[October 21, 2017] Corruption, moral depravity, cruelty, criminality… all these things are believed to disappear if only there was sufficient leader transparency. While perceived as achieving grand results, the truth is that while transparency is good it is also somewhat overrated in its effect. Transparency does work but few of us know what it is about. The days… Read More »
[October 5, 2017] Who is Carles Puigdemont and what is Catalonia? Until just recently, Mr. Puigdemont was an unknown outside Spain and parts of Europe. He is currently the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, a province of northeastern Spain and the person leading the Catalonia independence movement. This independence movement of Catalonia to secede from Spain is… Read More »
[September 26, 2017] There is no denying that all leaders live in a bubble to some extent where accurate and timely information struggles to get to them. A big leadership challenge is whether they are taking effective steps to overcome the disadvantages associated with it. When leaders fail, often spectacularly, it can be often traced back to their… Read More »
[September 25, 2017] I’m writing this after just returning from a three-day campout in a local state park with a Boy Scout troop. It is always easy to be optimistic after spending a few days with the boys and getting to understand how much they know (or don’t know) about leadership. I can honestly conclude that even the… Read More »
[September 11, 2017] When we speak of past events it should be noted that people remember things differently and attach many levels of meaning and emotion to them. Like most of us in the United States, things changed for my military peers after the Islamic attacks on September 11, 2001 (aka 9/11). For senior leaders 9/11 meant seeing… Read More »
[September 4, 2017] Sit back today, relax, and learn – and appreciate – about what it’s like to be a worker in the United States. No, this is not a history lesson on the Labor Movement (although that is a good place to start), nor is this about Unions, strikes, injustice, picnics, or grilling hamburgers and drinking beer. … Read More »
[August 31, 2017] We don’t hear much about American core values anymore and we certainly don’t see them on television, read about them in the news, or have politicians discuss them. But we do see them in action. The latest are values shown by volunteers who have come out to help those in the state of Texas where… Read More »
[August 10, 2017] Legends are powerful stories about the past that are circulated, traditionally, by word of mouth. Having lived in Brooklyn, New York one legend that always fascinated me was about the Newsies strike of 1899 in which newspaper-hawkers, nearly all young boys, refused to sell newspapers because of a hike in the price they were forced… Read More »
[August 9, 2017] A good friend of mine (I’ll call her Jane) lied about her minor criminal background on her application to be a U.S. Army officer; this happened many decades ago. Jane was commissioned a lieutenant, received a secret clearance, performed well, and years later was considered for the rank of Brigadier General. When leaders lie bad… Read More »
[August 8, 2017] [Update] When people speak their minds and they depart from a prevailing ideology, bad things are likely to happen to them. Earlier today I posted this article under the heading in the form of a question to the leaders at Google; “Do they get it?” … referring to their biases and the effect of those biases.… Read More »