[December 03, 2013] Senior executive leaders, by the nature of their position, must possess a grounded, pragmatic, and experienced understanding of human psychology. By that, I don’t mean they have academic training in psychological theories or a college degree in psychology or sociology. The most successful senior leader knows people; what makes them “tick.” Being a leader at… Read More »
[December 02, 2013] Lately, I’ve been struggling to get my usual reading done. The book The Generals was long and I wanted to take my time to ensure I had a good understanding of the history and reasons for failures and successes in generalship. So, I’ve been slow to jump to reading other books. Today, more books that… Read More »
[December 01, 2013] One of the many interesting phenomenon of studying senior leadership is that while we see patterns of greatness, we also see unique individual and cultural differences in those leaders. Over the past week, there has been news coming out of North Korea that they have arrested a retired U.S. citizen and Korea War veteran who… Read More »
[November 30, 2013] One would logically expect that in a nation that values and rewards achievement, that any bias regarding success would be in favor of the characteristic. In reality there exists, in many cultures, a bias against achievement. Senior leaders should make themselves aware of this peculiar social phenomenon. Everyone has experienced the classroom show-off, whose interaction… Read More »
[November 29, 2013] Reverend William “Billy” Graham, Jr. is a Southern Baptist minister, who rose to celebrity status in 1949 reaching a large constituency across the U.S. and the Christian world. He held large indoor and outdoor rallies; sermons were broadcast on radio and television, some still being re-broadcast today. He is a great communicator with a consistent… Read More »
[November 28, 2013] Best wishes to all on this special occasion; Thanksgiving Day. One of my favorite times of year is Thanksgiving. What a great tradition – where we gather together to recount the Lord’s blessings. A special note: In the middle of the U.S. Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated… Read More »
[November 27, 2013] The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir was a campaign early in the Korean War and was part of the Chinese Second Offensive (November 26 – December 15, 1950) to drive the United Nations out of North Korea. The Chosin Reservoir campaign was directed mainly against the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. X Corps, which had… Read More »
[November 26, 2013] I vividly remember reading the Miss Manners column in our local Texas newspaper back in the early 1980s. What drew my attention to them was her ability to give such common sense advice about how to have good manners under difficult social circumstances. She was good at telling us how to handle “old Uncle Billy”… Read More »
[November 25, 2013] On January 12, 1950, Secretary of State Dean Acheson gave a speech in which he explained America’s Asian Policy, specifically saying that certain countries (e.g., Japan, Philippines) were inside the United States’ protective sphere. South Korea1 was not mentioned in his speech and five months later, North Korea2 invaded. Acheson was severely criticized for giving… Read More »
[November 24, 2013] The Origin of Species was published November 24, 1859, just 154 years ago today. But its applicability to human organizations and psychology is clear. Yesterday I wrote about the necessary immense adaptability of senior leaders. We can learn much from Darwin’s writings. Below I have listed some of my favorite quotes from Darwin. “A man… Read More »