[April 17, 2019] The 10-man squad of recruits was crawling through mud and under barbed wire while being continuously screamed at by U.S. Army Drill Sergeant Bryant. If the recruit failed to complete the obstacle course within the allotted 20 minutes, he had to start over. Sergeant Bryant was politely telling everyone that his job was to make… Read More »
[April 16, 2019] One of the most powerful lessons in military leadership tells us that the best leaders are those that are visible and accessible. On the battlefield or the assembly line or the boardroom, those leaders who can be seen, heard, and talked to, will always be the most successful. As a Private in the U.S. Army,… Read More »
[April 15, 2019] I was in the Rayburn Building in Washington D.C. this past week visiting members of Congress. The variety of political philosophy, ideology, and backgrounds was surprising to me. What I discovered, however, was that each elected member of Congress that I spoke to were exceptionally likable. “Some people are inherently likable. If you’re not –… Read More »
[April 12, 2019] When Mongol leader Genghis Khan and his armies swept across central Asia and China, his brutal leadership style was necessary to effect the subjugation of millions. The current wisdom is that leadership styles have dramatically changed since then, as have the conditions of leadership. Yet, perhaps the change is less than we might think. Extraordinary… Read More »
[April 11, 2019] As a kid, I had a cousin named Carter (not his real name) who had all the greatest toys, but he would never share them with us. My brother, sister, and I were quick to learn that not sharing made Carter unlikeable and that meant no one would play with him. Learning what not to… Read More »
[April 10, 2019] Operation Desert Storm was a quick and decisive war against Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi army. Ejecting them from Kuwait in 1991 was to be the first foreign crisis since the end of the Cold War. But in the end, units came back to the U.S. broken. Many commanders had failed in their responsibility to… Read More »
[April 8, 2019] When I was 5 (or maybe 6) years old, my parents gave me a toy pistol and holster set based on the television series Have Gun – Will Travel. Richard Boone starred as an Old West professional gunfighter called Paladin, in this series that ran from 1957 to 1963. I watched it with my family… Read More »
[April 7, 2019] The old and grizzled Sergeant Major, Korea and Vietnam War veteran, was talking last week with a group of young college students. Just out of luck, I happened by and overheard that gravelly voice one would expect from such a man. He was giving them some basic advice; to get respect, you must be willing… Read More »
[April 6, 2019] If I were a philosopher, I would write that ‘the world is full of tragedy, chaos, misery, and at the same time, full of wonder.’ But alas, that is not the case. Even I can see that the world is a place of action; not of things. That is why leadership is the fulcrum on… Read More »
[April 4, 2019] It was late summer 1983, and I’d been on a training exercise with the U.S. Army for nearly three weeks. The heat, humidity, bugs, and dirt had taken its toll on us (that was the idea). The Captain leading us told me to dig in a new foxhole near our unit’s flank. After getting it… Read More »