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Build Your Leadership Foundation Before You Need It

 Solid leadership requires a good foundation.

In 1995, while stationed in Italy, I visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa. What makes the tower famous, of course, is it is lean. What caused that lean was much less glamorous: an unstable foundation.

There is a leadership lesson in that.

The primary purpose of any foundation is to support the structure above it and keep it upright. The tallerand more visible the structure, the more important the foundation becomes.

Leadership works the same way.

As your responsibilities increase, more people depend upon your decisions. Your team, your organization,your customers, your family, and other stakeholders may all be affected by how well—or how poorly—youlead.

And when conditions become difficult, that foundation gets tested.

I spent much of my career in U.S. Navy Special Operations. In those environments, you learn quickly thatyou cannot wait until the crisis arrives to determine how you are going to operate. You train, rehearse,develop competence, and build trust before you need them.

Leadership should be approached with the same deliberate mindset.

 

Your Foundation Should Be Deep and Wide

A skyscraper’s foundation is largely unseen.

So is a leader’s.

People see our decisions, our communication, our confidence, and our actions. They don’t necessarily seethe years of experiences, successes, failures, education, training, reflection, and personal developmentunderneath them.

But those things matter.

Your foundation gives you secure footing when the ground underneath you begins to shift.

 

In Elevate Your Leadership, I break the leadership foundation into three primary components:

1. Your personal definition of leadership

2. Your deliberate leadership styles

3. Your deliberate power types

These are not academic exercises. They are tools you should consciously develop and then put to work.

 

Start by Defining Leadership for Yourself

Ask yourself a simple question:

What does leadership mean to me?

If you cannot define leadership, how do you know when you are actually leading?

My definition has evolved throughout my career:

Leadership is enabling others to achieve their objectives and requires comprehensive awarenessdeveloped through experience, education, and training.

I can simplify that definition into two words:

Enabling others.

Those two words provide me with a reference point.

Am I creating an environment in which someone else can succeed? Am I developing people? Am I giving them the information, resources, authority, training, confidence, and support they need?

Or am I simply exercising authority?

Those are very different things.

Your definition doesn’t have to be mine. In fact, it probably shouldn’t be.

Leadership is personal. Your definition should reflect your experiences, values, profession, personality, andthe people you lead.

But you should have one.

It becomes the cornerstone of your foundation.

 

Develop More Than One Leadership Style

One of the mistakes leaders make is trying to lead everyone, in every situation, exactly the same way.

That rarely works.

Leadership requires the ability to read and react.

My preferred styles include visionary, coaching, and participative leadership. There are also situations whena directive approach is necessary.

A visionary leader establishes the cardinal direction. Where are we going? Why are we going there? Whatdoes success look like?

A coaching leader develops the individual. Coaching is not simply telling someone what they did wrong.Often, it means asking:

If you faced that situation again tomorrow, what would you do differently?

Then rehearse it.

A participative leader draws upon the experience and intelligence of the team. Some of the best answers inan organization are sitting several levels below the person with the highest title.

And sometimes circumstances require directive leadership.

That does not make you an autocratic leader. It means you understand the situation.

Highly effective leadership isn’t about selecting one leadership style and putting it on your LinkedIn profile.

It is about having several tools available and consciously selecting the right one at the right time.

 

Understand How You Use Power

Power can be an uncomfortable word in leadership discussions, but leaders have power whether theyacknowledge it or not.

The question is:

How are you using it?

Legitimate power comes with the position. You are the CEO, commanding officer, department head,manager, or team leader.

The title gives you authority.

But a title doesn’t necessarily make people want to follow you.

That is why I place such importance on referent power.

Referent power develops through trust, respect, credibility, and meaningful relationships. It takes time tobuild and can disappear very quickly when trust is compromised.

There is also expert power—the influence created through knowledge and competence—and connectionpower, developed through the relationships and networks we build throughout our careers.

The strongest leaders aren’t walking around reminding everyone who is in charge.

People already know.

Instead, those leaders consciously develop the credibility, relationships, knowledge, and trust that allowthem to influence others without constantly relying on their position.

