[April 6, 2020] Britain’s raid on the northern French coastal town of Dieppe in 1942 was supposed to test Nazi Germany’s Fortress Europe. Mission goals were simple; siege a major port, gather intelligence, destroy critical defenses, raise the morale of the UK, and get out. The WWII disaster at Dieppe failed to achieve any those goals. But essential… Read More »
[April 5, 2020] In combat, one of the first things I learned was that there are many unknown unknowns, those future outcomes that we cannot predict. What is most troubling for leaders is that we cannot even plan for them. The recent example of the Coronavirus pandemic highlights this fact as we only now foresee the consequences of… Read More »
[April 3, 2020] Someone once said that as long as you have to think, think big. To see the ‘big picture’ or put another way to ‘have a vision’ is the epitome of great leadership. We can think of strategy as combining both the vision and the way we accomplish it. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, said that… Read More »
[April 2, 2020] Today, I have a little lighthearted story to tell. A friend of mine from Chicago wrote me the other day to pass along an interesting story about a retired British Navy Admiral. The admiral was approaching the age of 80 and wanted a young person to help out around the house, engage in basic health… Read More »
[April 1, 2020] I began this three-part series with a simple fact. To think like a strategic leader is hard. The problem is that most leaders have never tried to think strategically; those who have tried, failed. I could easily blame this failure on a lack of education or motivation but that would be misleading. Strategy can only… Read More »
[March 31, 2020] It’s not easy to think like a strategic leader. To do so is not common. Strategic thinking is learned, is complex and often counterintuitive, and forces us to move out of the comfort of tactics. In this three-part series, I’ll be laying out a foundation on strategic lessons from great minds of the past. Hardly… Read More »
[March 30, 2020] I do not write enough about cowardice, nor about treason. It is my sincere belief that both behaviors demonstrate an inherent, elemental weakness in all humans. In the religious world, we call these weaknesses by the name “sin.” And while these transgressions against others are odious, some are worse than others. My question is, “What… Read More »
[March 27, 2020] In my previous post yesterday on Union Aims about the U.S. Civil War, I wrote that Union aims. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln made it clear that any surrender terms of the South must be to preserve the Union and a pledge of equality for freed slaves. Today, I will address Confederate aims and how they… Read More »
[March 27, 2020] I grew up in the Deep South. Living in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas with all my family relatives nearby gave me a common understanding of the U.S. Civil War. But that shared understanding, I later learned, did not agree with mainstream thinking. One must note that feelings about the Civil War run deep in Southerners,… Read More »
[March 26, 2020] It has been said that among the most important lessons of history is that we do not learn very much from the lessons of history. On July 3, 1990, I was standing at the Copse of Trees on the Gettysburg Historical Battlefield with several U.S. Army officers. We were part of a Staff Ride to… Read More »