Patrick Ungashick: Lessons in Leadership Alignment and Culture from Omaha Beach to the Boardroom

About Patrick Ungashick: Patrick Ungashick is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and CEO with over 30 years of experience advising business owners and executive teams on leadership, growth, and exit strategy. As the founder of NAVIX Consultants, he has guided hundreds of companies through successful exits, representing more than $2.5 billion in enterprise value. His latest book, A Day for Leadership, distills timeless leadership lessons from the D-Day invasion into practical insights for today’s executives navigating pressure and uncertainty. A frequent keynote speaker and workshop leader, Patrick helps leaders elevate their decision-making and build aligned, high-performing teams. 

In this episode, Dan and Patrick Ungashick discuss:

• The importance of leadership and team alignment in business success
• Strategies and challenges around building high-performing teams
• Insights into creating effective business exit strategies
• Drawing lessons from historical military operations to guide modern leadership

Key Takeaways:

• Business leaders who shift their mindset from building a great company to building a great team will achieve greater, more scalable, and more sustainable results because empowered teams are the ones who create lasting value.
• The true value and long-term viability of a business—especially in the context of a sale or succession—rests heavily on the strength, cohesion, and alignment of its leadership team, not just financial metrics or market share.
• A powerful way for leaders to evaluate the health and potential of their team is to regularly ask themselves whether they would enthusiastically rehire each member today based on current cultural alignment, future needs, and individual contribution.
• The story of General Clarence Huebner’s transformation of a fractured, insular military unit into a cohesive, mission-ready force before the D-Day invasion shows that with urgency, clarity, and the right leadership approach, even deeply entrenched cultures can be rebuilt under extreme pressure. 

"The business leader’s primary responsibility is not to go build a great company, but to build a great team, and then the team builds that great company." — Patrick Ungashick

Connect with Patrick Ungashick: 

Website: https://www.patrickungashick.com/ & https://www.navixconsultants.com/

Book: A Day For Leadership: https://www.amazon.com/Day-Leadership-Business-Insights-Executives/dp/1639081240/

Download a secret chapter, The Hapless 90th Case Study, and get an interactive Team Leader’s Guide for productive team discussions now: https://www.patrickungashick.com/#leadership

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickungashick

Connect with Dan Hollis: 

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