 

Experience, Education, and Training

Underneath this foundation are three pillars that have been essential throughout my own leadership journey:

Experience. Education. Training.

Experience gives us perspective.

Education expands our thinking.

Training gives us tools and allows us to rehearse their application.

The military understands this exceptionally well.

We learn something in the classroom. We practice it under controlled conditions then we take it into the field and apply it under increasingly realistic conditions.

Sometimes we succeed.

Sometimes we fail.

Either way, we learn.

Leadership development should operate the same way.

Read.

Study.

Attend training.

Seek difficult assignments.

Coach others.

Allow others to coach you.

Make decisions.

Get some wrong.

Conduct your own after-action review then apply what you learned the next time. That is how leadership moves from theory into muscle memory.

 

Inspect Your Foundation

A foundation isn’t something you construct once and forget.

It needs inspection.

I have seen leaders experience periods of erosion, and I have detected cracks in my own foundation attimes.

The important thing is recognizing them and making repairs.

Ask yourself:

Has my definition of leadership evolved?

Am I consciously selecting my leadership style, or simply reacting?

Am I relying too much on the authority of my position?

Am I continuing to build trust and credibility?

What experiences, education, and training have I pursued during the past year?

Great leaders remain students.

They continue examining and expanding their foundation throughout their careers.

Because leadership is a perishable skill.

Use it or lose it.

The objective isn’t to build a perfect foundation.

The objective is to build one that is deep enough, wide enough, and strong enough to support you—and those who depend upon you—when the ground inevitably begins to move.

Build it deliberately.

Inspect it regularly.

Repair the cracks.

Continue expanding it.

Then use that foundation to do what leadership is ultimately about:

Enable others.

What Makes a Team Great?

I’ve spent my career on teams.

Some of those teams were U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units preparing for combat operations where a mistake could cost lives. Others have been executive leadership teams building businesses, playing and coaching hockey, or developing leaders in the private sector.

Despite the different missions, I have learned one enduring truth:

A team is more than a collection of people. It is a collection of people who commit to accomplishing a mission together.

That’s an important distinction.

Many organizations have employees. Some have work groups. Very few have true teams, comprised of great teammates.

A team has a shared mission.

The strongest teams understand why they exist.

In the military, we never deployed simply to complete tasks. Every dive, every parachute insertion, every explosive device rendered safe contributed to a larger operational objective.

The mission came first.

In business, the same principle applies.

When people understand how their daily work contributes to something meaningful, engagement changes. People stop merely completing assignments and begin advancing the mission.

Purpose creates commitment.

Great teams trust each other.

Trust isn’t built during a crisis.

It’s built every day before the crisis arrives.

In Navy EOD, trust was earned through preparation, repetition, and shared hardship. We rehearsed constantly because when the mission began there wasn’t time to wonder whether your teammate was ready.

You already knew.

I’ve carried that lesson into business.

Trust grows when leaders are approachable, when teammates treat each other with respect, and when everyone understands that we’re here for each other as much as we’re here for the organization. Over time, that trust becomes one of the organization’s greatest competitive advantages.

Great teams have shared ownership.

Culture is not something leaders announce.

Culture is something teammates own.

I’ve often said that culture and values are enabled from the top down and owned from the bottom up.

The leader establishes the environment.

The team determines whether it comes alive.

When every teammate feels they have a voice…

When they understand the mission…

When they take pride in contributing…

When they know they’re valued…

…ownership replaces compliance.

That’s when organizations begin to thrive.

Great teams develop one another.

Leadership isn’t reserved for managers. See my article on Leadership Versus Series: Leadership vs Management

One of the greatest strengths of the military is that leadership development begins early. Young sailors, soldiers, airmen, and Marines are given responsibility long before many of their civilian peers ever supervise another person.

Every leader should be developing future leaders.

Invest in your people.

Teach them.

Coach them.

Challenge them.

Allow them to fail safely, learn quickly, and grow confidently.

Organizations that neglect leadership development eventually discover they have managers without leaders.

Great teams communicate.

One of my favorite military acronyms is BLUF—Bottom Line Up Front.

Clarity creates speed.

Confusion creates friction.

