VA Scandal Brewing

By | April 26, 2014

[April 26, 2014] There are early reports of a scandal developing in the Veterans Administration, at one facility, alleging improper maintenance of veteran treatment records. It is suspected that VA managers kept two sets of books to make it appear that vets were being treated in a timely manner on the one hand, while not treating some in… Read More »

Reading List (Update)

By | April 25, 2014

[April 25, 2014] An exceptional book this week to review. Again, my travels have kept me limited in reading time but Rick Atkinson’s 628-page book was a great read for me and for students of World War II and Europe. Today, another book that I finished reading and find interesting and recommend: The Guns at Last Light: The… Read More »

South Korean Ferry Disaster

By | April 24, 2014

[April 24, 2014] When the Captain of a ferry failed in his leadership responsibilities, nearly 300 died – the death toll standing at 156 and another 150 are missing and presumed dead. The majority of the deaths are from a single high school near Seoul. Three-quarters of this high school student body are dead or missing. It is… Read More »

Supreme Court Decision on Discrimination

By | April 24, 2014

[April 24, 2014] Racial discrimination is legal and officially sanctioned at the highest levels of leadership in the United States government (discrimination in universities anyway). While this could be a shock to many, it should be surprising that there is also strong resistance to eliminating those legal racial barriers. Does this sound like the 1960s, pre-Civil Rights era?… Read More »

#MyNYPD, Twitter, and Unexpected Results

By | April 23, 2014

[April 23, 2014] This story of leadership was simply too funny to pass up. Leadership means being able to predict and consider the impacts of your decisions and actions. Recently a Twitter account for the New York Police Department was created – #MyNYPD. The intent in creating the Twitter hashtag1 was to “commensurate our love for New York’s… Read More »

Great Leaders and Motivation

By | April 23, 2014

[April 23, 2014] It should be clear by now that great leaders (truly all leaders) provide an extraordinary level of motivation. When we look to history for examples of motivation, one of the most famous is the Islamic Commander Tariq. What he said to his men is something I learned in grade school history class (and probably all… Read More »

Strong Families and Leadership

By | April 22, 2014

[April 22, 2014] Whoa, you say! How do families connect to leadership? Well, on the surface, its connection may only appear tenuous but there is a direct relationship between successful leaders and strong family life. First, an observation … strong leaders come from strong families. Likewise, strong families produce resilient, productive citizens and capable leaders. This is derived… Read More »

Mental Resilience and Leadership (Part 3)

By | April 22, 2014

[April 22, 2014] In the previous two parts of this series (Part 1 andPart 2), I proposed the idea that people who experience frequent stressors in their lives, have greater mental resilience. Today, I’m proposing that many of these bureaucratic programs designed to reduce stressors will ultimately fail in achieving their goals. One thing we know but rarely… Read More »