A New Addition to BE, KNOW, DO

Wisdom

Nov 11

A New Addition to BE, KNOW, DO

By: Mark Bigelow

The principles of BE, KNOW, DO have been a mainstay of Army leadership as long as I can remember. I’m pretty sure it was during PLDC (Primary Leadership Development Course) that it really stuck.

BE – a professional

KNOW – your job

DO – your job

There are 100’s of articles out there that talk about these principles. They have impacted leaders in their daily actions throughout their military and civilian careers. There are so many ways to look at these terms… but this is where I want to expand into an additional category… ACTION!

I was listening to “The Proximity Principle” audio book by Ken Coleman on a drive to Johnstown, PA to help put the finishing touches on a project. Towards the end of the book, he talked about taking ACTION. I knew it was my turn to write about something which led to a conversation on how leaders ACT in the workplace or how we really want them to ACT.

ACT with great character

ACT disciplined

ACT selfless

ACTs of kindness

ACT like you want to be treated

ACT as if the entire workforce was watching

ACT with humility

ACT as a mentor

ACT as a role model

ACT in a way that others want to mimic

The list can go on and on, and as a leader within your organization, the spotlight never turns off and the glass walls never get covered both on and off duty. This is the hard part of leadership and the reason why there are so few people out there that are classified as an OUTSTANDING leader in every way, shape, and form.

We must ACT better than those who have chosen to follow our lead on a daily basis. We must understand that they will fail from time to time and we must allow them to fail in order to learn. The hardest part about these ACTIONs is that we must be willing and able to provide all of this and then some, knowing that we cannot expect anything in return. If you expect something in return, then eventually you too will fail by becoming callused and your organization will not achieve true greatness under your leadership.