High-performing teams communicate early, honestly, and frequently.

They don’t avoid difficult conversations.

They don’t walk on eggshells.

They attack issues—not each other.

A lesson from Military Freefall

One memory captures teamwork better than almost any leadership model I’ve studied.

During military freefall operations, the final command before exiting the aircraft is simple:

“GO.”

That one word represents hundreds of hours of training, countless rehearsals, detailed planning, equipment inspections, and complete trust among teammates.

When the Jumpmaster says “GO,” everyone commits.

There is no hesitation.

There is no debate.

Every jumper trusts that every other jumper has done the work.

Once we leave the aircraft, each person is temporarily on their own—navigating freefall, deploying the parachute, and landing safely.

Then something remarkable happens.

We regroup.

We determine our direction.

And together we move toward the objective.

Business leadership isn’t much different.

People may execute different tasks independently throughout the day, but high-performing teams always regroup around the mission.

The leader’s responsibility

Leadership isn’t about creating followers.

It’s about creating an environment where teammates trust one another, understand the mission, and willingly give their best.

That environment doesn’t happen by accident.

It is built deliberately.

One conversation.

One decision.

One act of integrity.

One investment in another person at a time.

If you’re wondering whether you have a great team, ask yourself these questions:

  • Does everyone understand the mission?
  • Do teammates genuinely trust one another?
  • Is culture owned by everyone or dictated by leadership?
  • Are people developing leaders around them?
  • Would your team confidently respond when it’s time to say “GO”?

Because when those answers become “yes,” you no longer have a group of talented individuals.

You have a team.

And great teams accomplish extraordinary things.

Beyond Team Building: The iFLY Experience within Leadership Development

Most leadership development takes place in familiar surroundings.

Participants sit in a conference room, listen to a presentation, discuss a few concepts, and return to work. The material may be valuable, but the environment rarely requires anyone to immediately demonstrate trust, courage, communication, adaptability, or self-awareness.

The flight experience at iFLY Virginia Beach changes that.

Indoor skydiving is exciting, memorable, and fun, but within a leadership and team-development program, it is much more than an activity. Flight becomes a shared experience through which many of the principles we discuss in leadership development can be seen, felt, practiced, and evaluated in real time.

 

Leadership Begins Outside the Comfort Zone

Growth rarely occurs when everything feels familiar.

When participants enter the flight chamber for the first time, they are stepping into an unfamiliar environment. They may be excited, uncertain, confident, nervous—or experiencing all four emotions at once. I witness this every day. From five year olds to senior executives, the emotions are usually the same.

That moment matters.

Leaders regularly face situations in which they do not have complete information, established routines, or total control. They must manage their emotions, listen carefully, trust their preparation, and take action.

Flight creates a safe and professionally controlled environment in which participants can practice doing exactly that.

The objective is not to eliminate discomfort. The objective is to demonstrate that people can acknowledge discomfort, receive instruction, trust the process, and move forward.

Confidence is not the absence of uncertainty. Confidence is the willingness to act appropriately despite it.

 

Listening Becomes Essential

Before entering the wind tunnel, every participant receives instruction from a trained flight instructor. Body position, hand signals, awareness, and responsiveness all matter.

Once the flight begins, verbal communication is no longer available. Participants must focus, observe, interpret nonverbal signals, and make adjustments.

This is an important leadership lesson.

Too often, people listen only long enough to prepare their response. Effective leaders listen to understand. They pay attention not only to words, but also to tone, behavior, body language, and conditions.

Inside the flight chamber, distracted listening produces immediate feedback. When the participant listens, remains aware, and responds to coaching, stability and performance improve.

The workplace is not much different.

Teams perform better when leaders communicate clearly, team members listen deliberately, and everyone remains receptive to feedback.

 

Trust Must Move in Both Directions

First-time flyers must trust their instructors.

They must trust the training, the equipment, the process, and the expertise of the professionals supporting them. At the same time, instructors must quickly assess each participant and provide the appropriate level of coaching and support.

That relationship reflects an important truth about organizational leadership: trust is reciprocal.

Leaders cannot simply demand that employees trust them. Trust is developed through competence, consistency, communication, and genuine concern for the people being led.

