[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 »
[November 15, 2016] If there’s ever been a group of leaders stereotyped as falling into the trap of groupthink, it’s the military. Groupthink, however, is real and is a leader’s curse to be avoided like a pestilence of locusts. The recent U.S. election is a classic case of the media, pollsters, and political experts who fell for groupthink… Read More »
[November 13, 2016] The United States of America is an unusual nation in many ways; including a short and sometimes violent history, a strong belief in democracy, freedom, and liberty, and Judeo-Christian values. There was a time however that it was a nation that did not look beyond its borders and it explains why the government passed what… Read More »
[November 10, 2016] The first election I can remember as a young child was when John F. Kennedy (Democrat) ran against Rich Nixon (Republican) in 1960 and won. Rarely am I any longer surprised about election results but I had bought into current predictions of all the pollsters, political pundits, news reports, etc. that Hillary Clinton would easily… Read More »