[November 1, 2015] All leaders will tell you they politely accept feedback on their performance and encourage people to share their opinions on their leadership capability. In practice however that is rarely true and therefore official systems have been developed as a required task to ensure feedback is given on a minimum regular schedule. True leaders, however, are… Read More »
[October 24, 2015] Seventy years ago on this date the United Nations was born. And today we’ll see and read a lot in the media about the greatness of the organization, its accomplishments, its ownership by all peoples, and its evenhandedness in crises. There will also be a few complaints about it for academics to study with the… Read More »
[October 23, 2015] At least sometimes this is true and leaders must know the difference. Any good leader will know that there are circumstances under which rules (laws, regulations, establish procedures, etc.) must be ignored and also know the risks associated with such a decision. That is why doing what is right is the embodiment of a leader… Read More »
[October 22, 2015] I’ve been a listener to many speeches in my lifetime; several hundred if I could add them up. Some were great, others poor, but one thing they had in common was that they were mostly filled with just talk. It reminded me of speeches of many politicians; they want the “face-time” with voters and they… Read More »
[October 20, 2015] One of my early military mentors advised me that to do well required being able to keep my head together while everyone else around me was losing theirs. Of course, it’s not that leaders thrive on chaos but that they can thrive in chaos. It requires special skills and experience that a leader either has… Read More »
[October 19, 2015] In mid-2006 Coalition Engineers in Iraq were given the mission of protecting military personnel (i.e., soft targets) from incoming missiles and mortars. The task itself was overwhelming due to the number of people the engineers had to protect. Because there had been no thought given to what this really meant or the timeframe in which… Read More »
[October 18, 2015] There are always generational differences. Those differences are more pronounced now than ever – at least it seems that way – and that is often credited with improving technology, medical advancements, and cultural change brought on by great movements of people. But do we really appreciate the differences between generations? I think yes and I… Read More »
[October 17, 2015] My maternal grandmother and parents spent much of their time educating me in the ways of the world. They taught me much about the fundamentals of leadership without it being called such and pushed me to be a real man by being responsible for my actions. But today we see less of this in our… Read More »
[October 15, 2015] One of the aspects of Western nations – for some time now – has been for leaders to discourage formal education. In contrast, Asian nations are actually encouraging it aggressively. But in both cases their attitude toward education is very selective, culturally influenced, and resourced based on their social biases. The impact on the success… Read More »
[October 14, 2015] The year 1962 was an atypical year in sports for a young boy in the Deep South. But it was also a year of growing up when adult events took center stage and interrupted our thoughts of school and sports. On October 14, 1962 the discovery of Soviet-made, nuclear-capable missiles in Cuba increased the threat… Read More »