[July 10, 2014] The most successful senior executive leaders are professionally unemotional, yet caring and respectful. Now, that may seem like an oxymoron, and some people will even disagree with me, but leaders must have a degree of detachment else they will be consumed by the daily affairs of those they lead. Likewise, they must show that they… Read More »
[July 09, 2014] My father told me on many occasions to “stand up for yourself” when in a threatening situation. He also said to “stick up for your friends.” Not standing up for yourself and friends meant that you were a coward and were more likely to be attacked. News reports from yesterday, shows that the escalating violence… Read More »
[July 09, 2014] As a teenager, my friends and I were lukewarm to high school learning … it was something we simply had to do. Yet, I do fondly remember our track coach teaching us about “leadership and propaganda”. His message was prophetic – you will be consumed by propaganda unless you are taught the leadership and knowledge… Read More »
[July 08, 2014] Growing up in the Deep South provided me with opportunities for my friends and I to get into trouble and plenty of fistfights with each other. Preceding any fight however, there was the obligatory taunting: sticking our tongue out, name-calling, daring them in some way. My first grade teacher, upon observing one of these fights,… Read More »
[July 08, 2014] Comedians and politicians appear to be the best at reading their audience. Not to equate them on their level of national importance, of course. They both base their livelihood on their ability to foresee how their audience will react to what they do (telling a joke or debating national security). Predicting the audience reaction is… Read More »
[July 07, 2014] The United States has an immigration problem. There is no denying the fact that the number of people crossing the southern border annually in violation of U.S. law has dramatically increased over the past several years. Likewise, the number of deportations has fallen. The real problem, however, is not the immigration issue itself, but the… Read More »
[July 06, 2014] Military leaders are taught from the beginning to be aware of the dangers of “group think.” There have been a number of colossal military disasters that resulted from group think: Custer’s Last Stand, the Maginot Line, Stalingrad, and the Bay of Pigs. Any good leader would rather learn from group think failures than experience them… Read More »
[July 06, 2014] “Honest Abe” is the most well known leaders in the United States and around the world. Abraham Lincoln was in office during the U.S. Civil War where he was able to keep the nation together. He was the reason that America did not break into two separate nations and he was the key to ending… Read More »
[July 04, 2014] In 2006, soon after the President announced a “surge” in Iraq, I was given an extra duty. Several of us, the most senior colonels, were to help “flush out the particulars of the military surge strategy.” General Petraeus outlined the strategy for us but there were to be a structure to the direction and control… Read More »
[July 03, 2014] When a good friend of mine was newly promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, the lowest flag rank, he was shocked that he was highly visible in spite of where he went or what he did. He could no longer remain anonymous in the back of a meeting room. Everything he said was analyzed… Read More »