Success Secrets and Stories
To share management leadership concepts that actually work.
You are responsible for your development as a leader. Don't expect the boss to invest the training budget in your career. Consider this podcast as an investment of time in your career, with a bit of management humor added at the same time.
Success Secrets and Stories
Own The Outcome, Leadership Overview Part 2
Results don’t care about your intention—and that’s exactly why they’re the most honest measure of leadership. We take you from a formative Management By Responsibility moment—shifting from truck mechanic to frontline supervisor—through a practical breakdown of what makes leaders promotable: owning outcomes, communicating so clearly that action becomes inevitable, and developing people who can replace you without missing a beat.
We unpack the U.S. Army’s leadership competencies and translate them into everyday business moves: lead others by turning strategy into steps, extend influence beyond the org chart with diplomacy and coalition-building, and lead by example so your standards show up in your team’s habits. Communication sits at the core—less slideware, more translation power—and culture isn’t perk-driven; it’s the daily environment where feedback is normal and progress is visible. If you’ve ever wondered why “I’ll try” stalls careers, we explain how to replace intent with artifacts: plans, decision logs, shipped work, and postmortems that make your contribution legible.
You’ll also hear a simple but powerful reframing: replace “performance review” with “career review.” The topics stay the same, but the mindset shifts to goals, stretch assignments, and promotion signals. Whether you’re aiming for your first leadership role or leveling from manager to director, the throughline is clear: leaders get results ethically, repeatedly, and in ways that lift others. Ready to build a results portfolio you’re proud to share with your mentor, your team, and your future self? Follow the show, leave a review to tell us your biggest takeaway, and share this episode with someone who’s ready to own their next step.
Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell
Well, hello, and welcome to our podcast, Success, Secrets, and Stories. I'm your host, John Wondolowski, and I'm here with my co-host and friend, Greg Powell. Greg? Hey everybody. And when we put together this podcast, we wanted to put out a helping hand and help that next generation and help answer the question of what does it mean to be a leader? Today we want to talk about a subject that I think supports that concept. Well, welcome back to part two of our Leadership Advancement podcast. And in our first podcast, we were talking about the leadership preparation and communication and personal ownership. I want to start off this podcast with something that is near and dear to my heart. It's the essence of why I really started, I wrote a book and we started the podcast. And it was from the experience of going through management by responsibility. Back when I was in my early 30s, I went from being a truck mechanic to being a supervisor at Johnson ⁇ Johnson and the Gausmill. And they sent me to the class when I first began my job as a supervisor to take this course with uh Dr. Durce. And it was a two-day seminar. And it definitely changed my perspective of leadership. Back then, it was basically the leaders that I had in trucking, and trust me, they weren't really good leaders. Good people, but not really good leaders. I learned a lot about training and the things to be a good supervisor. I later wrote a book about this experience, and you know, building your leadership toolbox is what I called it. But it kind of pales in comparison to the actual class that I took. So, John, what was the core message? Yeah. Dr. Durst, the person who developed the program, had it in a very succinct sentence. We are responsible for everything in our experience, whether we like it or not. That means that the results in your life are your responsibility, not the environment, not your parents, not your spouse. It's all you. That's that's the bottom line. Now, Greg, you've heard this speech before. When I tell you NBR, what do you think of?
SPEAKER_00:I think of looking in the mirror and saying that's the person that's going to make things happen. That's a person that's going to take responsibility if things don't happen.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's the essence of it. I mean, I one of the most important things that I think Dr. Durst talked about is he could he could put all the buck 50 cent kind of words into discussion, but in order to get the idea across, it had to be direct. And that's exactly it. Own it. So to that end, talking about some of the most basic concepts, it kind of boils down to one of the simplest elements, results. You can talk about vision and influence and strategy all day, but if you're not delivering, you're not leading. There are plenty of people in organizations that are holding positions, and all they are are play setters. They're waiting to retire, or they're waiting to get fired, or they're waiting to move on mystically that's going to happen. They stay invisible in the organization and do just enough to avoid attention.
