Preface

From the time I was in the army to when I began my initial job and on through my entire business career of fifty-plus years, I have observed and studied the people who finished their education process and then moved on to begin their career. Many of those young people chose business, as I did, to start and then build  on their anticipated career with the idea that satisfaction would follow as they  progress forward in their lives.

All of them had different aspirations in terms of the career path they wanted to follow to achieve their desired happiness. Many of them wanted to pursue engineering, technology, or the sciences. Some wanted to pursue sales, accounting, finance, admin, human resources (HR), or operations. Most everyone had developed at least some thoughts on which direction they wanted to take.

What most of these young businesspeople did not know when they began their careers was whether they were going to be content living a life within their chosen career field or whether they would decide they wanted to follow a path toward becoming a senior leader within their organization.

Historically, what I have observed, studied, and followed were those people who wanted to step outside of their specific discipline and begin to take on the significant and very different responsibilities of leading others to be as good as they can be, which means being willing to base their own success and advancement on the successes or failures of the teams they build, organize, and lead.

This is, in other words, a step toward refocusing their career vison on not just being a self-performing doer but instead on being responsible for ensuring that the entire team performs.

My depth of knowledge and experience is based in supporting these interesting people who have the passion and are willing to make the personal commitment to ascend to leadership. It is that value proposition I am passing on to you in Staying Ahead of the Pack.

While the various phases in career development and supporting addenda  contained in this book will come into play as your career path to senior leadership unfolds and advances, everything you will ever need in the way of leadership development is covered from the first day you walk in the front door and assume your very first “real job” to the day you retire as CEO.

I have two objectives in authoring this book: first, to ensure you follow a career path that generates a very purposeful life for you, your family, and all of those around you; and second, to ensure that as you retire from your CEO position, the facility you pick for your retirement event will not be able to hold all of your former associates who want to come back not just to wish you well but to claim that you played a part in their own ability to achieve and live a purposeful life.

The Author’s Intent Regarding the Title Staying Ahead of the Pack

There is a dual meaning in this title. First, the title is designed to create personal motivation in individuals who have a true interest in leading others to use their God-given skills to encourage and support  many teams of people  to “stay ahead” by providing vision and new ideas to improve the culture and operational effectiveness of the company. Second, the title is directed toward the entire organizational team, encouraging them to stay ahead of their pack of competitors by being the best at what they do as individuals and as an organization.

This book was written exclusively for those who possess a burning desire and passion to succeed in both their careers and their lives.

Whether you are talking about yourself as an individual within your organization or about a company of many people you are always within a pack of competitors. My goal is to ensure that you stay ahead of the pack in both cases.