[June 30, 2014] As a new Platoon Leader in the U.S. Army infantry, the men were always comparing me to the previous leader. And oh, that leader did not do so very well. The comparisons were usually unflattering and frankly I was not too happy about it. It took a year before I was accepted for who I… Read More »
[June 30, 2014] Leaders know that communication is one of the most important senior leadership characteristics one can possess. Great leaders, personally, have vast communication talents. Yet, they also have the ability to ensure their message is pushed throughout the organization, without unnecessary distortion. The best leaders also go to great lengths to avoid sending mixed signals. Nothing… Read More »
[June 29, 2014] It was inevitable that someone would get around to calling the U.S. Army racist and a slur for naming its helicopters after American Indians. While it is true that the Army has done so since at least the 1960s as noted in an earlier post (link here), it was done with the consent of the… Read More »
[June 29, 2014] A small group of 10-year old boys from northern Louisiana collected empty “coke” bottles to exchange for 2 cents each back in the early 1960s. My two friends and I would spend Saturdays scouring our small, no-traffic-light town for coke empties. This was my first memory of Coca Cola. We would each, maybe, make enough… Read More »
[June 28, 2014] Shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, U.S. military engineers quickly discovered that most city utility systems were “broke”. The state of disrepair had nothing to do with the invasion or the international sanctions on the country. All of the city utilities had serious problems due to a near total lack of maintenance for… Read More »
[June 28, 2014] I was always awed by the U.S. Army Drill Sergeants that got me through basic combat training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. It was not just their ability to focus on teaching us trainees the right way to be a combat soldier, but their ability to stay focused. Never in my adult life had I witnessed… Read More »
[June 27, 2014] The newly published American Legion Magazine1 does a good job of addressing the nation-wide VA scandal involving veteran health care. Quoting and agreeing with a Florida Congressman, the bigger problem is accountability, “a culture shift that needs to be made.”2 While they are right, it is not exactly clear what they really mean by the… Read More »
[June 27, 2014] A well-known characteristic of great senior leaders is a thick-skinned personality. This is only possible when the leader is one that possesses extensive, broadly-based, and relevant experiences. Yet, this does not necessarily mean the leader is arrogant or uncaring. In the best of leaders, being thick-skinned means also being humble and optimistic. Being thick skinned… Read More »
[June 26, 2014] Looking over the Berlin wall in 1975 was something that my friends and I in VII U.S. Army Corps will never forget. After traveling to Berlin at night by train from Stuttgart in West Germany, we were told to memorize the area we were assigned to study. What none of us knew, perhaps due to… Read More »
[June 26, 2014] We have discussed many leader traits here, most of them essential for the successful leader. Yet, rarely discussed in theLeaderMaker.com or in leadership literature is the fact that leaders must be tested in order to be at their best. This testing must be on-going, not necessarily every moment, but testing is frequent. Leaders are resilient.… Read More »