Leadership Landmines

By | March 7, 2021

[March 7, 2021]  Leadership is about finding the right path and keeping to it.  But, leaders are still prone to step on landmines that symbolically blow up along their way.  Despite a successful career, how could it be that so many leaders slip and fall anyway? I’ve stepped on these same leadership landmines, and so have many of… Read More »

5 Lessons from the Battle of the Alamo

By | March 6, 2021

[March 6, 2021]  Independence.  No single motivation has led to more wars than those willing to fight for independence.  Independence from tyranny has inspired many, and that was the thinking of those defending the Alamo from a large Mexican force commanded by Generalissimo Antonio López de Santa Anna.  On this date, March 6, 1836, Fort Alamo defenders were… Read More »

Sabotage of the National Guard: by Army Vet

By | March 5, 2021

[March 5, 2021]  Army Vet writes to us today to alert us to sabotage being carried out against National Guard troops ordered to “protect the U.S. Capitol” and how both their military and civilian leaders categorically failed to do anything meaningful about it. Leadership is defined by results, not by intent:  I gotta go to British newspapers to… Read More »

Lick ’em Tomorrow

By | March 3, 2021

[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 »

10 Dismissive Words that Good Leaders Don’t Use

By | March 1, 2021

[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 »

15 Seconds from Stupidity

By | February 28, 2021

[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 »