Are you the last one standing? If you're a manager in a downsized organization, don't stand there waiting for the ax to fall.(Downsizing)

Publication: Government Procurement

Publication Date: 01-FEB-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Penton Media, Inc.

Sometimes managers feel like the last of a dying breed. Downsizing and cutbacks have cut management staffs to the bone. If you re one of the few left standing, you know it's a lonely feeling. And, let's be honest, it's also a scary one. You don't know how to best ensure your own survival, so chances are you're lying low, taking care not to make waves, and hoping the ax-wielders simply won't notice you. But this is not the time to toe the status quo line.

As I explain in my book The Leader's Compass: Set Your Course For Leadership Success (Academy Leadership Publishing, 2003), co-authored with Ed Ruggero, the metaphorical last one standing has an opportunity--an obligation--to take a strong leadership stance.

The ethical and financial scandals that have rocked the business community lately were caused, or at the very least enabled, by yes-men and yes-women who adapted, chameleon-like, to what was going on around them. This fact is reason enough to adopt a policy of strong, inspirational, principle-based leadership. The other reason is that when people are being weeded out, those with the strongest roots are the hardest to eliminate.

So what are the characteristics of strong leadership? To see the answer in action, we need only to look to America's military academies. Indeed, Academy Leadership uses principles taught and practiced at West Point and the Naval Academy...

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