Back in the day

Back in 2000, when Navy Knowledge Online (NKO) was just being birthed, the Chief of Naval Education and Training was looking for content to populate some of their leadership pages.  I am proud to say that I was one of the "leading" contributors to those pages.  Among my contributions was a book summary essay of John Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.

The First Law that John addresses is the law of the lid.  He postulates that there is a lid on a person’s leadership ability and this lid determines his level of effectiveness. The lower a person’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on his leadership ability, and the lower his effectiveness. On the contrary, the higher the leadership ability, the greater the effectiveness. These same principles apply to organizations.  

The conflict between THE LID of an organization and THE LID of its leader can provide incredible levels of tension - within the organization itself and across its domain.

My Shipmate, Commander Sean Heritage, addresses his concerns about THE LID on his blog HERE.