[October 11, 2014] My grandmother was always trying to make a “man” out of me. She had the most ingenious of methods to ensure that I grew up tough and unafraid of the world. One way was to bribe me into participating in various sports – “It makes you stronger, young man,” she would say. One sport she… Read More »
[October 10, 2014] There is a new theme in the professional study of senior leaders and it says that those leaders must have a sense of unpretentiousness to be effective and successful. Anyone being familiar with U.S. leaders, and its military culture in particular, knows that such a character trait of their military men certainly does not include… Read More »
[October 09, 2014] Ernesto Che Guevara is one of the most iconic revolutionary figures of the 20th Century. He continues to be admired, mostly in the Americas and in particular in Cuba where he assisted Fidel Castro overthrowing the Batista government. His name evokes strong emotion from socialists and communists alike throughout the world. Yet why is that… Read More »
[October 08, 2014] Reading books that make me think – really think – is truly the epitome of quality reading. Marshall Goldsmith writes that traits that made you successful won’t necessarily keep you there or advance you further. I enjoy this type of reasoning and it allows me to keep that reminder of potential failure in the back… Read More »
[October 07, 2014] TheLeaderMaker.com experienced a complete WiFi service outage due to recent defective “router firmware updates” … at least that’s what I’m told. For the computer geeks who love this stuff, my Belkin router and millions more, received an update this morning at about 5:00 am. When that occurred, our routers and their associated IP addresses would… Read More »
[October 07, 2014] Occasionally we hear about the good works of Hollywood stars – those helping people in need by giving money – but rarely do we hear about them providing opportunities and real leadership. Twenty years ago Gary Sinise co-starred in the movie Forest Gump alongside Tom Hanks. Unexpectedly, the movie helped propel him into a leadership… Read More »
[October 06, 2014] The War to End all Wars is largely fixed in our minds as one of trench warfare and rigid militaries. While this is taught to us in the most basic history courses, WWI was also marked by continuous maneuver warfare, technical innovations, and complex politico-military relationships that resonant today. From these complexities, we can derive… Read More »
[October 05, 2014] More senior leadership failures and successes who speak their mind Note. This week we have seen a number of senior leaders in the news. Most of them are addressing failures in their organization or are justifying actions taken by those they oversee. In the case of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, the damage caused by… Read More »
[October 04, 2014] A theme sometimes expressed here at theLeaderMaker.com is that leaders will occasionally allow emotion to dictate the direction of their decisions. This can have disastrous effects on the organizational mission. Senior leaders emotionally fixated on a topic may not be able to look past legitimate options in the decision-making process. They may also handicap staff… Read More »
[October 03, 2014] The recent news that a citizen of Liberia West Africa carrying Ebola made it into the United States without being stopped and then discharged from a Texas hospital says much about the poor disease screening procedures worldwide. If the U.S. can’t get it right, how do we expect others with fewer resources to do better?… Read More »