[September 26, 2015] After the capture of the capital city of Baghdad Iraq in early 2004, coalition engineers were building confinement facilities for the thousands of prisoners. One of the engineers was U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Paul Smith. On April 4th his men were ambushed by a large Iraqi Republican Guard force. Smith was wounded early but… Read More »
[September 25, 2015] George, a good friend of mine from our past army days, used to tell me often that, “I never drink good coffee because I might like it and then have to pay for it.” You see, in U.S. Army dining facilities and in our offices, coffee is most often found hot and free. Later, after… Read More »
[September 24, 2015] Truly great leaders are rare and they are rare for a very good reason; they thrive on ambiguity while everyone else is halted by it. The very best people that I’ve ever known are motivated, inspired, and capable of decisive action despite ambiguity and the uncertain environment that is fostered in it. Moreover, it is… Read More »
[September 23, 2015] A recent Gallup poll in the United States found that almost half say that government is an “immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.”1 While the polling data only goes back to 2003 when the question was first asked, it’s no new revelation. I’ve also written about the decline in the trust… Read More »
[September 22, 2015] This past weekend I was giving advice to teenagers who wanted to attend West Point Military Academy and become a U.S. Army officer. All five of them are 15 years old and attend public high schools here in New York City. They surprised me because I’m rarely asked about military life any more by young… Read More »
[September 21, 2015] Recently, the Republican candidates for President debated in their second televised debate. I rounded up a few more people to provide some senior leadership analysis and insight into how successful leaders viewed the debate. While their views are insightful, they do differ from the common view on who came out on top and on how… Read More »
[September 20, 2015] Last night, after a long day rummaging through books at yard sales, I settled my sore feet down to a movie on the first channel I happened upon. Luckily I caught one from the beginning and that movie was the 1963 epic 55 Days at Peking, starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven. It… Read More »
[August 19, 2015] Occasionally I write about a real hero here at theLeaderMaker.com in order to show those key characteristics they possessed that helped make them who they were; usually in time of war. Today is no different but it involves a civilian nurse whose execution by firing squad outraged the world during World War One. Edith Cavell… Read More »
[September 18, 2015] The first fast-food hamburger I ever ate was at the original Corpus Christi Texas Whataburger sometime in 1966; my mother took us four kids for a treat after a visit to the beach. Wow … it was wonderful for a child to taste something like that for the first time. Millions of others still enjoy… Read More »
[September 17, 2015] Several years ago, several friends of mine attended a half-day seminar on the U.S. Constitution and were quickly aghast at how ordinary people like us older adults knew so little about the document. If that were the case, we figured that our children and young folks probably knew even less … and we were right.… Read More »