[March 15, 2021] The historical evidence is in, and it is unequivocal. Weak leadership inevitably produces criticism against whatever it produces. In the examination of weak leaders – from the military to politics – we see an emerging pattern. Weak leadership always backfires. Weak leaders such as British PM Neville Chamberlain and French PM Édouard Daladier, signers of… Read More »
[March 3, 2021] After the first day of the Battle of Shiloh of the American Civil War, 6 April 1862, sometime after midnight, then Union Brigadier General William T. Sherman came upon then Major General Ulysses S. Grant was standing under a tree. Sherman remarked, “Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?” Grant looked up.… Read More »
[February 26, 2021] Enforce the 3Bs of the briefing: Be brief, Be brilliant, Be gone. We’ve all been at the traditional graduation ceremony where the speaker went on and on. We only remember that we were there and the day was a happy one. The speaker? Who was that guy anyway? The 3Bs is one of many leadership… Read More »
[February 19, 2021] Fear – absolute fear – is what you want your enemies to experience. Why? Because overwhelming fear will be their downfall. Armies, across time, make every effort to instill fear; it works. Ordinary people give up, competitors surrender without a fight, and enemies retreat from the battlefield. Their message … we’re your worst nightmare. The… Read More »
[February 12, 2021] The movie Dirty Harry (1971) came out in theaters 50 years ago to great fanfare. When a madman calling himself “the Scorpio Killer” menaces the city, tough-as-nails San Francisco Police Inspector Dirty Harry Callahan is assigned to track down and ferret out the crazed psychopath. This movie was popular because it tells an old story… Read More »
[February 11, 2021] Yeah, I’m an old guy (oh, should I just say age-challenged?), so I remember when no one got a trophy for winning a school baseball game. We competed for bragging rights. Not today. What’s more, some schools won’t give out grades below “C,” so no student will “feel bad.” This means that those in leadership… Read More »
[January 4, 2021] There is a wise saying that goes something like this, “Censorship reflects a lack of self-awareness in the agent.” Over the past several years, social media companies have been exercising censorship over speech with which they disagree. Those who censor the ideas of others are themselves practitioners of moral cowardice. “When you tear out a… Read More »
[January 1, 2021] Greetings! So began the letter’s salutation from the U.S. Government draft board. Still, in High School and 17 years old, the letter did not surprise me. However, it was to put me on a journey that ended many decades later. What I learned along the way was that trust is at the core of being… Read More »
[November 24, 2020] While writing an article yesterday on Good Sense, I was simultaneously thinking about the issue of morality and its impact on leadership. A host of questions sprung up that I was not prepared to answer. I will address one of the crucial questions here today. Leaders are granted certain powers and responsibilities. If we were… Read More »
[November 14, 2020] One of my personal interests has been understanding the way successful leaders think. I do this as a way to improve show up-and-coming leaders how to improve their leadership skills. A recent article by Andrew Stone, MD, at Eternal Soldier piqued my interest. It was titled, Did King Paul have PTSD? Dr. Stone proposed a… Read More »