly look for ways to improve, enhance, tweet, or adjust how they conduct themselves personally and professionally. When presented with an opportunity to learn or to listen, how many truly present themselves fully to the event or rather, how many go through the motions? Being told you are doing well is what most people desire, but how well do you handle being told that you are just adequate? How well do you tell someone that they are simply adequate?

As always, there are no right answers. All the more reason to sit around, enjoy a beverage of your choice and discuss.

Bring your favorite mug, order your favorite beverage, and share your perspective. Articles, books, podcasts, and personal experiences encouraged for sharing with the group.

It is time to distill some knowledge.

See you there!

May’s Topic - Are We (The Royal We) Stuck in a Filter Bubble?

This May, the Thought Distillery Shifts back to a general topic that we believe affects all of us professionally and personally. Mike Gourgues and Mike Shaw will present the concept of life inside a filter bubble.  This topic is a great opportunity for one to examine themselves, their family, their social groups and their professional linkages. 

While working with like-minded individuals can bring immense focus and energy to a specific subject or project, the same like-minded group can also limit idea generation and perspective beyond existing nucleus. Once that echo chamber sounds, the voices can often be overwhelming.

There are no right answers, all the more reason to sit around, enjoy a beverage and discuss.

Bring your favorite mug, order your favorite beverage, and share your perspective. Articles, books, podcasts, and personal experiences encouraged for sharing with the group.

It is time to distill some knowledge.

See you there!

April’s Topic - Echelons Above Brigade: An Aviation Gap or Chasm?

This April, the Thought Distillery will focus a bit more on the military side of things. Mike Gourgues and Mike Shaw will present a current topic of debate within the aviation community. What role, if any should aviation play in Echelons Above Brigade? Mike and Mike will offer a draft paper to the audience for their consumption and distillation.

Here is a taste of what’s to come.

Q1 - if aviation is expected to preform at EAB should they not be expected to have mastered those skills needed for echelons at brigade and below?

Q2 - With one aviation brigade per division, where are the assets supposed to focus, on 3-4 ground brigades the division or the corps? Aviation is finite at this juncture.

Q3 - Operations requiring sequencing and timing. Operations officers struggle mightily with varying phases of operations that stack on top of one another. How will units adapt to executing operations in the immediate 24 hours while executing operations to sett the conditions for the next 48 hours while simultaneously plan and prepare for the future in the next 72 hours?

There are no right answers, all the more reason to sit around, enjoy a beverage and discuss.

Bring your favorite mug, order your favorite beverage, and share your perspective. Articles, books, podcasts, and personal experiences encouraged for sharing with the group. It is time to distill some knowledge.

See you there!

MARCH’S TOPIC - IS LEADERSHIP MORE IMPORTANT OVER TIME OR SPACE

As we inch ever closer to Spring, each day brings us ever closer to experiencing that time of rebirth. Plants, animals, and people begin to come out of hibernation, begin to take root in new soil and clean out their living spaces of things and ideas that have developed into clutter over the past year. During this time of renewal we are presented with an opportunity to discuss the impact leadership plays in an organizational life cycle. Just as the seasons change, so do organizations and the leaders who live within them. More important that the leaders are the impacts those individuals have on the present and the more far reaching impacts that are felt years later.

Whether we are talking counseling, performance reports, hiring, firing, or organizational design the question always come up, are the decisions today the best for the organization of tomorrow. Moreover, can both the present and the future maintain a balance? Can a leader be a hard driver and still leave his team ready for the stress and demands of the job in 6 months? If a leader is statistically successful in their previous period of evaluation but 50% of their organizational personal leave the company over the next two years, was that investment in 12 months of success worth the personal capitol that the organization lost?

There are no right answers, all the more reason to sit around and discuss.

Bring your favorite mug, order your favorite beverage, and share your perspective. Articles, books, podcasts, and personal experiences encouraged for sharing with the group. It is time to distill some knowledge.

See you there!

