Flying Spirit: A Leader's Guide to Creating Great Organizations

FLYING SPIRIT is a practical, no-nonsense guide to building a highly spirited organization that recognizes people as the prime value. It will help you create teams with extraordinary understanding, trust, and shared mission. FLYING SPIRIT is all about values -- vision -- mission -- teamwork and the human element. These are the issues that spell the difference between success, mediocrity, and failure. FLYING SPIRIT had its genesis when the author commanded a fighter squadron in England, France, and Belgium at the time of the Normandy invasion. Its methods have been successfully applied to large and small private and public sector organizations. One startup client grew from $600,000 annual revenues and eight people to $60 million and 130 people in just eight years!

Hal Shook has proven his organization-building genius in the phenomenal success of a number of people-centered, highly spirited organizations. His methods have turned one startup company into an industry leader in computer technology services, with a 55 percent annual growth rate over ten years ($60 million-plus annual revenues in 1997). A pioneer in life management and career planning, Hal is president and cofounder, with his wife Marilyn, of Life Management Services, LLC, a consulting firm concentrated in the greater Washington, D.C. area and North Carolina. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and holds graduate degrees from George Washington University and the National War College. He first learned his core leadership principles as the commander of a World War II fighter squadron before, during, and after the D-Day landing. He later commanded Air Force units numbering 300 (fighter squadron) to 5000 (air division) people.

The 506th Fighter Squadron Combat History of October 1944 said of him: "Maj. Shook was, in the opinion of the men who flew with him and other officers and men in the squadron, the finest Commanding Officer they had ever been associated with. Without a doubt the finest fighter pilot, best navigator and all-around leader, he was tops as a C.O. In "Shooky" the pilots had an ideal leader they would follow anywhere. All officers and enlisted men exerted special effort because Shook wished something done and not because he ordered it done."

During his command of the 506th, Hal Shook was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 19 Oak Leaf clusters, a Presidential Unit Citation, the Belgium Croix De Guerre with Palm, and the Belgium Fourregere. He also holds the Commendation Medal with cluster and the Legion of Merit. He flew 105 combat missions.

Co-author Allen Overmyer is a former Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. Among his assignments, he served in Israel during the 1973 war and as a political advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander at the NATO military headquarters in Belgium. As a consultant he recently developed a telecommunications management training program for China, under the auspices of the 18-nation community, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. He graduated from Yale and holds graduate degrees in journalism from Northwestern and in comparative literature from the University of Maryland. He is co-author of Congress in Action and lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Adele, and gazelle-like Springer Spaniel.