[November 30, 2016] Whenever people talk about important leadership traits, they never fail to mention intelligence as a key component in making leaders successful. Just like honesty and courage, intelligence always finds a place as a crucial component of leadership. Yet anyone who owns a dog and has had their dog around others know that even dogs (and… Read More »
[November 28, 2016] One of the most iconic and crucial meetings between senior leaders happened on this date, November 28, 1943 and was located in Tehran, Iraq. The leader conference was to set the stage in strategizing for the defeat of Nazi Germany and ultimately the Japanese Empire during World War II. An undervalued method for senior leaders… Read More »
[November 27, 2016] During World War II, one of the strategies employed by the Allies against Nazi Germany was the bombing and sabotage of ball-bearing factories. The idea was to grind to a halt their highly effective armored forces which depended upon those ball-bearings. Today we see something similar as the U.S. strategically targets the Islamic State’s (IS)… Read More »
[November 25, 2016] I’m always amazed at the number of people I meet that use the excuse that they can’t do it (just name the behavior) for any number of reasons. When leaders tell me they can’t do something it is especially shocking and frustrating. I come from a “can do” military culture and while the military may… Read More »
[November 23, 2016] In the meeting halls of various veteran organizations there are old men telling war stories to other men; sometimes boorish, always boring, often brash. That’s the stereotype anyway and yet my take is that there are actually good tales being told … if we only are willing to listen with an open mind. It’s difficult… Read More »
[November 21, 2016] I remember the military order clearly like it was yesterday. As one of the senior U.S. Army engineers in Iraq, I was used to getting unusual requests but this one was different because it came directly from General Petraeus, Commander of the entire combat force. The order? Build enough barracks, headquarters structures, dining facilities, utilities,… Read More »
[November 20, 2016] There are many reasons that the Democrats lost in the 2016 elections that saw U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans elected. I don’t plan to discuss them here but it is worth mentioning that it has been long said that the Democrats had few real choices to put up for the presidential race. In… Read More »
[November 18, 2016] When soldiers complain, we are told, that means they trust you as a leader to help them. This was not to be the case when our commander one day told us to keep quiet about the poor quality of services provided by an army contractor. We were told that it was none of our business… Read More »
[November 17, 2016] Leaders are trained to be and experienced in being proactive; aggressively pursuing missions, tasks, and goals is expected and good. Inaction is shunned like Joan of Arc who was burned at the stake in 1431. Great leadership means patience and knowing when to employ the precise timing of rare, aggressive action. “Patience is not an… Read More »
[November 16, 2016] Most people that I know from Europe or the Americas care nothing about the city of Mosul, the on-going war in Iraq, or the war’s effect on global terror. A few of them have never even heard of the city and their ignorance was a surprise to me after it being in the news. The… Read More »