[December 8, 2017] In 1784, Robert Burns wrote in a poem1 that “Man’s inhumanity to man causes countless thousands to mourn.” His inspiration was based on his own poverty in which he lived. It is poetic, in a sense, that we use his words to describe the horrific genocide perpetrated against the Armenian peoples in the early 20th… Read More »
[November 27, 2017] As I watched the video of a North Korean soldier escape into the South, I’m reminded of the East German guard’s “leap to freedom” in 1961. Both have something in common and that is the desire to flee communism and its dehumanizing effects on its captive citizenry. Communist North Korea is no place to live.… Read More »
[November 26, 2017] My grandmother was fond of telling all of us grandkids to never fear when standing up to bullies. And so it is always my pleasure to highlight a person who has done just that. The “blogosphere” was alive recently with news1 about the Australian musician Nick Cave who played in Israel and in doing so… Read More »
[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 »