#77 Building Leaders on Purpose: Why Great Organizations Don't Leave Leadership Development to Chance. A conversation w/ Sam Diehl

This episode of Teach Me to Fish features a deep dive into intentional leader development within the military. Hosted by Matthew Leclair, the conversation centers on the philosophy that great organizations do not leave leadership development to chance.

Key Discussion Points:

• The Power of Mentorship and Counseling: The guest, Colonel Sam Deal, emphasizes that leader development is the most effective way to solve an organization's biggest problems (0:06 - 0:21). He highlights that counseling is not just a procedural requirement, but a tool for understanding subordinates' strengths, weaknesses, and motivations to build trust.
• Practical Leadership Culture: The discussion shifts to creating a culture of excellence, noting that "words whisper, but actions thunder" (1:33, 38:09). Leaders are encouraged to be visible, provide clear standards, and act as models for their teams (0:54 - 1:13).
• Managing Field Grades: A significant portion of the episode (59:00 - 1:06:00) addresses the often-neglected professional development of field-grade officers (Majors and above). The speakers discuss the shift from being a tactical problem-solver to becoming a strategic, communicative teammate who can operate with autonomy and trust.
• Normalization of Deviance: The host and guest analyze the concept of "practical drift"—where small, innocuous deviations from standards eventually lead to more dangerous failures (1:53 - 2:20). They argue that leaders must coach and hold others accountable to prevent the erosion of discipline (1:11:00 - 1:12:30).
• The "Team of Teams" Approach: Colonel Deal shares his experience on the importance of building connective tissue between different units to facilitate cooperation, rather than competition, among staff and subordinate leaders (1:01:40 - 1:03:15).

Core Takeaway:
Leadership development is a continuous, everyday responsibility. It requires personal investment, the willingness to have difficult conversations, and a commitment to helping every member of an organization reach their maximum potential (33:05 - 33:15, 1:29:40 - 1:30:00).

Why Teach Me to Fish? 

Catch someone a fish, feed them for a day. 
Teach them to fish, feed their family for life. 

Our purpose is to help Leaders better understand what drives People to serve. In any organization, the core of recruiting and retaining talent revolves around leadership. And not just average leadership, but motivated, values-based, inspirational leadership.  

 
Our Pursuit here is to get a little bit better every day. 

Progress = Small Victories and stacking habits.

Habits like Getting up early, working your butt off, learning something new, Being positive and Surrounding yourself with phenomenal People.  

 Thanks for investing some time for yourself and thinking about the kind of People and experiences in your life that inspire you to be the best version of yourself. 

I hope these conversations spark some ideas on what you can do to inspire People too.

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