SPEAKER_00:You know, John, that's a very tough truth. But what separates real leaders from those placeholder folks?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Leaders who get results are the ones who develop deferred maintenance plans or build master plans or lead projects that shape the organization. They're involved in construction efforts or refining scopes of business or making an impact in the organization. And here's the kicker. No one wants to hear from a leader saying, I'm going to do my best. It's that whole thing between try and I'll deliver. I'm going to do my best is a polite version of the word no. I'd rather someone just say no, I'm not going to do that, instead of offering vague promises. Getting results isn't about intent, it's about execution. Positive, measurable, impressive outcomes that are key for advancement. Placeholders will always say, I'll try. Leaders say, here's what I've done.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, results are not optional. That's how you keep score. You're the currency of leadership.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. Exactly. So let's let's go back to the message from our first episode. Every organization is looking for people who deliver results. Whether you're interviewing for a new role or speaking to executives in the current job you have, results are what matters. If you want to advance in your career, be specific. What have you done to make yourself proud? What have you done and actually that you would call an accomplishment? Would you share that with your peers, with your family, with your mentor? And if that list is short, well, start building it today. It takes a moment of commitment, of taking that bull by the horn, if you wish, and improving your results to in your current role. Leadership starts now. Leadership starts with impact. Now, I think whenever I'm trying to communicate what this really means, I find myself going back to a reference that I got back again from Johnson Johnson. And my boss sat me down and he wanted me to understand the requirements of doing the job. So he came up with this list. And let me share with you that the list is the core description of leadership that comes from the Army Cadet Leadership Guidelines. And the author, I think, is kind of funny. It's the U.S. Army. So if you look it up on Amazon, it's the Army that put it together. But what he was trying to do is he wanted to make it simple. And he's communicating it at the same time. He didn't dream this up. And it was his experience as being in a leadership position at Great Lakes Naval Base that he wanted to make sure I understood because it's what they told him he needed to understand. So it starts off with core competencies. And I'm going to give you the short version to influence people to provide purpose, motivation, and direction while operating their accomplishments of mission to improve the organization. Now that's their definition of competencies, and they break it down, and I'm going to give you the short version of it. Leads others, therefore motivates and inspires teams to work towards a common goal. Extends influence beyond the chain of command. Uses diplomacy, negotiations, cooperation, all those elements in order to shape outcomes. Leads by example, models the standards and behaviors expected of others, communicates, expresses clearly, listens actively, creates a positive environment, builds a culture of respect, purpose, and productivity, prepares self, pursues lifelong learning and self-awareness. This is the army describing it. And that's the part that I want to step back and say how much of this have you heard without the word army involved in it is really the key. Develops others, coaches and mentors, teams for growth, and gets results, delivers consistent, ethical, and impactful outcomes. Now, when I go through that list, the part that I think is important is that's the brief description. And quite often people don't listen to the details that are associated with it. I think it's worthwhile just to go into the the longer version of it. So if if you just stay with me, hopefully the payoff is worth the investment of your time. When they mean leads, it's leading is all about influencing others. Leaders or commanders set goals and establish a vision that they must motivate and influence others to pursue those goals. Leaders influence others in one of two ways. Either lead or the followers communicate directly, or the leader provides an example throughout their everyday actions. Now that's that's more than just leads. And the next point I think is confusing, and I'll explain later why. But leads others. Leaders motivate, inspire, and influence others to take initiatives, to work towards a common purpose, accomplishing critical tasks and to achieve organizational objectives. Can they answer this particular category? Extends influence beyond the chain of command. Leaders need to influence beyond their direct lines of authority and beyond the chain of command. In these situations, and here's the important part, leaders use indirect means of influence, of diplomacy, negotiations, mediation, arbitration, partnering, conflict resolution, consensus building, coordination, and influencing the posture and desire of outcomes. If you can get somebody that does that, that can demonstrate it on paper, hire them as quickly as you can. The other part, again, leads by example should be obvious. Their description takes it one step further. Leaders consistently serve as role models for others. Leaders will always be viewed as an example. So they must maintain standards, provide examples of efficiencies through their actions. Proper role modeling provides tangible evidence of desired behaviors and reinforces verbal guidance through the demonstration of commitment in action. They're trying to be as obvious as they can saying you have to lead from the front. And here's the part that they make a point that is in every one of their discussions that is the most important element. So mine is influencing others beyond a chain of command. The military considers this one the most important: communicates. Leaders communicate effectively by clearly expressing ideas and actively listening to others. By understanding the nature and the importance of communication and practice of effective communication techniques, leaders will relate better to others and be able to translate goals into action. Communication is essence to all of leadership competencies. I love this description because it's dead on to what the expectations are in business. If you can't do this, there's really a question of whether you should be in a leadership role. Communication is the essence of leadership. I think the next points are more or less supporting what we've just already discussed. Developing and creates a positive environment. Leaders have the responsibility to establish and maintain a positive expectations and attitudes that produce a setting for healthy relationships and effective work behaviors. I love this. This is military discussions of creating a positive environment. Leaders are charged with improving the organization while accomplishing the mission. They should leave the organization better than when they had arrived. Now, I talked about the very first category of leads. Really, it's combined with this next concept: prepare self. Leaders ensure that they are prepared to execute their leadership responsibilities fully, that they are aware of the limitations and the strengths, and seek to develop themselves only through continuous preparation and practicing lifelong learning. I love that part, and developing the individual themselves fulfilled the responsibilities of leadership. They backed it up right behind it with okay, there's the point of self, and then there's really the point of leadership, which is developing others. And when you talk to somebody who's in the military, this is the category of how they actually get advancement. Leaders encourage and support others to grow as individuals and teams. They facilitate the achievement of the organizational goals through assisting others to develop. They prepare others to assume new positions elsewhere in the organization, making the organization more vital and productive. This is the essence of leadership. If you're developing your staff and you're developing somebody to take your place, hello, that's what you're supposed to do. They ended with the probably the most obvious get results. Getting results and accomplishing the mission, fulfilling the goals is the objectives of what all leadership really exist and at the discretion of the organization to achieve what is of value. I'm not going to read the rest. The essence of it is getting results is really the key. And they're not interested in hearing how they can or can't get the mission done. Really, organizations don't need people giving them answers on how they can't get it done. They have scores of those folks. The ones that they really want to see promoted are the ones that can get the job done. That's results. That's what drives the executive team.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, that's a very comprehensive framework. Which one do you think leaders struggle with the most?
SPEAKER_01:For me, I I think getting results is probably the hardest one. It's easy to talk about leadership, but you know, prove it. Show me the outcome. Show me, show me the results. Um, I've seen results that are let's see, the best term I can use fictional. And I've seen results of hard work and ingenuity that stand on their own. So everything that I've shared comes from lived experiences, my experience. And these are the skill sets that I use to move up from a foreman to a supervisor to a manager to a director to a regional director before stepping aside and really dedicating myself to try to help leadership training.
SPEAKER_00:You know, John, that's quite a journey. But if you had to go back and ask one question uh to for of yourself for listeners to reflect on, what would that question be?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Are you prepared for the for the next stage of your career? You know, saying that you're prepared means that there's so many other steps. Is your staff prepared? Are you prepared? And have you put in the work? Have you done the basics? Let me propose a simple shift. Eliminate something that really bothers me whenever people are talking about whether they're prepared for their next step in terms of their career. A lot of us use the word performance review. And that's that's where organizations really talk about whether you're prepared. And I hate the word performance review. I'd like to say that from now on, we just call it career review. And the topics are the same, but there really needs to be a different mindset. You really need to show that next step of trying to help that person in the field, whether it's a trade position, a leadership position, whether they want to move to another company, whether they want to take your job, whatever those things are that are important to them, it is their time to talk about their goals, their aspirations. I have found so much in terms of doing a career review that it was more than an evaluation. It was really an eye-opening experience of knowing what that individual really wants in terms of their career.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, that's a very powerful reframing of the topic. It actually turns a routine meeting into a very meaningful discussion.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. And that kind of wraps up the idea of how I perceive leadership. And it's mostly talking about the journey that I really have had fun with and sharing with the audience and sharing with you, Greg. It's it's been a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00:John, it's been an honor. And these conversations are definitely going to help a whole lot of people.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, well, to our listeners, remember leadership isn't a title, it's a responsibility. Lead with purpose, communicate with clarity, deliver with integrity, and above all, help others rise. So if you like what you've heard, I've written a book called Building Your Leadership Toolbox, and we talk about tools like this, and it's available on Amazon and Barnes Noble and other sites. The podcast is what you've been listening to. Thank you so much. It's also available on Apple, Google, and Spotify. A lot of what we talk about is with Dr. Durst in his MBR program. If you'd like to know more about Dr. Durst, you can find out on SuccessGrowthAcademy.com. And if you'd like to contact us, please send me a line. That's wondo75 periodjw at gmail.com. And the music has been brought to you by my grandson. So we want to hear from you. Drop me a line. Tell me what's going on, what you like, and what you would like to hear about. It has always helped us to create content. Thanks, Greg. This was fun.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, John. As always. Next time. Yeah.