[August 13, 2014] At a recent graduation ceremony, the speaker said that “People just hate to fail, but there’s simply no escaping the fact that success is the daughter of failure.” U.S. Navy Admiral “Sandy” Winnefeld, Jr.,1 speaks frequently and passionately about the art of command. For him, command means leading change, as well as possessing certain values… Read More »
[August 13, 2014] “It’s all ancient history so forget about it.” I was told by a number of political science professors that what happened in the country of Cambodia is unimportant in today’s world. The legacy of the “killing fields” that resulted in the death of approximately 2 million Cambodians, out of a population of 8 million, was… Read More »
[August 12, 2014] In 2006 a senior U.S. Army officer had his Bronze Star medal revoked; it had been awarded for exception service in combat. I had the sad duty to write the justification to remove this award because of the officer’s highly toxic command climate during this combat tour. This was well before the subject of command… Read More »
[August 12, 2014] Los Angeles, California nearly 50 years ago experienced one of the worse riots in American history. The Watts Race Riots took place August 11 to 17, 1965 and involved massive racially-fueled violence. Many have studied the riots and a number of lessons for city government have come from that effort. There is usually an “inciting… Read More »
[August 11, 2014] If a person was to look out across time and culture to find the greatest weakness of senior leaders, what would they discover? The intrigue involved in the search would surely be high drama for a television show or a book. What is it that human’s possess that is so precious that its loss was… Read More »
[August 10, 2014] The senior leadership of a television sports channel has suspended its third host, this one for revealing domestic abuse against a girlfriend more than 20 years ago. It is clear that the leaders at this television studio are taking a hard line against certain comments made by their hosts. Comments on domestic abuse are a… Read More »
[August 10, 2014] An old military axiom is to “never underestimate your enemy”. The British underestimated General Washington and in 1777 the Brits lost the Battle of Princeton when they thought Washington had been defeated and was fleeing. The British General Cornwallis said, “We’ve got the old fox safe now. We’ll go over and bag him in the… Read More »
[August 09, 2014] Leadership is a complex and difficult endeavor. In these pages we have discussed those things that make up the character of the greatest and most successful leaders. We also know that the culture of any society also helps determine both the virtues of that leader and the times in which the greatest prevail. Forty years… Read More »
[August 08, 2014] A few years ago I lived in a town that took advantage of the law. The law allowed city governments to charge cable companies for operating in their jurisdiction. Most communities do this today. It’s a subtle way of obtaining additional revenue without directly taxing citizens. Unexpectedly, the cable companies put a line-item on their… Read More »
[August 07, 2014] My old drill sergeant was right. I dislike admitting that he could give advice on military tactics that I could agree. I was not particular fond of him since he brought a bit too much terror into my life as a basic trainee. He had seven Infantry combat tours in Vietnam, a very rare and… Read More »