[November 16, 2015] In the first installment of this 3-part series I proposed that the U.S. military has a leadership problem. Irrespective of how we measure leadership or determine its leader effectiveness, it has been accepted that the quality of military leadership today is in decline. For those of us currently in the military or recently retired, this… Read More »
[September 21, 2015] Recently, the Republican candidates for President debated in their second televised debate. I rounded up a few more people to provide some senior leadership analysis and insight into how successful leaders viewed the debate. While their views are insightful, they do differ from the common view on who came out on top and on how… Read More »
[June 30, 2015] A few years ago, a group of senior U.S. military officers flew into what is considered one of the world’s most dangerous airports (not in a combat zone) – Tegucigalpa, Honduras. While their mission was fairly benign, they were to discover that the level of violence and corruption in that country was staggering. Today, we… Read More »
[June 17, 2015] In the 1991 while surveying land for future military activity, a number of my fellow U.S. military officers were jailed by Panamanian police. Because they looked Hispanic they were assumed to be ex-presidente Manuel Noriega1 troops in disguise; the police force arrested them. The legal process to free them through the Department of State would… Read More »
[June 13, 2015] Anyone who has not personally witnessed high-levels of corruption and the caustic effects cannot understand the enormous toll it takes on people and organizations. The price of corruption can be huge; destroying lives of the innocent, costing ordinary citizens large portions of their income, and creating mistrust in political and business leaders. The fact that… Read More »
[June 12, 2015] There is a saying that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely …”1 When Lord Acton wrote this in a letter to Archbishop Creighton in 1887, he was disagreeing with the moral relativism of his time that was not critical of past corrupt leaders. He argued that all people should be held to… Read More »
[March 21, 2015] Attempting to predict the future is a flawed endeavor, at least in the minds of the lesser experienced leaders. Likewise, the required attributes of tomorrow’s leaders is a persistent question asked of our current leaders. What are those traits that will be most needed and which will be discarded? Is that leadership more involved with… Read More »
[January 29, 2015] Who has grown up not reading about the famous battle at Thermopylae where a small Greek infantry force held a narrow coastal passage against a huge Persian army? Or, who has not been taught about the humankind’s first democracy in Greece? From the most ancient of times, Greece has provided great leadership and the recent… Read More »
[December 08, 2014] A few years ago I was with a group of senior officers discussing the challenges of insurgent warfare with U.S. General Stanley McChrystal. We talked about “reverse mentoring.” That’s when our younger soldiers – who were more informed of recent developments – instructed us more senior leaders. This is the reverse of how mentoring is… Read More »
[June 03, 2014] Last year I was at the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to get a new driver’s license and car plates. Nationwide DMVs have a bad reputation for historically terrible customer service. Interestingly, DMVs are used as an example in public service seminars as the classic case of how not to give good customer… Read More »