[September 24, 2024] Up until the past couple of decades, a person could relocate to another geographic area, gain useful employment, and start a family, leaving past transgressions in the past. The permanency of your past, however, is here to stay and is on display for all to see.
Many well-known people have experienced embarrassment when their past behavior was made public. Things that occurred decades ago, perhaps when we were not as mature in our thinking or actions, have come back to haunt them. But there is a way to minimize its effect today.
Just recently, both Kamala Harris and Tim Walz had their lies covering up their past exposed. This is not good for either of them as they try to change their politics to a more moderate position. General Douglas MacArthur was known as a “mama’s boy” at West Point and called “Dugout Doug” and a “coward” for his actions in World War I.
Our past can impact whether we get a good job or get elected to an important position … and are able to keep it. The lingering effects are significant and long-lasting.
Many politicians have had their military and college records sealed so that others cannot discover things about their past associations, behavior, or ideas. Secretary of State John Kerry had his military records sealed, for example. And Barack Obama had his college records sealed. Such a strategy can work.
And frankly, our actions speak loudly. Even those in our past – right, wrong, or misunderstood our behavior may have been. Leaders know this is a fact of leadership but should be ready to discuss it openly, with candor. Otherwise, people will believe that hiding it or understating its impact makes you reprehensible all the more.
Honesty and humility are the two most important leadership characteristics that will allow leaders to minimize exposure to our past. Be prepared to discuss it, admit what was done, never underplay its importance, and never make excuses. Some experts advise us not to apologize either, but that is a debatable tactic.
The past is what it is, and deal with it without embarrassment. Those people who want to make something of it will have to face you. Let them give in to their obsessions.
Stay above the fray, hold your head high, smile knowingly, and let them know you are a better person. Your past may be a dragon that you must slay. Face it boldly. But know, foremost, that you cannot escape your past.
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Best advice: “Stay above the fray, hold your head high, smile knowingly, and let them know you are a better person. Your past may be a dragon that you must slay. Face it boldly. But know, foremost, that you cannot escape your past.” – Gen. Doug Satterfield
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Yes! There was a time that folks had the chance to redeem themselves or to relocate and start over. If they were willing and able to make that transition to a new life, they could leave their past behind and take great care not to repeat those mistakes. Like being a criminal. Today, you can post innocent content on social media and it can be distorted into something it is not and that will follow you or you can be fired from your job or not get a job because of it. That means we need to teach our kids about the downside use of social media. Teach them to do what they want and it can hinder their future.
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The dragons are here. Be careful.
Timely article.
Gen. Satterfield is telling us to develop a strategy about how we communicate and do so properly. I’m not concerned about being judged but being improperly judged. And that is the biggest problem with the crazy radical leftists that run our country and who hate free speech.
Yep, radical Democrats hate free speech. They call hate speech as any speech they disagree with.
So, one of the lessons here is to watch what you post on media, for it will follow you. One solution is not to post at all. Don’t have a Facebook or Instagram account at all. Or any media account.
Let us all admit that we all know this to be true, and the issue I think that Gen. Satterfield is trying to make is that we should take a bit more care in our actions and not to let our emotions take us over. I see emotional responses all the time, mostly from women and from Liberals (old name for today’s progressives/socialists). That is something that we should care about because being a criminal, a Communist, a pedophile, etc. will follow us forever. And rightly so. Thanks Gen. Satterfield …. and your book “Our Longest Year in Iraq” is a great book for all of us to read to understand more about what happened in Iraq. THANKS…..
With that book “Our Longest Year in Iraq”, Gen. Satterfield is telling us that the real story of the Iraq War is NOT what we are reading about or seeing in the media. We have been led to believe that America = Bad and Iraq = Good. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was evil in Iraq and we put an end to it. Now that we are gone, the evil is returning to Iraq, but just under a different name.
FACTS ………. thanks Army captain.
🐲 Indeed, a dragon to fight. 🐲