Tag Archive for: buy-in

Battlefield Lessons from Antietam and Gettysburg

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Do you want more business breakthroughs? Antietam and Gettysburg offer time-tested strategies.

History’s greatest leaders faced chaos, uncertainty, and high stakes—just like you. The Battles of Antietam and Gettysburg weren’t just military clashes; they were masterclasses in leadership under pressure. 

When you join me for offsites at the battlefields, we discuss these three lessons, and many others, to help you scale your business, inspire your team, and create a decisive competitive advantage.

3 Lessons From the Antietam and Gettysburg Battlefields

1. Inspire Buy-In & Relentless Execution

Joshua Chamberlain was a college professor, not a career soldier, yet he transformed a beleaguered, outnumbered regiment into a force that held the line at Gettysburg and save the Union Army on July 2, 1863. His leadership wasn’t about titles—it was about trust, clarity, and an unshakable belief in the mission.

Business Application: Your team needs more than instructions; they need inspiration and conviction. When people buy into the vision, they execute relentlessly—even when the odds are against them. Leadership under duress isn’t about reacting; it’s about Courageous Insight that instills confidence, simplifies priorities, and ensures that your people rise instead of retreat when things get tough. 

Ask yourself: Is your team just following orders, or are they committed to the mission? If you disappeared for a week, would execution falter or accelerate?

2. Make High-Stakes Decisions with Absolute Clarity

Abraham Lincoln saw opportunity where others saw risk. His decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation after Antietam wasn’t just moral—it was a strategic masterstroke that reshaped the war and denied the Confederacy international support. Lincoln knew poor timing would lead to disaster, and he had the discipline to move fast when it mattered.

Business Application: The best CEOs don’t just manage risk—they recognize when bold action is required. Moving too soon can be reckless, but waiting too long can be fatal. The key is refining your decision-making discipline so you have the Disciplined Foresight understanding when to pivot, when to double down, and when to walk away.

How quickly do you act when opportunity knocks? Do you have a process to recognize the difference between calculated boldness and blind recklessness?

3. Avoid the Traps of Overcaution & Overconfidence

General McClellan had overwhelming resources at Antietam but hesitated, allowing Lee to escape. At Gettysburg, General Lee, fueled by overconfidence, lost everything. General Meade, after defeating Lee’s Army, failed to pursue it in time to deal a deadly blow. One leader saw ghosts and did nothing; the other had hubris and rushed to failure; and the last failed to exploit a fleeting opportunity.

Business Application: The best leaders avoid both extremes—paralysis and reckless aggression. Overanalyzing kills momentum, and overconfidence blinds you to danger. The sweet spot? Integrating intuition and data to balance risk with opportunity. Disciplined Foresight moves you from Repetitive Reaction to Agile Anticipation.

Where is your biggest leadership blind spot? Are you delaying tough decisions out of fear, or charging ahead without enough insight?

Lead Decisively; Win Strategically

The battlefield rewards clarity, conviction, and the ability to inspire action—just like business. Whether scaling your company, navigating a crisis, or seizing an opportunity, the lessons of Antietam and Gettysburg will sharpen your leadership edge.

A version of this post first appeared on Alan Weiss’s blog.

Gaining Buy-in for AI in Your Workplace

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Explore how to get employee buy-in and unlock AI’s potential in the workplace.

Would you like to get more employee support and reduce resistance to changes like bringing AI into the workplace? 

We arrived in Afghanistan and saw a damaged school. Insurgents bombed and shot up the building, so no kids went to school there. I believe that people across cultures and religions want what’s best for their kids, so supporting education was one of our top priorities to build bridges to the people in that corner of the country. 

“We’ve got funding to repair the school,” Captain John Page informed the Kamu village council, “If we repair it, will you use the school?” 

“Absolutely not.”

“Why not? Don’t you want your kids to go to school?”

“Of course we do, but we’re not sending our kids to school with children from Mirdish (a nearby village).”

John went to the Mirdish village council and got the same reply.

“Help me understand this situation,” he pleaded.

According to the elders, over a year ago, Americans asked what projects people wanted. Both villages replied that they wanted a school. Since the villages were about two miles apart, the Americans decided to kill two birds with one stone and put the school in between. They brought in an outside construction firm to build the school.

These actions outraged the elders. The villages were in a decades-long blood feud. They believed the Americans promised them a school for their village, not a joint venture. Bringing in outside labor and management affronted their pride and undermined economic opportunity.

Militants from both villages took turns attacking the school as well as John’s outpost.

John was genuinely curious about their views and how to improve relationships. He worked with them on a game plan to build trust and bring a school to each village. The attacks stopped. Co-creation created buy-in that turned angry villagers into allies. 

