[July 18, 2016] Know your enemy; know how he thinks, how he feels, and what his future plans are. That’s always been a key philosophy throughout my military career and the reason I bought a copy of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler and began reading the English translation. I never finished the book because I couldn’t tolerate its… Read More »
[July 17, 2016] On occasion we hear of stories about people of strong character. For those who study leadership it is valuable to understand what makes up those people in, what I call, “character.” It’s always worthwhile to do so, so that we may learn the refinements of those traits that are important in the development of good… Read More »
[July 16, 2016] I’ll add my two cents worth to the analysis of terrorism in Nice, France. My main point, as stated before, is that the recent surge in Islamic attacks has no single cause and no single person to blame and thus no easy solution. Very few of us are surprised that it occurred, especially in France… Read More »
[July 15, 2016] My original blog entry today was going to be about how leaders seem to take themselves too seriously. Whether it’s narcissistic behavior or simply going too far in promoting themselves, leaders can cross the line with their words and behavior. A recent dust up over the comments by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg… Read More »
[July 14, 2016] A good friend of mine for many years told me recently that “honesty is no longer valued.” He was exaggerating but also being rather blunt after an experience he had with several younger folks that accused him of being a sexist. “There was no arguing with them,” he told me. For some time now, many… Read More »
[July 13, 2016] Only leaders with priorities get things done. This is often called the “first principle of success” for good reason. That may, at first, seem intuitive to those who study leadership but when we begin to dig deeper into how leaders act, we find that many don’t practice this key standard of leadership. Leaders without priorities… Read More »
[July 12, 2016] It is certainly interesting to see news about the development of U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her use of private email servers to transmit classified information. Of course she has denied it … and though an FBI investigation determined she did in fact do so, she steadfastly continues to deny it. This is a… Read More »
[July 11, 2016] Having been in the military a long time has given me some perspective on leadership in its many forms and how its methods are used; both for good and bad. One of my earliest times as a lowly Private, I regularly witnessed leaders telling me to “do as I say, not as I do.” Well,… Read More »
[July 10, 2016] Like today, the early 1920s in the United States were a time when social patterns were in a state of flux and debates over values were at the forefront of politics. Who would dominate the future of American; the traditionalists or modernists? The showdown came at a courtroom when a jury would decide the fate… Read More »
[July 9, 2016] One the saddest events in my military career was when, as a company commander, I jumped to the conclusion that one of my soldiers had acted inappropriately. One of the most preventable mistakes a leader can make is to judge a situation without relevant facts on hand. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has done the same… Read More »