[March 24, 2018] Just this past week the personal assistant to the President of the United States, John McEntee, was unceremoniously walked out of the White House and fired from his job.1 The reason given was that his security clearance could not be approved. Also, White House advisor Jared Kushner’s clearance was downgraded.2 The processes for obtaining and… Read More »
[March 23, 2018] I grew up in the Deep South and knew just about everybody in the small town my family lived in. The local sheriff was a good man but to me, he was just another adult. Later I discovered that he was actually a town hero because years before I was born he had stood at… Read More »
[March 22, 2018] Just ask for help. That was what my best friend told me just as we kicked off into the ground attack on Saddam Hussein’s army in Iraq. He was saying that if I was in trouble that no matter where I was if I asked for his help, he would do everything he could to… Read More »
[March 21, 2018] I have a Type A personality. I’m always highly competitive, habitually early to every event, some even say a workaholic. Like me, many of my close military friends had the habit of never being late to anything. We believed that if you’re on time, you’re late. This personality trait made it impossible for us to… Read More »
[March 19, 2018] It’s been said that American culture encourages us to be so self-centered that just about anything we do for ourselves is acceptable – overindulge no problem; disrespect others, they deserved it; don’t finish school, okay. One thing we do know about American society is that three-quarters of us are also unfit to join the military.1,2… Read More »
[March 18, 2018] Last year I began a new blog thread to give a brief summary of leadership topics I like but could not get into sufficient detail. The clearing the spindle post today focuses leader morality. Settling scores: a lesson in revenge. When I was a kid, if another boy tripped me on purpose, I was likely… Read More »
[March 16, 2018] This past weekend I had the chance to camp out with a troop of Boy Scouts in one our state parks. As a “winter campout” it focused on how to properly dress for the cold, hygiene, diet, and sleeping warm. What I was to discover is that our new scout leaders made common leadership mistakes… Read More »
[March 15, 2018] If you plan to be an effective and respected leader then there is one skill that is a must for you. Great leaders are those who back-up what they say with action! This goes beyond telling the truth – obviously a crucial trait – but a leader must also demonstrate that their talk is more… Read More »
[March 14, 2018] Early in my childhood I was given a precious piece of advice from my maternal grandmother (“Bigmama,” yes, that what we called her). Bigmama said that the people around us have a power over us that can be either good or bad. Therefore, it is a person’s option to choose your associations in life but… Read More »
[March 13, 2018] Like many “older” college students returning to school, there was a small group of us who were going back from the Army. As enlisted members of the U.S. military, we had been selected to complete a college degree toward commissioning as officers. But each of us had made crucial errors in our assumptions about the… Read More »