Robert Mixon, Level Five Associates, on All-In Adaptive Leadership, the Big Six Principles, and Building Cultures of Commitment (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 963)
In this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray welcomes Major General (Ret.) Robert Mixon, owner of Level Five Associates, to discuss what he calls All-In Adaptive Leadership and how it applies to businesses and organizations navigating today’s environment of what Robert describes as “raging uncertainty.”
Robert draws on 33 years of Army service, including time on General Colin Powell’s personal staff, as well as subsequent corporate and nonprofit leadership roles, to make the case that too many organizations are trapped in cultures of compliance, where people do what they are told and nothing more. The alternative is a culture of commitment, where team members embrace the organization’s mission as their own. He walks through his Big Six principles for getting there: setting the azimuth (defining mission, intent, values, and cultural behaviors), listening with the intent to understand, trusting and empowering people, doing the right thing when no one is looking, taking charge with calm rather than noise, and balancing energy across the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental dimensions.
One of the more concrete tools Robert shares is the back brief, a discipline adapted from his military experience in which meeting participants summarize what they heard before leaving the room. He also shares two memorable stories: a turnaround at a company where internal promotion rates climbed from under 20% to 65% and turnover dropped from above 30% to under 10%, and an automotive technician who, when asked about his day, said he had made nine families’ lives safer. That technician, Robert says, exemplified the culture of commitment in action.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is produced by John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, and is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- Robert’s Big Six principles for All-In Adaptive Leadership begin with “setting the azimuth,” which means defining the organization’s mission, intent, values, and the specific behaviors that bring those values to life so teams have a fixed reference point when chaos increases.
- The back brief, borrowed from military practice, is a meeting discipline where participants state back what they heard before leaving the room. Robert argues it dramatically reduces costly do-overs and miscommunication that erode profitability.
- A culture of commitment is not built quickly. Robert’s experience puts the timeline at roughly two years, and the results show up in measurable form: retention rates, internal promotion rates, reduced waste, and customer loyalty.
- When leaders respond to mistakes with “What did we learn?” rather than “What were you thinking?” they signal that the organization is a learning environment rather than a blaming one, and that shift is foundational to earning genuine buy-in.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:20 John Ray introduces the show and welcomes Robert Mixon
01:55 Robert Mixon describes his work with executives and teams at Level Five Associates
02:51 Robert’s 33 years of Army service and how it informs his leadership work today
05:33 The distinction between a culture of compliance and a culture of commitment
08:11 The characteristics of “raging uncertainty” and how leaders tend to respond
10:39 Why leading yourself is the first step, and the role of a personal leadership philosophy
11:16 What All-In Adaptive Leadership means
12:27 The Big Six principles: Set the Azimuth, Listen, Trust and Empower, Do the Right Thing, Take Charge, Balance
22:20 The back brief as a practical tool for improving meeting discipline and communication
25:02 The Aetna turnaround story and what it illustrates about building cultures of commitment
28:20 Meeting discipline, doing things on time, and measuring values as behaviors
31:37 Symptoms that signal it is time to call Robert for executive coaching or team workshops
34:43 A success story: turnover cut from 30% to under 10%, internal promotion rate reaching 65%
Robert Mixon, Owner, Level Five Associates
At the time of his retirement from the Army in 2007, Major General (Ret.) Robert W. Mixon, Jr. was Commanding General, Division West, First Army and Fort Carson, Colorado, having previously commanded the 7th Infantry Division. Throughout his career of over 30 years of active service, he commanded armor and cavalry units at every level, including platoon, company, battalion, and brigade. Robert also held critical staff positions, including serving as deputy executive assistant to General Colin Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Prior to his assumption of command of the 7th Infantry Division, he led the Army’s Task Force Modularity, an integrated team of highly skilled military and civilian experts chartered with changing the Army’s force design while at war.
After retirement, Robert transitioned to Magnatag Visible Systems in Macedon, New York, as its President. In 2009, he became Executive Vice President of CDS Monarch, a 501(c)(3) based in Webster, New York, providing life and job transition for over 1,500 people with developmental disabilities, and he helped found the Warrior Salute Program for Veterans with PTSD and TBI. He and his wife moved to Melbourne, Florida, in 2020.
The co-author of Amazon Number 1 best seller Cows in the Living Room: Developing an Effective Strategic Plan and Sustaining It (2014) and author of Amazon Best New Release We’re All In: The Journey to a World-Class Culture (2017), Robert Mixon is an active blogger publishing bi-weekly videos and blogs and has taught leadership in executive education programs at the Olin Business School of Washington University at St. Louis and the Cox Business School, Southern Methodist University. For seven consecutive years he has been selected for the Teaching Excellence Award at SMU. In December 2023, he published his latest book, The Power of Being All In: Why Today’s Transformative Times Demand Transformational Leadership, which immediately became an Amazon #1 bestseller in five leadership categories.
Level Five Associates
Level Five Associates shows organizations how to drive results and turn team members into All-In adaptive leaders and actual stakeholders who embrace their company and perform their responsibilities as though they were the company’s owners. Through keynote addresses, “Big 6” workshops, and executive coaching sessions, Robert provides sought-after tools used by business leaders who seek to rise to a higher level of functioning in their work and throughout their lives.
About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray
Approaching 1,000 episodes and having featured over 1,400 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!
The show invites a diverse range of business, non-profit, and community leaders to share their significant contributions to their respective markets, communities, and professions. There is no discrimination based on company size, and there is never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates businesses by sharing positive stories that traditional media ignore. Some media lean left. Some media lean right. We lean business.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. John and the team at North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, produce the show, which is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
The studio is located at 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.
You can find the entire archive of shows by following this link. The show is accessible on all major podcast apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.
John Ray also operates his own business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
John is the author of the five-star-rated book The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices, praised by readers for its practical insights on raising confidence, value, and prices.
