I’m a big fan of making the team inclusive of what’s going on.
I’m a big fan of educating the team.
I’m a big fan of getting insight from those who are in the trenches.
I’m a big fan of listening to the troops.

But I’m not a big fan of rule by committee.

Ruling by committee is an easy way to avoid accountability.
Ruling by committee allows us to blame no one when it fails.
Ruling by committee is a sickness designed to allow those in charge to accept responsibility for nothing.

Ruling by committee is a way to hide in the back room. Ruling by committee is peeking through the closet door.

Step out of the closet, come into the room, and be counted. If you’re ruling by committee, stop it! You’re not running a democracy; you’re running a business.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

The great thing about the phrase is you’re going to have one or the other. The cool thing is your get to pick which one!

Being a former Marine, part of my core values as an individual comes from my Marine Corps training. And no doubt a large part of my success in life comes from being well disciplined.

Many of my disciplines have come from being an athlete where you cannot achieve any level of success without discipline. Without question people with a military and/or a sports background make better employees/team members because they are well disciplined. Yes, there are exceptions, but work with me.

Discipline shows up in many forms in the workplace including being on time, achieving assignments, how you dress, how you talk, what you say, how you say it and who you say it to.

Discipline shows up in your personal life every day. From your routine when you get up each day to the moment you lay your head on your pillow.

I cannot fathom someone achieving a key leadership position or having a personal life that’s balanced unless they are highly disciplined.

If you do not have a sports background, military background or if you didn’t grow up in an environment where there was a focus on discipline then you are at a total disadvantage as you attempt to climb the ladder of success. It is virtually impossible to achieve success in sports or the military without discipline, and business and life are the same.

It’s pretty much a sure bet that if you are un-disciplined in your work life that your personal life is no different and chaos has become your best friend.

Discipline is about controlling willpower/self-control over one’s desires to do the wrong or easy thing. It’s about doing the right thing when the wrong thing keeps screaming “why bother.”

Focus on improving your discipline regardless of where you have come from and where you might be today. Observe others around you who you deem to be well disciplined and start to emulate them. Pretty soon others will start to emulate you and now the tribe becomes very powerful.

Only the well-disciplined ever get to be the chief of the tribe.

“The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” You get to pick. That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs