In this keynote Vinny discusses and provides examples of 10 tools, techniques and practices that leaders and managers can begin using right now to improve their performance and their team’s responsiveness.

They include:

• The 4 Expectations your team has of you as a leader.
• The 3 Questions a leader needs to ask (and answer).
• The 2 Reasons for stress when leading others.
• The 1 Truth to never forget when leading.

“When the heat was high, the pressure was on and the outcome was uncertain.”

In this dynamic, dramatic presentation, Vinny calls upon his experiences in leading large units (over 16,000 in OIF) in the toughest missions. Full of real world examples, he makes it relevant to you and your organization as they undertake tough tasks in tough times.

Six weeks before the attacks of 9-11, then-Colonel Vinny Boles departed Washington D.C. and assumed command of the Army’s recently formed contingency logistics unit called the Field Support Command. The unit was responsible for: all world-wide contingency supplies and equipment, 52 separate technical supply and maintenance assistance offices, and executing the Civilian Contracting Plan, if needed. Six hours after 9-11 this unit went from an 8-hour-a-day routine operation to conducting 24/7 worldwide operations that included Operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Djibouti, Europe, Asia and the United States. In this real-world presentation Vinny details how an organization defines and plans for a crisis, the impact the crisis has on the organization and how the demands on leaders change in a crisis. You as a leader must set the conditions to absorb the crisis before the crisis occurs.

This presentation is chock full of examples of how “regular folks” stepped up to meet the challenge and are still meeting it today. Your audience will leave with a “We can handle this” attitude.

He’ll discuss the many implications; financial, technical, growth and most importantly, the moral
implications that failing in this critical area brings.

An especially superb opening keynote address, it provides a focus to attendees that leads to greater
retention throughout your program.

What REALLY Makes the Difference?… The things Winners do that others won’t do.

Everyone wants to be on a winning team. But, in reality, not every team, nor every leader wins just because they want to.

In this keynote presentation, General Vincent Boles distills his 35 years of leadership and supply chain expertise, experience gained under the toughest of circumstances (combat) into 10 key “must do” traits that enable teams to truly rise to being the best they can be, and stay there…Winners, regardless of the circumstances.

You’ll find this keynote is devoid of the normal “feel good bromides” and leadership “fairy dust” that sounds great in the meeting hall but dissipates before the team returns home. This is “news they can use” right away to build that “team of teams” for challenges of today and build your leadership bench for the future.

In times like these we need to remember that there have always been times like these. Some things cannot change.

In times of uncertainty it is natural to feel this is the first time such challenges have presented themselves to us, either individually or collectively. Using the last half of the 20th Century and the events of this, the first decade of the 21st Century, as examples, Vinny details how the challenges we face today have been seen before. Using personal anecdotes and the lessons of history, your audience will see how in the face of today’s challenges we gain strength from our shared experience as individuals, as teammates gathered around common goals, and as a nation linked to the aspirations of our Constitution.

This strength emerges by ensuring that with all that changes, the underlying success to overcoming any challenges requires basing our response on shared values. Your organization will gain a new perspective that these challenges have come before and will come again, but that values based individuals and organizations always triumph in the end.

For 18 months after the attacks of 9-11-2001 Vinny Boles oversaw the transformation of his organization from a planning and tracking headquarters to one that now had to execute the operational support of America’s Army in this Global conflict. That required them to track and fill requirements around the world, most importantly the preparations for operations in Iraq. They identified, maintained, and pushed what was needed for Kuwait for over 12 months. In January 2003, Vinny went from being the “pusher” to being the receiver. Deployed to Kuwait to assume command of less than 500 Soldiers, Civilians and Contractors, this grew to a force of over 8000 maintainers, suppliers, transportation, housing and feeding specialists that were on the ground in Kuwait to support the invasion. Vinny details the lessons learned when the plans his team developed worked and when they didn’t and how they coped – most importantly how the team retained their focus and overcame adversity to support the invasion in an uncertain time.

This presentation is full of anecdotes, stories of grace under pressure, and the pragmatic applications of leadership so essential in today’s uncertain times. Your supply chain team will better understand the requirement and the techniques available to become a “team of teams.”

The Morality of Competence… It’s more than just being “qualified” to do your job.

In this presentation, General Vincent Boles develops the concept for teams and leaders that “Competence” is more than an ideal to aspire to or, a nice to have a trait to possess. It is, in fact, a requirement that leaders have to instill in their team and ensure that the required level of competence, once attained, is retained in the
organization.

Filled with examples from his 35 years as a military leader and his consulting practice today, General Boles will bring this experience to life with examples that illustrate the implications for leaders who fail in this responsibility; ensuring that the people and their organization has a standard for competence and is committed to attaining it.