General Hugh Shelton gave the keynote at the Fall 7x24 Exchange 2011 conference.
Attendees all have a copy of his book.
The presentation had three main points - Leaders, People we lead, and Teamwork.
I am not taking detailed notes as my session on the "Hunt for Talent" is right after and is a good setup to discuss the challenge to find great people for the data center.
Redhat has notes that are good to read on what Hugh Shelton presents.
Leadership
A webcast listener asked what capabilities of self-governing groups are most important to leverage when it comes to leadership. "From a leadership standpoint, I start with the basics in any organization," Shelton said. "The leader is a person of great integrity, personal integrity, professional ethics, and you've got to make sure your organization is pulling together." A leader should provide vision for the group along with the teamwork to get it there. The leader should also be the one maintaining the group's transparency.
As an example, Shelton offered when Donald Rumsfeld decided to bypass the Joint Chiefs and run the Iraq operation, he lost the equivalent of 200 years of experience in the Tank that could have prevented a lot of mistakes. It's important to take constructive criticism and to learn from everyone in the group.
While on the board of Anheuser Busch, Shelton would walk the theme parks and find everywhere--including Clydesdale stables--were spotless. Augie Busch, as a leader, had inspired the cleanliness. "If you set standards, people are normally going to respond," Shelton said. "There have to be rewards and penalty. Then we give feedback, either formal or informal. I've seen it work in many organizations, in and out of the military. It all starts with the leader."
Tremendous leaders can be in Fortune 10 companies or in small communities. Shelton offered the following as the most important qualities for a leader anywhere:
- Integrity
- Professional ethics
- Team builders
Here is what General Hugh Shelton presented on open source at JBoss World.
In this opening keynote for Red Hat Summit and JBoss World 2011, hear General Hugh Shelton (retired), Chairman of the Board of Red Hat, speak about the role of open source and his introduction to open source--and his involvement in the technology industry through the Red Hat board.
Gen Shelton gives a delightful talk, peppered with stories about the role of open source in the military, and in the world--sometimes in ways you might never expect.
"I'd like to join the army that is developing --the open source army, if you will--that is going to mark across a very fierce battlefield and fight and WIN because it's the right thing to do. That's Red Hat. That's open source."
-- General Hugh Shelton
