Is your team all moving in the same direction? 

Leaders and organizations often struggle with this. It would be nice if we could just declare that, “Teamwork makes the dream work!” and suddenly everyone one in the organization is pulling in the same direction toward a common goal.

Not likely. To have a smooth-running operation, leaders must focus on their duty to each area of the Four Pillars of Leadership. Leaders, followers, culture, and mission.

Leaders won’t see the results they want until leaders fulfill their duty to themselves. They must know where the team is headed and how to get there. They must be competent and skilled enough that followers trust them to lead them in the right direction.

Leaders need to have healthy, motivated, and well-trained followers. Employees often hold back effort when leaders play favorites. Nobody wants to work for an overbearing boss. Followers need to be trained and developed so that they can carry out their job tasks.

Organizational culture is important. If you want employees to work as a team, then teamwork must be a part of the day-to-day life of the company. It must be modeled by top management and supported and rewarded by mid-level and lower-level leaders. 

Mission. The “why” of the agency, team or work unit must be clear and concise. Clearly communicating “why we do what we do” goes a long way toward rallying followers to the greater good. 

You might not get everyone pulling as hard as they can, all the time. But you just might get everyone at least moving in the same direction, and that is when we start seeing results. – DUTY FIRST Leadership.

We are Jesse Davidson and Greg Veitch, two guys who got together a few years ago and started talking leadership.  Sharing our experiences during the course of our respective careers in law enforcement and the nuclear Naval fleet was an amazing exercise in discovery, encouragement and friendship. 

Jesse had just finished his final deployment with the US NAVY and Greg was recently retired from the police department, consulting and teaching leadership in the law enforcement field.  What started out as informal discussions about leadership and telling “war stories” over coffee soon developed into an idea to share the leadership lessons they learned “on the street and in the fleet,” and DUTY FIRST Leadership was born.

Jesse is from Arkansas.  Greg is from New York.  Both have had harrowing experiences during their careers that not only make for good stories, but also serve as leadership lessons that anyone can learn from.  However, amazing stories of submarine collisions and high-speed pursuits are just part of the leadership lessons we talk about. Greg and Jesse both rose through the ranks, leading small and large teams during day-to-day operations, giving them a grounded approach to leadership in many situations and all levels of the organization.

DUTY FIRST Leadership has a focus, and that focus is on clarifying the duties and obligations that every leader has in the four key areas of leadership:  Leaders, Followers, Culture, and Mission.  We call them the Four Pillars of Leadership.

We believe that leaders have a duty to themselves, their followers, their organization and their mission to be the best that they can be.  We utilize a variety of approaches when developing leaders.  We teach, discuss, challenge, support, and listen.  We have no doubt that we can help any organization understand and develop their leadership potential and help put DUTY FIRST in your organization.  We look forward to hearing from, learning from and serving you!

Jesse and Greg