[February 9, 2016] These pages could easily be filled with anecdotes of leaders who made a major decision without fully contemplating the requirements to do so. Those failures, and sometimes successes, can be spectacular much like General Armstrong Custer’s decisions and subsequent massacre at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The lesson for leaders is: ready, aim, fire.… Read More »
[February 8, 2016] If we look back to the time when the American Indian was strong in what is now the United States, they can be found devoting much of daily lives turning their young children into good men and women. Turning boys into men was a particularly important affair since they would become the protectors of the… Read More »
[February 7, 2016] It is rare that anyone of us today would find ourselves in such a situation that physical courage was necessary. We normally think of it in the context of soldiers in wartime or of police and firefighters containing a dangerous situation. And yet, having to willingly decide between death, injury, danger, and pain, many people… Read More »
[February 6, 2016] Teenagers are good at picking up on life’s little lessons. Many of us do this through odd jobs while growing up and some of us were lucky enough to have a job that reinforces positive behaviors. One of my jobs while living in northeast Louisiana was pig pen cleaning on my neighbor’s farm.1 My classmates… Read More »
[February 5, 2016] In the military one of the most stressful of times for soldiers is when a unit gains a new commander. It’s not because the new commander is unknown, although that is part of it, but because not everybody is ready to a leader at the commander level. Studies have shown that leaders make their most… Read More »
[February 2, 2016] Continuing on the theme that strong leadership is the key to effective propaganda, a recent example of its employment will be discussed. Admittedly there are many types of propaganda but I will focus this discussion of it at the national level for the purpose of understanding its wide-ranging affects. “Why is propaganda so much more… Read More »
[February 1, 2016] The published core values of any organization tells us a lot about the thinking of its senior leadership. With some analysis we can see if they will have difficulty in achieving their mission or not. Today, I’ll be highlighting the American Library Association (ALA) and their official core values. The ALA is an old organization,… Read More »
[January 31, 2016] In this short series on propaganda, my central theme is that in order for it to be successful it must rely on strong leadership at its core. Predictably, propaganda is associated with war since many a nation’s strongest leaders appear in their military services. Of course, it is not limited to wartime and often makes… Read More »
[January 30, 2016] For those of us who study leadership, we know that style varies over circumstances and over time. Each individual leader has their own preferable way of leading others; one they are most comfortable with and have had past achievements using. The bombastic leader is a popular approach for a leadership style. One of my favorite… Read More »
[January 29, 2016] In the study of military conflicts, history teaches us about the impact of “disguised information” on the outcome. More commonly referred to as propaganda, a number of governments and militaries have benefited from its use. Interestingly, U.S. presidential candidates have been accused of using it in their election campaigns. This short series on propaganda is… Read More »