[June 11, 2014] During Basic Combat Training in the U.S. Army, I learned quickly that giving an excuse for not doing my job or for failing to take responsibility for something for a decision that was mine, had the “effective range of zero.” Army Drill Sergeants took nothing for granted and took no excuses from us trainees and… Read More »
[June 10, 2014] On my way to JFK Airport in New York City last week, I discovered by accident a really good radio station that had Howard Schultz discussing the concept of success and how really difficult it can be. What intrigued was that the radio station was dedicated to leadership topics. Good leaders are always looking for… Read More »
[June 10, 2014] A pattern emerges from the study of great leaders demonstrating that many of those who are the greatest of leaders were successful at both governance and military leadership. This pattern holds for Ramesses II (1303 BC – 1213 BC), also known as Ramesses the Great – the third Egyptian pharaoh of the 19th dynasty. He… Read More »
[June 09, 2014] Cartoonist Bill Watterson returned briefly as a guest to draw in the cartoon strip called Pearls Before Swine. He did so to raise money for a Parkinson’s charity called Team Cul de Sac. Of course, Bill Watterson is the creator of the superb cartoon series called Calvin and Hobbes1; a strip that he stopped at… Read More »
[June 09, 2014] Effective leadership means the leader should be regularly identifying and eliminating their bad habits; those that affect their leadership. Bad habits make it much more difficult to be successful leaders. Mountains of self-help articles and books are written, seminars given, and academic courses taken on how to eliminate bad habits.1 Leaders, of course, are subject… Read More »
[June 08, 2014] Sometime in the past few days theLeaderMaker.com website had the “Archives” and “Search” go missing from the sidebar. It’s not just the inconvenience but also not knowing – there were no error messages or warnings. Running a blog site is always full of Internet tribulations but I still enjoy all of it, of course. Thanks… Read More »
[June 08, 2014] Lately, in senior political and military circles, there have been discussions about a new type of war, a “new cold war” with China and Russia. This may seem a bit odd given what we are hearing about Russia’s efforts in the Ukraine or China’s involvement in disputes over several islands. Leadership however means clarity and… Read More »
[June 08, 2014] In the 1980s, my friends and I had long conversations about Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein and his role in the Iran-Iraq War. The debate about whether he was an evil dictator or a grandfatherly figure protecting his country raged off and on; even after he used chemical weapons to attack Kurdish civilians in 1988. Yet,… Read More »
[June 07, 2014] Another good book for today. This one is about President Abraham Lincoln and his development of leadership skills during the U.S. Civil War. What I like about the book is it shows how Lincoln’s search for an effective commander of Union military forces, helped changed him during his Presidency. The book demonstrates that leadership is… Read More »
[June 07, 2014] Many authorities on education think they have the answer to teaching leadership for the 21st Century. Generally, their desire and motivation is present to teach basic and advanced leadership principles. They may have much of the answer right. For educators trying to predict what the future will hold for leaders is not an exact science… Read More »