Timothy Lupfer entered West Point at the age of 17 in 1968, and four years later he graduated first in his class. In the Army, he served in various combat-ready units in the US and Germany, and he attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1990 and 1991 he commanded a tank battalion (over 700 soldiers and 58 M1A1 Abrams tanks) in combat in Desert Storm. After retiring from the army in 1992, he entered business, first as an executive at R.H. Macy and Company, then became a management consultant and ultimately retired as a Managing Director in Deloitte Consulting in 2011. Tim now spends his time speaking, writing, and chasing his grandchildren.
Jake Carlson | Podcaster | Speaker | Leadership Mentor
Teaching Yourself to Teach Yourself
Top Takeaways: Teaching Yourself to Teach Yourself with Timothy Lupfer
- High school is the most formative and important time of our lives
- Service academies are more a marathon than a sprint- a experience in endurance
- Cooperate and graduate
- 32 Rhodes Scholars from the US every year
- It taught me to teach myself. That was the most important skill I got out of it
- It was an honor to take command of a tank battalion during Desert Storm
- The work life, whether in business or battle is reality
- What would you do if every person in your organization was armed?
- Part of my concern was to keep everybody healthy and safe
- The responsibility is constantly there
- The responsibility you feel never lets up
- You don’t know when something big is going to happen
- You do things very methodically, you follow instructions
- The vast majority of what we do is not life or death
- Character counts and character doesn’t change when the situation becomes more dire
- We try to influence people all the time, influence is not leadership, it can be a part of it
- 3 things leaders do: 1) Leaders give direction
- 3 things leaders do: 2) Leaders demonstrate capabilities
- 3 things leaders do: 3) Leaders embody character
- You have to have the ability to give direction and demonstrate ability
- Character is an embedded quality
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Jake Carlson | Podcaster | Speaker | Leadership Mentor
Teaching Yourself to Teach Yourself
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Learning From Leaders:
Current Book: Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life, 1876-1915 by Thomas J. Schlereth
Leadership Superpower: Character
Motivational Mantra:
[shareable cite=”Jethro (Moses’s Father in Law: Bible)”]Select men who are able and have character[/shareable]
Additional Items Mentioned
Leadership Tough Love: Examining Leaders Through the Lens of Reality by Timothy Lupfer
Tim’s Website: timothytlupfer.com
