What led George and Ted Hill to develop the Leadership Strategy?
Where did the insights come from that inspired George to develop the Management Model?

The Greatest Generation

The year was 1943 and World War II was in full swing. George Hill had recently completed his junior year at Allegheny College and answered his country's call by enlisting in the U.S. Army. He was quickly selected for officers’ school and after graduating as a new second Lieutenant he was assigned as an instructor in the officer training school. It was at the officers’ school that George developed a lifelong interest in the concepts of leadership. Why will men follow leaders into sometimes horrific conditions when every instinct says run the other direction? What makes an effective leader? Why will people follow me?

With victory in Europe assured, the US-based training cadres and troops were deployed to the Pacific. George was involved in the Okinawa campaign where he was wounded, received a Purple Heart and a bronze Star for valor.

After the war George was still fascinated by leadership and therefore returned to college and received his Masters degree in industrial psychology. He began his lifelong study of human motivation, individual differences, employee selection methods and leadership.

Vietnam Era

In 1967, George's oldest son Ted received his Masters degree in Organizational Communication and then joined the United States Air Force. Much like his father, he went through Officer Training School and was the only person in his graduation class to be held at the base and assigned as a Senior Training Officer for a Basic Training Squadron. Fifteen minutes after graduation he was in charge of over sixty NCOs, 1600 troops, eighteen buildings and an area over a mile in circumference. Ted says “I vividly remember walking up the sidewalk toward the squadron headquarters and thinking to myself why will they follow me?" It seems he was following in his father's footsteps.

Fortunately Ted had an expert at leadership and management, with military experience, on the other end of the telephone. Ted was later assigned to the prestigious Air University in Montgomery Alabama as an instructor of communication skills. It was at the Air University that he worked with some of the world's leading experts on instructional design and education as well is having an opportunity to lecture at the Air War College, Air Command and Staff School, Squadron Officer School, Allied Officers School and was invited to make presentations with other government agencies including the Army Personnel Association, Agriculture Department, CIA, NSA, and the LBJ school of Public Administration at the University of Texas.

The Pieces Fall into Place

In 1972 Ted decided to literally follow in his father's footsteps, left the U.S. Air Force and joined his dad's consulting firm in Oxford Ohio. The stage was now set to commence a thirty-five year joint effort to define and clearly communicate the principles of leadership, management, and supervision.

The real breakthrough came in 1974. Returning from a client's office, Ted sat in the Hill and Associates conference room and started to diagram how to lead and manage a company. Like so many others, perhaps like you, he felt there had to be a connection between the human side of enterprise and the systems and procedures side. To be successful you have to structure the organization while at the same time consider that you are dealing with people and their feelings. There are fundamental principles of leadership and management but what ties it all together? Ted began to diagram the process and the result was - TOTAL FAILURE! Ted could not figure it out either. Like so many others, he ended up with a complex bunch of boxes and lines that did not make sense.
George came in and looked at this large diagram and said "I have been trying to explain the basic principles of leadership and management for a long time. If we could develop a model that explains how to do it, that would be a real step forward. There is one common denominator; the one thing that ties everything together is that an organization is made up of people. No matter how automated, or small or large there are still people. Let me take a crack at this and I will get back to you."

Two days later George diagramed the Management Model. The basic structure has remained virtually unchanged since the first diagram drawn in Oxford Ohio in 1974. Over the years we have changed a few labels. Instead of the box in the middle being called “Foreman” it is now “Unit Leader”. But the basic model has remained unchanged simply because it works.

George developed the model by starting at the "point of work" and worked backwards. The point of work is where everything comes together. It is the point where the person, the machine, material, tools and methods all meet. To accomplish “work” you need a “worker”. The worker needs the capability to do the work. The "know how" is the result of good job instructional and reporting systems. The worker also needs a positive attitude to want to do the work. The "want to" is a result of good personal informational and listening systems. If there is more work than one person can do then you need the "workers" and as soon as you have several workers then you need a supervisor or unit leader. These unit leaders can only be effective if they have systems to accomplish their jobs. This means the senior management or business owner, needs to define the systems and procedures that address both "know how" and the "want to". Organizational leadership needs to define clearly who does what and how to a standard of performance as well as define how the organization is going to treat people. To define these you need to know what your overall goal and objectives are and what your priorities are going to be.

George developed the Model by starting at the point of work although we start at the other end when we present the model. We start with the organizational goal and work our way down through the objectives, the systems, unit leader and communication systems until we end up at the point of work.

At first George and Ted did not fully explain to clients exactly how the system worked. When asked, George would say "it is Magic" and implied they should just keep paying him.

Later they did fully explain the Model to the clients in workshops where the model was utilized to teach them the entire Leadership Strategy system that smoothed out operations and improved profits.

It was quickly discovered that the same principles worked in banks and hospitals. An organization did not have to make something in order for the system to work.

The Management Model became the centerpiece of George and Ted's consulting practices since all of the specific projects that they accomplished fit into the overall model. In fact everything that an organization does is related to some part of the model because the model is a universal construct that explains how to successfully lead and manage an organization.

The Secret Model

In 1986 longtime client Rubbermaid wanted to implement corporate wide employee selection systems and productivity improvement programs in their manufacturing plants and asked Ted to join the corporate staff on a full-time basis to accomplish what he had been doing with the company as a consultant.
Ted used the Management Model as his template for implementing improvements in the twenty-six manufacturing plants but never explained the Model to most Rubbermaid executives. A new corporate vice president once asked the chairman "What does Ted do?" The chairman replied "We do not fully understand what Ted does. All we know is he implements some sort of selection and training systems in the manufacturing plants and the numbers get better."

George “Retires”

In the early1990s George, now in his late 60s, decided to retire and sold his four major businesses.

Retirement is a relative term in George's case. In his 70s he spent a year turning around a very well known consumer products company allowing it to be sold to a group of English investors and he spent another year reorganizing a large steel company on the East Coast. During these projects he continued to utilize the Management Model and Leadership Strategy to deal with these significant corporate challenges.

The 21st Century

In the early years if the 21st Century George and recently retired son Ted launched an extensive multiyear program to build a curriculum based on the proven principles of fifty years of applied management experience. George reached for people he knew who had been managers, had done consulting and had experience in the development of training and education programs. Under the leadership of George and Ted, they built the Focused Management Leadership Strategy to provide leaders a roadmap to managing their organizations. Using the Management Model as a core they developed a Leadership Strategy that was transparent, universal, effective, results oriented, and leadership focused. The Focused Management program makes the term "management" visible. While many programs excel at specific management topics, the Management Model shows how all management elements fit together, providing managers a solid foundation for running their organizations.

George and Ted spent their time perfecting the art of management so you do not have to. For thirty-five years they limited the Leadership Strategy and the Management Model to a select few. Now these two veterans are prepared to share their knowledge and insight with those who, like them, want to truly impact organizations.

You are invited to join them in their lifelong quest to implement better leadership and management.