Raised in a Navy family with two WWII Veterans for parents, Tom Connally became a student of leaders at a young age. He followed his older brothers to the Naval Academy and into the Marine Corps. As a young officer, he observed that the performance of units was directly related to the culture, the esprit and work ethic. The best units, including his, had an attitude of confidence that made every objective attainable and in which every Marine believed they were valued and desired to excel. This culture of performance permeated every individual and started with the commander.
The relationship of the leader to the mission and the organization created a tangible result in the culture. Understanding these relationships became clearer with succeeding assignments. Recruiting Duty illuminated the principle that congruity of a leader’s values, goals, and performance create maximum effectiveness. As a senior staff officer and commander, Tom recognized that aligning organizational values and goals established an effective strategy. Furthermore, organizational effectiveness improved when adequately structured for the mission with the appropriate leaders in charge of each division, section, or subordinate unit.
As a senior commander and chief staff officer, Tom put all of these lessons to work with exceptional results in combat organizations and staff agencies. After 30 years of applying these principles in the Marine Corps, Tom spent five years observing their consistent results in the defense industry before starting his endeavor to help leaders and organizations improve their performance and success