[October 28, 2022] There are always people out there who are doing far better than you on pretty much anything you want to imagine. That came home to me during my U.S. Army training, the first day of taking a physical fitness test. I ran a two-mile course and finished in under 11 minutes (which is an excellent… Read More »
[June 11, 2022] The morning of 9/11, my unit was making a rucksack march from a field training area of Ft. Bragg, where we had just completed an Air Assault mission. That day was life-changing for us all. And America became a more serious nation. Two decades later, America wants to change the names of military bases because… Read More »
[December 28, 2020] As we approach the New Year, I am reminded of my dad who used to say that the upcoming year is like a great movie waiting to be written. This year 2021, there are promises that I have made. Perhaps others should be making similar promises. I had a friend in the 1st Cavalry Division… Read More »
[September 26, 2020] Professional teachers always look to learn more and grow their abilities. They are on an unending journey where they are always searching: New concepts or teaching tactics Ways to enhance their skills and expertise New details that will help their students to be successful That is why, in this article, we are going to talk… Read More »
[July 22, 2020] Experienced leaders understand that not everything they do is intuitive or makes complete sense on the surface of it. When it comes to carrying out one’s duties, success is often hard-won, complex and ambiguous, and requires good judgment. That is why the concept – if you want peace, prepare for war – is both controversial… Read More »
[March 3, 2020] We all know that for good leadership to work well, we need to speak and write clearly. Like my grandmother, bigmama, that means sometimes being blunt. Today, I’m doing introducing the psychological big five personality traits 1,2 because I will use those more here at www.theleadermaker.com. Over the next few weeks, I plan to draw… Read More »
[October 15, 2019] The average person thinks that when people make mistakes, they should be punished (e.g., fired from their job, go to prison). This, however, does not fit reality. From experience, leaders quickly learn to tolerate the mistakes of others. They have learned that making mistakes is a well-trodden path to success for us all. Immediate punishment… Read More »
[August 15, 2019] I’ve written a great many articles on moral courage and have highlighted a number of men and women who show what courage means. What I have not done is write about a beauty queen. Today, my blog post is about Miss Iraq Sarah Idan.1 She earns my respect for posting a picture of her with… Read More »
[February 3, 2018] That’s what I was told as my girlfriend pinned my Second Lieutenant bars on me at our commissioning ceremony. “Leaders! It’s not about you,” the commandant of the ROTC program spoke to the new military officers at Penn State University. Not about you? The message was unclear but later, after I had more experience, his… Read More »
[January 7, 2018] My wife, who is Italian and strong-willed, reminds me each time we see a commercial about the Miss America pageant that “this is the 21st Century and therefore no need for exploiting women like this.” And that is exactly the struggle the pageant’s leadership is facing; how to make the beauty contest relevant in a… Read More »