Leadership Achieving Life-Changing Success from Within

From the most humble beginnings -- growing up in the 1950s with nine siblings in a single-parent, one-story home in Hot Springs, Arkansas -- Alford L. McMichael rose to the highest rank an enlisted Marine can achieve: From 1999 to 2003, he was the USMC's 14th Sergeant Major, and the fi rst African American to attain the position. Now, with down-to-earth practicality and an engaging anecdotal style, Sergeant Major McMichael shares how the morals, work ethic, and self-discipline taught to him in the hard times of his dirt-poor Southern childhood took him to the top of his fi eld and made him one of the most respected and valued leaders of our time. Practice dinner table values...Find your compass...Rely on intelligence over emotion...Prepare so you can prosper...Impress yourself first...Give power to your people...Lead from the heart...These are among the pragmatic and distinctive kernels of wisdom McMichael imparts in Leadership. Whatever your walk in life, they are the foundation for making great things happen. Are you ready to experience the phenomenal results when you ask the best of yourself and of those around you?

Sergeant Major Alford L. McMichael enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1970 and served his country for more than thirty-six years. He was appointed the 14th sergeant major of the USMC on June 30, 1999. In 2003, he became the first sergeant major ever to serve as the sergeant major to the Allied Supreme Commander of NATO. Among his countless other accomplishments he has, most recently, been appointed to the American Veteran Steering Committee, where he is working to improve the quality of life for young veterans of the United States Armed Forces. He and his wife reside in northern Virginia.