[October 24, 2020] Sage counsel from all cultures and from across history, found in philosophical and religious texts, encourages us to not lie. What is so human is that we rarely chose to follow the advice. Dr. Jordan Peterson, professor from the University of Toronto, says that we should try to tell the truth, but at least don’t… Read More »
[October 23, 2020] The first commander I had after my commissioning as an Army Officer was a man who was a big talker. He would talk for hours about our unit, how he had grand plans for being the best in the army, and how much we would enjoy doing our jobs. I wrote about this commander before,… Read More »
[October 19, 2020] Walking my dog early this morning before the sun came up, I strolled by a car with a bumper sticker that read, ‘WAR is NOT the ANSWER.’ My dog smelled the tires, and we went on our way. Later, I got to thinking too many folks don’t understand or simply deny the reality of war,… Read More »
[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 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 »