February’s Topic - Technology: Friend or Foe

This month we will discuss the pros and cons of technology in the workplace and our personal lives. With each new device or more advanced piece of software we are promised greater and greater freedom to get after those projects that truly motivate us. Yet, more and more people feel that they are falling further behind as opposed to getting ahead. Concepts like leadership through email or digital task and forget are becoming more common place. Access is now 24-7 and yet we are no more productive. Relationships inside organizations boil down to bureaucratic interactions.

Personal leadership is no better. Kids are heads down in kindles or iPads, phones are open and active at the dinner table, Netflix is brought to the bedroom with everyone in the household staring into the digital glow.

On the flip side, collaborative learning and working is now at our fingertips. Knowledge is accessible to almost anyone. The imagination can now create almost whatever it conceives. The limits of human understanding continue to break through each and every obstacle before it.

Where do you fall?

Bring your favorite mug, order your favorite beverage, and share your perspective. Articles, books, podcasts, and personal experiences encouraged for sharing with the group. It is time to distill some knowledge.

Greater perspective welcomes those who are interested to take a BIT (Bottle to Intellectual Throttle) out of one evening and discuss topics of personal, professional and intellectual curiosity. Rank nor position have a place at this table, only human and professional curtesy for ones ideas. Leave ones status at home.

November’s Topic - Teach, Coach, Mentor: More than a cliche?

Guest speaker: Joe Byerly, creator of From the Green Notebook

Bring your favorite mug, order your favorite beverage, and share your perspective. Articles, books, podcasts, and personal experiences encouraged for sharing with the group.

This month the GATCT team is excited to delve into a commonly used phrase by many within leadership positions, “teach, coach, mentor. This trinity is often used by leaders when describing what they want to do for their subordinates but is rarely broken down into the complexities that each term implies.

This month, we are excited to welcome Joe Byerly to the discussion. Joe is the creator of the popular blog From the Green Notebook, passionate about leader development, a combat arms officer with over 14 years of experience and a published author in in periodicals such as ARMY Magazine, Military Review, Strategy Bridge, Small Wars Journal, Task and Purpose, Foreign Policy, the Military Writers Guild, and many others. He has been featured on Forbes, have been lucky enough to talk about leadership on several podcasts, and has spoken at the Annual AUSA Conference, the Future of War Conference, and Defense Entrepreneurs Forum Annual Conference.

Join us for an evening of discussion, debate and “Greater Perspective”

Greater perspective welcomes those who are interested to take a BIT (Bottle to Intellectual Throttle) out of one evening and discuss topics of personal, professional and intellectual curiosity. Rank nor position have a place at this table, only human and professional curtesy for ones ideas. Leave ones status at home.

Live leader development webinar hosted by The Military Leader

REGISTER NOW for the LIVE WEBINAR featuring 3 proven leaders who will share their insight on:

• How leaders can make the most impact in the first 90 days

• How to develop a vision & connect with your team

• How to structure your day to be productive and avoid burnout -

Webinar lead by:

Doug Meyer from the Company Leader

Josh Powers from the Field Grade Leader

Drew Steadman from the Military Leader

October’s Topic - Definition of professional self-development: Where, What, and Why.

Bring your favorite mug, order your favorite beverage, and share your perspective. Articles, books and personal experiences encouraged for sharing with the group.

“Greater Perspective” is expanding its repertoire, again! After a year and a half of absenteeism the GATCT team is welcoming back the monthly roundtable discussion. Going by many names in many different circles (the Drink and Think, Plato’s Cave, Strike Odyssey, etc.) Greater perspective welcomes those who are interested to take a BIT (Bottle to Intellectual Throttle) out of one evening and discuss topics of personal, professional and intellectual curiosity. Rank nor position have a place at this table, only human and professional curtesy for ones ideas. Leave ones status at home.

The Next Wave of Digital Leader Development

Join in the discussion at the AUSA Annual Meeting, where Megan Jantos, the Social Media Director for From the Green Notebook will explore new approaches to an age-old endeavor to develop future military leaders.

If you can’t attend, watch them live on Facebook. True to the theme of this panel, they will broadcast from, The Field Grade Leader Facebook feed

Read up on the full event detail at From the Green Notebook.