Author Archives: Douglas R. Satterfield
[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 »
[October 02, 2014] During World War I, on October 02, 1918, a true American hero gallantly led his men in the Argonne Forest offensive. Attorney by trade before the war, Major Charles Whittlesey was the uncompromising commander of what became known as the “Lost Battalion.” Major Whittlesey’s battalion was so named because shortly after his unit crossed into… Read More »
[October 01, 2014] Senior leaders have been known to make grand errors in judgment and to have failed to foresee catastrophic events that happen in the future. Such superb abilities are indeed rare when we look to people, as imperfect as humans are, to lead us. We will forgive our leaders for their poor predictions of the future,… Read More »
[September 30, 2014] New policies at the U.S. Department of Defense, initiated by the Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, have caused some controversy in military ranks. The real problem at the Pentagon is how to reduce the combat force by over 20 percent and still protect the United States and allies while worldwide threats are increasing. Now comes… Read More »
[September 29, 2014] Bill and Joanne were married after high school, joined the U.S. military for education benefits, deployed to Afghanistan, served honorably, and finally were able to enroll in Mississippi State University after their four-year tour in the Army. The problem? They both failed out of their first year of academic studies despite being provided with tutoring,… Read More »
[September 28, 2014] All senior military leaders I know today were taught early in their careers that a key component of being successful officers was based on their ability to teach, coach, and mentor. The question that is being asked of many junior leaders today is, “Can we mentor?” In other words, can we effectively ensure that those… Read More »
[September 27, 2014] More leadership failures and successes this week and it was hard to choose which ones to put in the failure category because there were so many. The following are the failures. Recall that my intent is to write enough about the issue at hand to have the reader see that this person failed to meet… Read More »
[September 26, 2014] Leadership means many things to a lot of people, but when we are doing “stuff” and making things happen we sometimes need help. Help can come from effective and useful tool established by other leaders. The Leadership Toolbox is being introduced here to find those tools that are most useful for the leader. In the… Read More »
[September 25, 2014] My great aunt Marie was running her hairdresser shop across the street from the Little Rock Central High School on this day in 1957 when she was surprised by reporters from ABC and NBC. They had come to witness the standoff between the State of Arkansas and soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.… Read More »
[September 24, 2014] The latest news out of the Middle East is that U.S. President Obama ordered airstrikes and missile attacks inside the country of Syria. Those attacks are on Islamic terror groups and have occurred mainly in the northern area not controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Recall that Syria is in the middle of a civil… Read More »