Team members also have a responsibility. They must arrive prepared to learn, accept coaching, support one another, and contribute to the mission.

At iFLY Virginia Beach, participants quickly recognize that asking for help is not a weakness. Accepting instruction is not surrendering independence. Both are signs of self-awareness and a commitment to improvement.

 

Feedback Is Immediate and Valuable

The flight chamber provides honest feedback.

If a participant becomes tense, loses awareness, or stops responding to instruction, the results are immediately apparent. When the participant relaxes, listens, and makes the necessary adjustments, improvement is equally visible.

In many workplaces, feedback is delayed, softened, avoided, or delivered without a clear path forward. As a result, people may continue ineffective behaviors without understanding their impact on the team.

Flight reinforces a healthier model:

Receive the feedback.

Make the adjustment.

Evaluate the result.

Continue improving.

High-performing organizations create cultures in which constructive feedback is expected rather than feared. The purpose of feedback is not to diminish people. It is to enable them to perform more effectively.

That concept aligns directly with my definition of leadership: enabling others to achieve their objectives.

 

Teams See One Another Differently

One of the most powerful aspects of the iFLY experience occurs outside the flight chamber.

Teammates watch one another prepare, take the risk, enter the wind, respond to instruction, and succeed. Titles and organizational hierarchy become less important. The newest employee and the senior executive are both learning.

This creates a shared point of connection that is difficult to manufacture in a traditional meeting. It is the ultimate ice breaker.

People encourage one another. They celebrate progress. They recognize courage. They often see confidence emerge in someone who initially appeared apprehensive.

These moments strengthen relationships because they allow team members to experience one another as people rather than simply as positions on an organizational chart.

A thriving culture includes meaningful contribution, mutual respect, concern for teammates, opportunities for growth, and the knowledge that every person has a voice. A shared flight experience brings many of those cultural qualities to the surface.

 

Leadership Is More Than Individual Performance

Successful flight requires personal responsibility, but the broader experience depends on the entire team.

Participants must arrive prepared, follow safety procedures, respect the instructor’s expertise, encourage their teammates, and remain engaged throughout the process.

The same is true in business.

Individual talent matters, but talent without positive behavior can damage an organization. Sustainable performance requires competence, character, accountability, and commitment to others.

Leadership development should therefore involve more than learning how to direct people. It should help participants understand how their attitudes, choices, communication, and behavior affect everyone around them.

The flight experience makes those lessons visible.

 

Experience Converts Concepts into Capability

Education and training provide essential leadership tools. Experience teaches us how and when to use them.

A presentation can explain trust. Flight requires it.

A discussion can describe communication. Flight tests it.

A facilitator can talk about adaptability. Flight demands it.

A leadership book can encourage people to leave their comfort zones. Flight gives them the opportunity to do so immediately.

This is why experiential development is so powerful. Participants do not simply hear leadership concepts. They experience them physically, mentally, and emotionally. The facilitated discussion that follows allows the team to connect those lessons directly to workplace challenges, relationships, and objectives.

The experience becomes a common language the team can continue using long after the event.

A leader might later ask:

Are we listening to the instructor?

Are we resisting the conditions or adapting to them?

Are we trusting the training?

Are we helping our teammates become more stable and confident?

Are we enabling others to succeed?

Those questions are relevant inside the flight chamber—and in every organization.

 

More Than a Team Outing

The flight experience at iFLY Virginia Beach is certainly enjoyable. Teams laugh, celebrate, take photographs, and create lasting memories.

But the deeper value lies in what the experience reveals.

It reveals how people respond to uncertainty.

It reveals who listens.

It reveals who encourages others.

It reveals whether people accept coaching.

It reveals how quickly confidence can grow when individuals are properly trained and supported.

Most importantly, it demonstrates that people are capable of more than they may initially believe.

Leadership is not developed through theory alone. It is developed through education, training, experience, reflection, and action.

At iFLY Virginia Beach, flight provides the experience. The leadership conversation converts that experience into learning. The team carries that learning back into the workplace.

Sometimes, the best way to elevate a team is to teach them how to fly.