[December 5, 2018] About a year after the U.S. invasion of Panama, my engineer unit was sent into country to rebuild some destroyed structures and road networks. When we arrived there was an Engineer Captain who had been on site since the invasion. We were warned that he was going native and that we should be careful when… Read More »
[December 3, 2018] About ten years ago, a little-known book made a splash in business management circles. The reason, I believe, was because the book’s theme was that managers must learn to be leaders if they plan on getting anything of value accomplished. Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles wrote the book titled, “Gung Ho! Turn on the People… Read More »
[November 30, 2018] One of my jobs as a 14-year old teenager, and where I learned many lessons, was taking out the trash at a local restaurant. David Hackworth once said that “It’s human nature to start taking things for granted when danger isn’t banging loudly on the door.” That’s exactly the way it was one day when… Read More »
[November 28, 2018] Many years ago I was writing one of my first evaluations of a junior officer. Before I started, my boss gave me some advice; “Don’t use words that are overtly critical. Use ‘bland’ language. We will know what it means.” In other words, in the military we use coded language that says one thing but… Read More »
[November 26, 2018] With the upcoming holiday season and the time of giving, I thought it appropriate to once again address the topic that real leaders create goodwill. They create it year round. The benefits are well known and it typically takes little effort to make it happen. The benefits for a leader are straightforward. Goodwill encourages loyalty,… Read More »
[November 24, 2018] The idea that leadership is a sacred trust is not new. Because the meaning is so broad, there is a lack of clarity. What does it mean when we say that leadership is a sacred trust? Is this a religious statement? “It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”… Read More »
[November 16, 2018] It has been said that any war that is undertaken by a nation, cannot be won without spies. Spies provide us with an in-depth understanding of the enemy and allow us to ferret out how the enemy attacks us covertly. Today, I’ll highlight a small group of spies that penetrated the interworkings of British intelligence… Read More »
[November 19, 2018] In large commercial companies today there is a question going around that asks, “What are the basics elements of leadership?” In other words, is there some sort of minimum requirement or core competency for a person to succeed as a leader? In my opinion, yes, there are some core things leaders must be able to… Read More »
[November 16, 2018] A senior U.S. Navy admiral once told me that he wished for a penny for every time sailors told him that they were ‘just following orders.’ Usually, it was after some major blunder where things had gone terribly wrong and they were trying to make-up an excuse for their failure. I was just following orders… Read More »
[November 15, 2018] Much is to be learned from war whether we want to admit it or not. Now that we are at the 100th anniversary of the end of the “Great War,” most citizens remain reluctant to revisit the horror so that we may learn valuable lessons. One lesson is that great leaders do not lead from… Read More »