[March 3, 2021] After the first day of the Battle of Shiloh of the American Civil War, 6 April 1862, sometime after midnight, then Union Brigadier General William T. Sherman came upon then Major General Ulysses S. Grant was standing under a tree. Sherman remarked, “Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?” Grant looked up.… Read More »
[March 2, 2021] Wow, there has been so much happening over the past few weeks that I’ve gotten behind on articles I wanted to write. So, I am resurrecting my ‘clearing the spindle‘ series and taking on some of these article topics. Just the other day, I was walking my dog, and a lady comes out of her… Read More »
[March 1, 2021] Good communication is one of the keys to successful leadership. We all know this to be true because we have all witnessed what happens when what we say is unclear, meandering, insulting, or off-topic. Great leaders are always on guard against dismissive words. “We prematurely write off people as failures. We are too much in… Read More »
[February 28, 2021] Make no mistake about it; I have been insulted and threatened in more ways and languages than most people. Most of the time, I came out ahead of the game (and alive). One of my top insults was, ‘You’re 15 seconds from stupidity. This 2-Star U.S. Marine General in Iraq told me that I was… Read More »
[February 26, 2021] Enforce the 3Bs of the briefing: Be brief, Be brilliant, Be gone. We’ve all been at the traditional graduation ceremony where the speaker went on and on. We only remember that we were there and the day was a happy one. The speaker? Who was that guy anyway? The 3Bs is one of many leadership… Read More »
[February 26, 2021] At 11 years of age, I joined the Boy Scouts. Among other things, they taught me to be prepared. We also learned the Boy Scout oath and the Scout Law. If we ever had any doubts about what values were important, each scout core value was reviewed weekly in our meetings. This article is the… Read More »
[February 25, 2021] By the time I reached my 20th year in the U.S. Army, I had become one of a few experts on large-scale combat and military construction Engineering. My specialty was Base construction in hostile combat zones. Yet, on several occasions, my ability to design, fund, construct and maintain large, complex bases failed. Experts can and… Read More »
[February 23, 2021] I’ve seen some dumb decisions in my day that have had dire consequences. One of those was when an inexperienced Army major decided he would lead a convoy through a hostile area. This happened during my first combat tour in Iraq. And, there are more dumb decisions. Disney just slapped a warning on “The Muppet Show,”… Read More »
[February 22, 2021] In his book, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” Marshall Goldsmith outlines practical advice on how to be more successful. Goldsmith is one of the foremost thought leaders on executive coaching; a good place to begin to see how bad habits can hold you back. Today, I’ll focus on just one of Goldsmith’s themes… Read More »
[February 21, 2021] Develop trusted agents to provide feedback. An early leadership lesson I learned was to listen closely to a few select people. Carefully chosen, these folks can provide you with an extraordinary level of information necessary to succeed. I always have people around me that I trust to tell me the brutal truth. Harsh as it may seem,… Read More »