s I knew him. We had a great talk and he was relating to me the experiences of that day in what was later known as Helicopter Valley. He was trapped with his men when four helicopters went down in the landing zone. There were fifty or so who survived the crash and they were surrounded and fought off 1500 enemLeading change means making tough calls. There’s none tougher than making the calls regarding the scope, timing and resources of the project. One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is getting happy and caught up in the moment trying to impress the boss and making commitments you’re not able to keep.

The biggest problem I see is when otherwise good leaders and managers reach out and forecast what I call ‘heroism’. With the war in Iraq right now we read daily of the exploits of some of our soldiers and Marines. They do some extraordinary things. They are heroes but heroism can’t be forecast, it just happens.

I wrote a book called Dead Center about the exploits of a Marine sniper team in Vietnam. A couple of years after it came out I was traveling on a consulting job in Ohio when one night in a motel I saw this PBS special on Medals of Honor winners. There before me was none other than one of my Drill Instructors from boot camp in Parris Island. I remembered the event, I was actually nearby when it happened and this great Marine was later awarded the Medal of Honor. So I sent him one of my books.

A few months later I happened to be home one Friday morning and the phone rang and it was Sergeant McGuinty as I knew him. We had a great talk and he was relating to me the experiences of that day in what was later known as Helicopter Valley. He was trapped with his men when four helicopters went down in the landing zone. There were fifty or so who survived the crash and they were surrounded and fought off 1500 enem

he biggest problem I see is when otherwise good leaders and managers reach out and forecast what I call ‘heroism’. With the war in Iraq right now we read daily of the exploits of some of our soldiers and Marines. They do some extraordinary things. They are heroes but heroism can’t be forecast, it just happens.

I wrote a book called Dead Center about the exploits of a Marine sniper team in Vietnam. A couple of years after it came out I was traveling on a consulting job in Ohio when one night in a motel I saw this PBS special on Medals of Honor winners. There before me was none other than one of my Drill Instructors from boot camp in Parris Island. I remembered the event, I was actually nearby when it happened and this great Marine was later awarded the Medal of Honor. So I sent him one of my books.

A few months later I happened to be home one Friday morning and the phone rang and it was Sergeant McGuinty as I knew him. We had a great talk and he was relating to me the experiences of that day in what was later known as Helicopter Valley. He was trapped with his men when four helicopters went down in the landing zone. There were fifty or so who survived the crash and they were surrounded and fought off 1500 enem

.

I wrote a book called Dead Center about the exploits of a Marine sniper team in Vietnam. A couple of years after it came out I was traveling on a consulting job in Ohio when one night in a motel I saw this PBS special on Medals of Honor winners. There before me was none other than one of my Drill Instructors from boot camp in Parris Island. I remembered the event, I was actually nearby when it happened and this great Marine was later awarded the Medal of Honor. So I sent him one of my books.

A few months later I happened to be home one Friday morning and the phone rang and it was Sergeant McGuinty as I knew him. We had a great talk and he was relating to me the experiences of that day in what was later known as Helicopter Valley. He was trapped with his men when four helicopters went down in the landing zone. There were fifty or so who survived the crash and they were surrounded and fought off 1500 enem

ructors from boot camp in Parris Island. I remembered the event, I was actually nearby when it happened and this great Marine was later awarded the Medal of Honor. So I sent him one of my books.

A few months later I happened to be home one Friday morning and the phone rang and it was Sergeant McGuinty as I knew him. We had a great talk and he was relating to me the experiences of that day in what was later known as Helicopter Valley. He was trapped with his men when four helicopters went down in the landing zone. There were fifty or so who survived the crash and they were surrounded and fought off 1500 enem

s I knew him. We had a great talk and he was relating to me the experiences of that day in what was later known as Helicopter Valley. He was trapped with his men when four helicopters went down in the landing zone. There were fifty or so who survived the crash and they were surrounded and fought off 1500 enemy for three days. I was amazed by his exploits and said so. Then he said something I will never forget. He said, “Kugler, always remember when somebody gets a medal like this it is because somebody else screwed up”.

He explained that when the Recon teams selected the landing zone it was for one type of smaller chopper and three weeks later when the assault came the Marine Corp had rolled out a new twin blade chopper and the rest is history as they say, they crashed blades together. The point being is that Sergeant McGuinty is a true hero, but he didn’t plan it. He was a great leader who reacted to the events around him.

On three different occasions in the past eight years I have been called in to ‘bail out’ a change project going under. To many I was a hero for coming in and fixing the project. But that isn’t the problem. The problem is that the prior planning placed the project right in the path of a train wreck because the leaders wouldn’t stand their ground on what they knew to be true.

When you start a project you start with the scope. Based on the scope, the work to be done, you will need a certain amount of resources to complete the work in a certain amount of time. If someone wants to speed up th