People Won’t Buy Into Change That Leaves Them Worse Off

Just as the villagers rejected a school that didn’t meet their expectations and needs, employees will resist AI if they perceive it as imposed upon them or as a threat to their roles.

The Economist ran a recent story about AI confirming this truism. Researchers determined that two variables highly correlated with buy-in for workplace AI. People who felt that AI enhanced the quality and meaning of their work saw the machine as a partner. Those who felt their roles diminished had a dim view. 

People involved in co-creating AI’s role naturally discovered ways to boost the job-enhancing aspects; employees viewed top-down imposed AI as job-diminishing or threatening.

AI will disrupt your workplace. For example, people doing repetitive knowledge work and white-collar information brokers will likely see AI do their work cheaper and better. High-trust, high-touch roles like consulting and those that require leadership won’t be replaced by machines. 

Co-creation and job enhancement are the keys to gaining buy-in for a human-AI partnership in your company. Even job-enhancing AI is likely to gain resistance if people do not believe their fingerprints are on it. Like the Afghans from Kamu and Mirdish, they have keen ideas on what’s likely to work and want to shape events to serve their interests.

Imagine your marketing team using AI to analyze consumer data more effectively. The AI provides insights your team uses to craft more personalized campaigns, leading to increased engagement. Instead of feeling replaced, your team sees AI as a tool that amplifies their creativity and impact while your company benefits.

Co-creation is not enough, especially if people believe their views are ignored and the change will do more harm than good. People can sense the illusion of consultation and grow cynical. They need to believe they are better off.

Lectures from you about that won’t convince them. They need to come to the conclusion themselves.

Your Role in Fostering Co-Creation

You play a crucial role in fostering co-creation by actively involving your teams in the AI integration process. This could include workshops, feedback sessions, and pilot programs where your employees experiment with AI tools and provide input on how to tailor them to enhance their work.

One common concern is that AI will make specific jobs obsolete. Addressing these fears openly and providing retraining opportunities or new roles can help alleviate your employees’ anxiety and build trust. Be transparent about AI’s impact and actively work to find solutions that benefit both the company and your employees.

Sometimes, people’s jobs become obsolete. Working with them to identify new ways they can contribute to your company’s success and their own growth will help you retain great talent. With this approach, even the ones better off moving on will become ambassadors for you. 

Just as Captain Page’s collaboration with the Afghan villages turned adversaries into allies, your efforts to co-create AI solutions with your team can transform potential resistance into enthusiastic support. The key to success is ensuring everyone feels better off in this new AI-enhanced environment.

Yes, I am an AI enthusiast. My chatbot helped me strengthen this article.  

I’m keen to hear your views on how you are using a Human – AI partnership to create a 1+1=5 outcome. Please reply with your successful practices.

If you want to explore more ideas on building trust in an AI-infused workplace, let’s have a meaningful conversation. You can schedule it here.

How to Gain and Sustain Buy-In

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Just because you built buy-in doesn’t mean it will stick around. It needs cultivation and invested time. 

Buy-in

So often, we feel as though we have to keep our cards close to our chests as leaders. We don’t want scrutiny. We worry that the plan has to be perfect—which doesn’t exist—before we reveal it. Maybe there’s a lack of trust within our Team. Perhaps we think our Team isn’t capable of thinking at our level. Or, we’re worried that our Team is not ready for change so we prolong telling them about it until the plan is done and it needs to be executed immediately. 

The best way to gain buy-in? Put your people first and treat them as professionals. How do you do that? You bring them to the table. You give them the confidence to provide valuable feedback. When you have time to do so, getting people to contribute their ideas before you make a decision allows you to adopt some or all of them and increase buy-in. Gaining their ideas in advance is more plausible than gaining feedback from them after you’ve made a decision. When you make this practice a habit, then people will better understand the times when you need to make an immediate decision.

How to gain organizational buy-in:

  1. Trust – Be authentic and vulnerable. Your Team is better together. One-on-one meetings and small team meetings are great ways to foster this trust.
  2. Psychologically safe environment – practice empathy and compassion and create a space where everyone can have a voice. 
  3. Request input and feedback – Ask specific questions and really address your Team’s concerns—allow everyone to speak. Don’t be overly attached to ideas. 

How to get buy-in for an idea: 

  1. The “WOW” factor – Let your Team know how this is going to positively impact them and the organization. 
  2. Share your journey on developing this plan – Tell them why you think this is the best one. Bring data to the table for your operational thinkers. Share examples of success. Use storytelling. Use  “what if we did nothing?” or “what else could we do?” scenarios so that your team can see why this is the best way forward.
  3. Ask for input and feedback early and often – Tell your Team that you’re still in the brainstorming stages and you want them to poke holes in the current plan. 

