A Meeting With Summit Speaker Major General Randall Fullhart

Editor’s Note:  Over the next two weeks we’ll be providing some advanced coverage of the GTD Global Summit so that you can get some idea of what to expect (and what those of you foolish enough to miss this event will be missing) as well as whom to expect it from.  Following a brief bio of Major General Randall Fullhart is a summary of a recent meeting the our own Director of Business Development, Phillip Martin, had with the General.  Not only is Major General Fullhart an incredibly accomplished military man, from Phillip’s report he also sounds like quite a guy.  I can’t wait to hear him speak at the Summit.

Maj. Gen. Randal D. “Randy” Fullhart is Director, Global Reach Programs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. As the capability director, General Fullhart is responsible to the Air Force acquisition executive for airlift, air refueling, training and special operations programs.  You can read more of Major General Fullhart’s biography here.

Meeting Details:  Wednesday, Feb 18 from 1:30pm – 2:30pm in his office in Roslyn.

Upon arriving and going through security, I was escorted upstairs to his waiting area. The General walked out into the waiting area to greet me (as opposed to having his assistant usher me into his office…like a lot of high ranking officers and others in business, government, and academia do….this was a big deal to me..very cool and classy on his part)

As I entered his office, he was working at his conference table and had 50+ copies of GTD stacked on it. I loved it! He did too. He was excited for me to see them all. I took his picture with them all (see below) He was getting ready to teach a Leadership course. We had a instantaneous “connection”.

He opened by asking me how I got involved with DAC. I told him the story. We were right across from the Marriott Key Bridge where I first met David and Kathryn on Sept 30.  I shared with him the new outside sales initiative. He asked me about my target audience. I told him of the “three-legged stool”:  Government, Private Sector, and Associations. He loved it and concurred, and added, “I’m surprised you didn’t mention Colleges & Universities.” To which I told him of our pilot under way at Champlain and some of the discussions with Graduate Schools in Business. I told him David has it for now on his “Someday/Maybe” list. General Fullhart is very interested in this sector, and likely will want to talk with David about it in San Francisco.

He is really enthused about speaking at the Summit. He shared with me his outline for his eight minute address. Said he thinks now David has him leading off. “NO pressure”, he remarked laughingly. He said he is most anxious to meet Kathryn.

We then discussed our shared interest in Civil War history and Leadership development. We went back and forth on similar stories of Joshua Chamberlain, Robert E. Lee, and many others. He asked me to send him my “Leadership Lessons from the Civil War” podcasts and a copy of my powerpoint slides on Gettysburg.
He told me about his very close association with Frances Hezzelblein and her work on Leadership. He also likes The Goal   (by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt) and The Effective Executive (by Peter Drucker) both mentioned in his “In Conversation” CD.

He also recommended  Leading in a World That’s Round  (by Robert Greenleaf) He spent 20 minutes drawing out his concept on paper and discussing his views on the new organization charts and communication in leading-edge organizations.

He has a giant ornamental sword on his desk. It must be 4-5 feet long and it is inscribed and engraved with scenes and sayings from Don Quixote. He is very proud of it. It is from his time at the National Security Agency. He offered to speak at some prospect organizations. I have followed up with him and he has already written me.

I am also attaching a Video of a recent interview he did on our local Defense Industry television channel three weeks ago.

Sincerely,

Philip