[April 17, 2015] As new (and very young) Army Lieutenants, my cohort of peers did not take long to discover that only a small percentage of us were getting promoted. We didn’t know why at the time. Military officers, like many junior managers, do things or fail to do things that hold them back in their organizations. The… Read More »
[April 16, 2015] Senior leadership, by its very nature, is political in many aspects. This means that the most important issues of any nation should be publically addressed, strategies developed, and plans created to ensure the safety and survival of that state. Foreign policy is the mechanism of senior leaders to do just that. Recently, the U.S. foreign… Read More »
[April 15, 2015] One of the many struggles of a leader is the challenge to overcome problems created by emotion. By that I mean that people have motivations that can create trouble and disruption. Specifically addressed here is the emotion of hate; the power of hate of other people and hate of different ideas. We don’t see this… Read More »
[April 14, 2015] If you never heard of Anthony Benezet, then don’t feel left out on the historical education most of us Americans receive. If you happen to read about him, it will say he was the first U.S. citizen that founded an abolition society. The significance of his abolition society was that it promoted the eradication of… Read More »
[April 13, 2015] I’ve often been asked what is it that distinguishes the very best leaders from all the other successful leaders. Is it an ability to create a long-lasting legacy of achievements? Many believe this to be true; that great leaders create a legacy of accomplishments that seem to defy normal human experience and often under extreme… Read More »
[April 12, 2015] While riding on the Q Train in New York City the other day, I couldn’t help but overhear an argument between two young men about who would be best for the next U.S. president. The upcoming election will offer us students of leadership an opportunity to study how to measure leadership in our leaders –… Read More »
[April 11, 2015] On the eve of combat in 2003 to take the country of Iraq from an evil dictator, allied troops were reminded of the values we placed in honorable service. While there was no doubt we would win the war by force, we also knew that the upcoming combat would be dirty, nasty, and deadly. We… Read More »
[April 10, 2014] In the U.S. Army we are fond of saying the “maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters.” This is a play on words that harks to the effective killing range of a weapon system. I learned this the hard way when, on my first day as a platoon leader, several of my unit’s… Read More »
[April 09, 2015] On this date in 1865, exactly 150 years ago and largely unnoticed today, the Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant; thus ended the bloodiest point in the history of the United States. General Grant was now to play a crucial role in the difficult task of healing the wounds… Read More »
[April 8, 2015] The best piece of simple advice I ever received as a junior military officer was that the reality about leadership is that it’s all about people. Senior leaders know that empathy helps us create and maintain bonds of trust; acting as the lubricant that keeps relationships on track. “You can easily judge the character of… Read More »