People do their best work for leaders they trust. Not for leaders they fear.
A note from the founder.
In the infantry, our motto is two words: Follow me.
I spent 13 years in the Wisconsin Army National Guard, all of them in the 32nd Red Arrow. My unit deployed to Iraq in 2005, part of the Red Arrow's first combat deployments since World War II.
I am the infantry. You will find us at the front of the fight. We lead from the front. We set the example. We set the standard. That is what we work for. That is what we fight for.
Later, running maintenance, I learned the other half. If my guys had the right tools, the right parts and what they needed to be successful every day, they knocked out the work, and I was successful because they were.
Most companies are very good at training the technical side. Almost none coach the character it takes to lead. Red Arrow works on that gap: servant leadership at the core, a method for relationships that hold up, and prevention over firefighting, coached on the floor with the people who run it.
Jacob VandenPlas
Founder, Red Arrow Leadership Group
Where the name comes from.
Red Arrow is the 32nd Infantry Division: Wisconsin and Michigan National Guard soldiers, brought together in 1917. Its patch is a line shot through with a red arrow, for breaking through every enemy line it faced.
The firm carries the name for what the patch stands for: lead from the front, set the example, set the standard.
- 1917
Two states, one division.
Wisconsin and Michigan National Guard units are brought together as the 32nd Division and trained in Texas for the war in France.
- 1918
The arrow through the line.
In France the division breaks through German defenses, the Hindenburg Line among them. The French call it Les Terribles.
- 1942–45
654 days of combat.
New Guinea, Leyte and Luzon: more days of combat than any other U.S. Army division in World War II. General Yamashita surrenders to the Red Arrow in September 1945.
- 1961
Called up for Berlin.
Mobilized during the Berlin Crisis, the division trains at Fort Lewis, Washington, for ten months.
- 2004–05
Iraq.
Red Arrow battalions deploy for Operation Iraqi Freedom, their first combat deployments since World War II. Jacob's unit deploys in 2005.
- Today
Still on the shoulder.
Wisconsin's 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team carries the Red Arrow and its history.
Red Arrow Leadership Group is a private company. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Army or the Wisconsin National Guard.
Plain facts, no promises.
Based in Wisconsin.
We work with manufacturers, factories, warehouses and service businesses across the region.
On your floor.
Training happens on your site and around your shifts, with the people who actually run them.
Follow-up, not a certificate.
We meet consistently, and every session starts by checking how the last one was put to use. Without the follow-up, training turns into a feather in someone's cap.
An honest first answer.
The first conversation is to find out whether we are a fit. If we are not, we will say so.