[June 17, 2014] Practicing leadership skills is not something we normally think about when it comes to improving our leader talents. Athletes, target shooters, musicians, Army tank crews, etc., all have scheduled practice sessions designed to improve their performance. But, what about leaders, do they practice their trade? Yes, leadership requires practice … however, maybe not in a… Read More »
[June 16, 2014] One of the most humbling events of being a military flag officer is getting the opportunity to talk with some of the most senior leaders of the United States. Several years ago I had the chance to ask questions of the directors/chiefs of many three-letter agencies (CIA, FBI, NSA, NIA, DIA, etc.). What each of… Read More »
[June 15, 2014] The two senior leaders could not be more different. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and ISIS’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are two sides of a very long and often brutal clash within the Muslim faith. It is not surprising then, that Iraq’s senior leadership contrast will overshadow the final confrontation. This will be a conflict… Read More »
[June 14, 2014] The story of Abraham Lincoln has long been told and admired. His humble beginnings and struggles in life, is something that shaped and motivated him. From his birth in a Kentucky log cabin to President of the United States, Lincoln showed us the value of struggle in leadership. It has been a common theme here… Read More »
By guest blogger Sadako Red [see disclaimer] [June 13, 2014] Yeah, I’m a user of a Veterans Administration hospital, one in my hometown. I generally get good service when I go. That’s the good news, now the bad. NEWS FLASH: The VA scandal will continue because nothing is being done that will change the failed management culture; a… Read More »
[June 13, 2014] The United States gave up on Iraq years ago and the Iraq leadership stumbles as a result. Yet there is not a senior leader in the U.S. military who would confidently say Iraq’s future was assured after pulling out our military forces. News comes to us that the ISIS, a militant offshoot of Sunni al-Qaeda,… Read More »
[June 12, 2014] Considered one of the greatest speeches of the 20th Century, U.S. President Ronald Reagan spoke these lines on June 12, 1987 as part of a major speech to the citizens of West Berlin. In the speech, he addressed the Soviet Union’s General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and told him to sign up for peace and prosperity… Read More »
[June 12, 2014] Playing little league baseball while growing up in the deep South brought with it a number of lessons in life. These lessons were to later translate into successful leadership traits that were to stay with me the rest of my military career. In fact, I think that was the point of the game; besides having… Read More »
[June 11, 2014] It’s just plain hard to make this stuff up. So read the headlines spread across pages 4 and 5 of the New York Post, today’s printed edition. The print-edition subheading and the Post’s website has another line that reads, “Shucks, we wuz so broke, wernt no way to fix it [sic]”. There is a lesson… Read More »
[June 11, 2014] During Basic Combat Training in the U.S. Army, I learned quickly that giving an excuse for not doing my job or for failing to take responsibility for something for a decision that was mine, had the “effective range of zero.” Army Drill Sergeants took nothing for granted and took no excuses from us trainees and… Read More »