My Space Station Story | Book Review

“Let the future amaze you. You cannot know it,
so embrace its possibilities." (p. 241).

Subtitled A Personal Story About Growth, is Mike Varga's personal story -- is not penned as a "Leadership Book." On page 10, Varga admits to a lack of management or leadership education early in his career. Reviewer disclosure: Mike's path and mine crossed years ago, in Glendale, AZ, if memory serves, and the most lasting impression was that of an innovator who created the Prototype Development Unit (PDU), introduced on page 111.

This review makes the case that whether intentional or not, Varga has created a Personal Leadership Philosophy (PLP). Recall from our Leader's Compass workshops, a PLP consists of nine elements:

• What Leadership Means
• Personal Values
• Top Priorities
• Operating Principles
• Expectations
• Non-negotiables
• Pet Peeves
• Personal Idiosyncrasies
• Commitment

 Varga's story is a blend of personal and business autobiography, summarized as Lessons Learned and Conclusions in Chapter 26. By tracing his twenty five summary points, and their respective positions in his book, we may sequence the following:

My Space Station Leadership Philosophy

To be the leader of an organization means that you not only have to have great communication skills, you have to have the ability to take in massive amounts of data and filter it into meaningful information from which would inform useful conclusions (p. 59). Being able to properly define a problem helped me develop some of the leadership skills essential to many future challenges (p. 35). Being curious, open to new things and willing to be surprised made the journey of my career and my future interactions with the Space Station great fun! (p. 26)

Truly nothing is done alone; every worthwhile adventure is accomplished with the assistance of many (p. 196). Use what already works, seek to use, where you can, existing products and capability to reduce the development time, the development cost and the risk of overruns (p. 108). The ability to concentrate and work through to solutions requires commitment. The difference between anxiety and commitment is that one is destructive, the other constructive (p. 61). A lesson I learned from those early days of Space Station pursuit, was to sell large projects internally as well as externally (p. 175).

Use your powers of visualization. Have a knack for transitioning words to equations, from ideas to something that is implementable. (p. 20). Losing is a necessary ingredient of success (p. 236). Don't delay when you feel something is not right. Even if the customer is being an ass, there may be more to it than the customer being unreasonable (p. 158). It is seldom that you have an 'ah ha' moment in business, and it is only possible by being in the right place at the right time, by being prepared and open minded (p. 171).

The written and oral language is essential for solutions. Only through this path can we transition toward engineered solutions (p. 20). Nothing in the world can prepare you for losing the first really big business battle (p. 99). Brush yourself off, get back up and find the next battle (p. 101). Challenging decisions with a question goes down much easier (p. 171). There is no substitute for those accountable for an organization's performance to put eyes on the delivered product on important occasions (p. 240).

Big programs are one third technical, one third financial, and one hundred percent political (p. 74). When you are in an organization, there's no such thing as a casual conversation with executive leadership, and even getting a burger and a beer can be life changing (p. 132). Age and experience do not always lead to performance (p. 158).

Reading out loud what I've written informs me if my message was clear (p. 24). Macroeconomic and world events do affect all businesses in some way; no one is on an island (p. 190).

Needing help may be a sign of some weakness but asking for, and getting help is a strength (p. 16). I learned a lesson about getting the right kind of support, about properly sequencing activity and being in control. I hate not being in control (p. 104). Don't assume you know the answer. Ask the question and learn (p. 171).

Summary

Quite a leadership journey indeed.

Our team was forced to examine what we were doing and why, in
the context of the demands of the market place. This self-analysis
and consideration are absolutely critical to realizing growth from a
manager of processes which were handed down over the year, to
being a leader capable of inventing and molding processes to
achieve vision and objectives (p. 150). 

Mike Varga generously provided a copy of his book for review.