A widely accepted premise is that leaders should have a vision for their organization or group.  However, vision that is not based on reality is nothing but fantasy. Leaders’ vision, therefore, should be grounded on attainable ends, even if this grounding is speculative to some degree.  So, how can a leader have vision that is wedded to something firm in a rapidly advancing technological age?  A look back in history to a widely-acknowledged leader who [...]

As our nation picks up the pieces after “Super Storm Sandy”, we begin to understand both the risks and benefits of our nation’s aviation transportation system.  This weeks; “three days of hurricane Sandy” had a devastating impact that rippled across the entire country and affected aviation in every state in the union as well as many international flights around the world.  We need to learn from this experience and ensure our aviation system is designed [...]

When I was a kid, my family faithfully watched the sitcom The Jeffersons.  The show (which spawned from All in the Family) explored much of what was happening culturally at the intersection of race relations in the United States.  We loved to watch the antics of the crazy character, George Jefferson, played by actor Sherman Hemsley. On July 24, 2012, Hemsley died of complications related to lung cancer. His death brought back a flood of [...]

“Why the specific focus on aviation and aerospace leadership?”  Behind this often asked question lurks (or seems to) a notion the leadership is, well, simply leadership.  So why emphasize aviation and aerospace leadership when some suggest the practice of leadership is essentially the same for all disciplines/professions? These are really good questions, and are at the heart of our Center for Aviation and Aerospace Leadership (CAAL).   The response is somewhat complex (multi-part).  First, being a [...]

Dr. Robert Materna (2011) writes clearly about a national issue “With the U.S. government shutting down the shuttle program without a new vision for space – very little has been done to excite and educate the next generation about the opportunities in the industry and, as a result, there is little enthusiasm for entering the field. The good news is that there are some very good reasons to enter the field. The challenge is to help students shift [...]

In the last blog on clusters, we talked about the evolution of clusters and the benefits clusters can provide to a community and its many stakeholders. In this blog, the focus is on the leadership role of stakeholders in creating or growing sustainable aerospace clusters. For the purpose of this discussion, stakeholders include federal, state, and local government agencies; primes, OEMs, suppliers, and service providers; high schools, universities and other organizations as necessary. To be [...]

We live in a data and spreadsheet driven world where information is sorted, analyzed and sliced in various ways with the objective of discovering unassailable truths to help us make sense of our environment. These are the truths that could then be used to justify everything from business decisions, personal decisions and even foreign policy. Our linear and Newtonian based vision of reality leads us to looking for explainable reasons and answers. There are even [...]

We live in an era of complexity where inflection points are coming more rapidly. Future generations of leaders will need to cope with dramatically different environments than current leaders deal with. New industries are emerging that weren’t conceived of just a few years ago; conversely, some mature industries will be gone.

Every now and then a notion comes along that just captures the imagination. Leading from the emerging future is one of those notions that has captured mine for nearly the past four years. I first came across it while talking with my friend and colleague, Michael T. Kelly, PhD. We were discussing change in organizations. Specifically, why does sustaining the vitality, profitability, and relevance of organizations to their stakeholders and customers often elude leaders and senior managers [...]

There are number of exceptional organizations that support aviation and aerospace manufacturers. Many come to mind quickly, the Aerospace Industries Association, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers are but a few. There are regional and local ones as well, including the public-private Manufacturing Extension Partnership. All of these organizations are generally well know. However, there is one that is a gem of a national resource for aviation and aerospace that [...]