Vinny Boles Headshot
Report a problem with this profile
[email protected]

Vinny Boles    

Retired Major General, Leadership & Team Development Expert

Major General Vincent Boles, USA (Ret.) was commissioned from the ARMY ROTC program at Niagara University as a Distinguished Military Graduate in 1976. He has served in a variety of assignments over a 33 year career, to include Command at every possible level and a number of combat deployments.

His final Army assignment was as the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, G4 on the Army Staff in the Pentagon, where he oversaw Logistics Operations and Readiness for the 1.1 million Soldier force to include the surges into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Retiring in 2009 to Madison, Alabama, he established Vincent E. Boles, Inc., a leadership and logistics consulting practice. He’s been speaking and working with corporate and association groups around the nation and overseas, coaching them on the subject of teams’ “Best Getting Better”. His audiences have included: Deloitte, Fidelity, USAA, Ernst and Young, AIG, The United States Secret Service, The Boy Scouts of America and The American College.

He is the author of “4-3-2-1 Leadership…What America’s Sons and Daughters Taught Me on the Road from 2d Lieutenant to 2 Star General.” Now in its 3rd printing, a recent reviewer commented:

“He didn’t write this book exclusively for the military audience and he does us all a great service by putting these leadership lessons into one volume and sharing them.”

In 2011 he was inducted in the US Army Ordnance Corps and Niagara University ROTC Halls of Fame. He serves as an adjunct professor of Leadership and Logistics at the University of Alabama Huntsville and the Defense Acquisition University – South.

Speech Topics


Leadership - That Tool That Lies Between “Juggling” and “Magic”

“Juggling” is a verb defined by the Merriam dictionary as: “To keep several objects in motion in the air at the same time by repeatedly throwing and catching them”

Merriam defines “magic” as a noun, specifically: “a power that allows people to do impossible things by saying special words or performing special actions”

“Leadership” is that topic that, alphabetically, finds itself between these two, and often is confused with these two. As evidenced by these questions and replies often asked of and heard from leaders: “What are you doing? I’m just keeping balls in the air” or; “how did we make that happen? Magic”

Bringing his 40 years of military, business expertise and presentations to groups around the globe ranging from 40 to 4,000; Major General Vincent “Vinny” Boles provides a lens to view your (and your teams) leadership practices, processes and actions along with a structure to ensure they are consciously and proactively providing the maximum value added to any organization’s most precious resource it’s human capital

You’ll learn:

-The five things to ensure your team learns upfront and early. To include: what your job isn’t; spot checks vs inspections; management doesn’t equal leadership; when to (and when not to micromanage); understanding the challenge of change.

-How to really help those you lead. Specifically: when do you smile?; coaching and counseling in 15 minutes; handling “news” (good and bad) to ensure your “best gets better”; The two aspects critical in every job interview; feedback, giving it as a gift, receiving it as a present.

-How to really help yourself be a better leader: Including: four things you have to do every day (and what happens when you don’t); Don’t learn from experience; The model to manage your meetings; work life balance is an equation (balance is a function of how you use your 24 hours, on important or urgent tasks); the most important thing a leader can do

You and your team will leave with reality based, “battle tested” tools to ensure they stop wondering if they are “juggling” or “magically” having things happen to making the best things happen and in the process being the best they can be for themselves and your organization.

Leveraging The Links In Your Supply Chain

Drawing on his 33 years as a career soldier and logistician at every level, Major General Boles will walk through the links in the worlds largest and most complex supply chain from the port to the Pentagon and highlight 4 critical issues that will snag/kink your supply chain:

  • Standards you use.
  • Systems you put in place to attain those standards.
  • Who is in charge of your standards, your systems? ...the critical intersecting points.
  • Metrics: Leading, Lagging . . .what and how you measure. Providing real world examples of what worked, what didnt work and why, Major General Boles will lay out a real world depiction of a supply chain in motion. You and your team will have "news you can use" to better optimize your supply chain, whether across town or around the globe.

Leading In A Crisis: Tough Times Dont Build Character...They Reveal It...How will You Handle Your Crisis?

Six weeks before the attacks of September 11, 2001, Major General Boles was a Colonel waiting to pin on his first star and assume the leadership of the Armys Field Support Command. On 9-11 the units focus went from planning to executing contingencies on a 24/7 basis that none had foreseen. You and your team will discuss:

  • What occurs to your organization in a crisis...how is it different?
  • The impact on your facilities, logistics, and your people.
  • What the impact is on your leaders.
  • How you set the conditions to absorb the crisis before it hits. Chock full of real examples. Your team will leave with a new-found focus and a "we can do this" attitude. They will better prepare your organization to "be prepared."

4-3-2-1 Leadership....Tools You Can Use Now!

Leaders today dont require "help" that sounds good in a PowerPoint presentation and fades under the heat and pressure of reality. They need tools that hold up when the stakes are high so that they can be better practitioners of their leadership craft. Using his 33 years of experience in leading Americas sons and daughters and providing the right support in the toughest conditions, Major General Boles delivers to your team 10 time and battle tested tools that they can begin using right now to ensure their "best gets better." Specifically the: 4 expectations teams have of leaders. 3 critical questions leaders need to ask AND answer. 2 reasons for stress in teams. 1 truth to never forget when leading.

Leadership- Make it Your Competitive Advantage

In this new reality of ever fluid change and competitive pressure, organizations have no "extra" people and no "free" time. So how do you maximize the people and time you do have? With leadership, leadership that empowers every teammate with the knowledge and skills to own their piece of their organization. Everyone in your organization is impacted by leadership, it is truly a "core competency" and in this ever adapting competitive environment this competency must be continuously developed. The days of the leader as the font of all knowledge; the "burning bush" of wisdom are passe. What is needed today are organizations that empower their teams to engage more than their hands on a project, there is a need to engage their spirits and their minds as well. Where everyone in the organization helps lead the organization to it's success.

Related Speakers View all


More like Vinny