Author Archives: Douglas R. Satterfield
[October 17, 2020] Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, once said that “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” I was counter by saying that “leadership” is knowing which ones to keep. Today’s article is about common weaknesses that we find in all people. In the study of human… Read More »
[October 16, 2020] Abolitionist John Brown raided the Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) on this date, October 16, 1859. A company of U. S. Marines, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart, overran Brown and his followers. Brown was convicted of treason on November 2, 1859, and hanged on… Read More »
[October 15, 2020] Officers in the U.S. military are, at minimum, give annual evaluations that provide feedback on both their performance and potential. Evaluations are crucial to the career of the officer and impact future performance. Thus, when I received my very first evaluation, I was upset. It read, ‘You’re only average, 2LT Satterfield.’ I don’t particularly appreciate… Read More »
[October 14, 2020] There will be times as a leader you will be the bait to attract unwanted attention and the enemy’s firepower. During my first combat tour of duty, my small unit was tasked to build a small engineering project “outside the wire” to attract an enemy insurgent cell’s attention. Overlooking my unit was a Special Forces… Read More »
[October 13, 2020] For the first half of my long career in the U.S. Army, I was wrong. I was most wrong about learning the way to think like a leader. For so long, I thought the solution was to understand what successful leaders thought rather than how they thought. It was the essential process of thinking that… Read More »
[October 12, 2020] Shortly after the terror attacks on U.S. soil, September 11, 2001, I was sitting on an Army bus when I overhead two buck Sergeants talking. The red-headed Sergeant said that he had wished he was on one of the commercial jets that had crashed into the World Trade Center a few days earlier. He believed… Read More »
[October 11, 2020] Today, I added a new feature to my leadership blog. I call it “War Movies.” What I will do is add war movie reviews by U.S. military veterans. Any one that has a war film they would like to see added here, drop me a line to my email or post in the forum’s section.… Read More »
[October 11, 2020] Freedom is a value. But “freedom” – in its many variations and circumstances – is also a path to human wisdom and excellence in life. It has been far too long since I’ve written on core values and the importance they have in our existence. Today, our subject is the organization known as the Foundation… Read More »
[October 10, 2020] Last night at our weekly Boy Scout meeting, the boys held an election to determine who would be their next Senior Patrol Leader. The Scoutmaster, an experienced and fine gentleman, explained how the Scout election process worked and how to judge the candidates properly. He made several important points. First, among his points was that… Read More »
[October 9, 2020] A not uncommon theme I’ve hammered on a bit too much – some say not enough – here in these leadership pages is the absolute importance of telling the truth and having the courage to accept it.1 Despite its overwhelming importance, we are still driven to lie, cheat, steal, and dodge the truth. To do… Read More »