Once you have buy-in, how do you keep it?

  1. Communicate often – Clarify timelines, keep your direct reports and the Team updated on the progress. Document your various steps along the way on an open forum.
  2. Establish ownership – Use “we” and “us” when discussing the Team and the plan. These simple words will spread buy-in and a sense of belonging.
  3. Celebrate wins – Give credit to others when things go well. Take ownership of pitfalls.

What happens when you get crickets in a meeting? It could be one of three things. 

  1. Processing time – Make sure you are speaking at the speed of trust. Sometimes too much information can be overwhelming and people shut down.
  2. Fear –  They don’t want to pop your balloon, they don’t want to look stupid, they may have been burned in the past, or they are afraid of speaking up. You can eliminate most of the fear by developing trust and psychological safety.
  3. Indifference – They may be thinking, why fix it if it isn’t broken, we’ve always done it this way, we’ve tried that before, what can I do anyways, or glad I’m not at the helm! These statements are in contrast with continuous improvement. Don’t let your Team drift with these negative mind frames.

“Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” ~ Steve Jobs

Do you have newly promoted leaders that you want to thrive and master their added responsibilities and challenges? Then the Lead Well program is perfect for them. SIGN UP NOW by booking a free 30-minute consultation with Laura! Only a few spots left. The next session starts in the beginning of February!

J

Chris’ Sustainable Growth Mindset® 6.21.21

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More Americans are quitting their jobs, according to WSJ, than at any time in the last two decades. 

As COVID lifts, people’s interests are shifting from job security to professional fulfillment. We’re seeing the beginning of a massive employee turnover wave. You can ride it successfully to gain new talent or get pulled under and lose some of your best employees. How well are you positioned? 

On the eve of the Gettysburg battle, Col. Joshua Chamberlain was told to watch over 120 disgruntled soldiers accused of desertion. Chamberlain’s own force was around 300, and every soldier devoted to guarding the group reduced the number of rifles he could put into the line. 

Chamberlain won their trust and gained their buy-in (hint: he did not offer them better pay & benefits or threaten them). 117 of the 120 agreed to fight in Chamberlain’s ranks. The added rifles enabled Chamberlain’s unit to stand their ground at Little Round Top, counterattack, and win. They saved the Union Army.

The ABCs — Accountability, Buy-in, and Clarity — turned the tide. How well are the ABCs working in your organization? 

We’ll discuss practical steps to get the ABCs right on June 30th at 10:30 am U.S. Central in a live zoom session (Register here https://lnkd.in/d3hWGNy). 

Register here or use this address: https://strategic-leaders-academy.teachable.com/p/taking-your-business-to-new-heights-gettysburg

BREAKTHROUGH OPPORTUNITIES

The next FOCUSED program begins the first week of August. This 8-week group program is for principled leaders who want to grow their businesses in the right ways at the right pace with the right team. 

Click here to see if the program is a good fit for you.

This program’s clarity and focus resulted in more high-payoff work that we love and less wasted time and energy. We expect 33% growth to reach $100k in monthly revenues and expand from there.
Matthew Hargrove and Barry Lingelbach, Black-Grey-Gold Consulting 

The Success Trinity

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Buy-in, Accountability, Results. 

The Success Trinity.

I mean trinity in the Clausewitzian sense, not the religious one.

Get them right, and the three elements take your performance to greater outcomes.

Get one piece wrong, and you’ll get a downward spiral.

Buy-in occurs when people contribute their best toward important goals.

Accountability means being answerable for doing the right things the right way so that they shorten your path to success.

Results are the outputs of your work.

Positive results reinforce buy-in and boost accountability, thus generating greater outcomes and impact.

What happens when part of the trinity is missing?

When you have buy-in and accountability but get poor results, you are on the wrong path. Your process is not working. 

If you have buy-in and results but lack accountability, then you are getting lucky. The downturn is only a matter of time.

When you have accountability and results but no buy-in, then you have lip-service. People will do just enough to avoid the stick and get the carrot, but they will not contribute their best.

I was saddened that my Green Bay Packers lost in the NFC Championship last night. 

They’ve made it there two years in a row because they’ve got the three elements in place. 

You can see the difference in the players’ faces, especially quarterback Aaron Rodgers who had his best season ever at age 37. 

Everyone’s bought-in. They hold each other accountable. They get great results.

They’re not perfect. They are human and make mistakes.

They perform superbly because they’re high performing people who’ve got great coaching.

I bet they will be in the hunt next year, too.