[June 9, 2020] Learning to be a good leader can be difficult. The time with others training, studying, and working in leadership roles helps that process; or so I’ve been told. In 1983, I was a new U.S. Army Second Lieutenant attending the Infantry Officer Basic Course. At the end of a particularly grueling three-week phase of mechanized… Read More »
[June 8, 2020] This may come as somewhat of a surprise, but there are skills we don’t teach leaders. I don’t mean that leadership itself is not trained, formally, or informally, which is the case in many organizations. Leaders are not taught essential aspects of leadership that are both necessary to succeed and required for movement into positions… Read More »
[June 7, 2020] I live in Southern New Jersey; about two hours drive from New York City (to downtown Manhattan). My wife and I still have relatives, and many friends who live in the City, and they love it and would not live anywhere else. What surprised me was that many of them moved away temporarily to avoid… Read More »
[June 5, 2020] I’ve been in the military long enough to have a good understanding of the concept the enemy gets a vote. It doesn’t take experience, the study of battles, or deep thinking to gain a better understanding of it. ‘The enemy gets a vote’ phrase intimates that our competitors are human beings with emotions, thoughts, needs,… Read More »
[June 1, 2020] As part of my continuing desire to streamline my leadership blog’s website, all social media links are removed.1 On a related topic, several regular readers of my site have written to complain that social media like Facebook and Twitter are blocking content the big companies don’t like. LinkedIn also dabbles in censorship, and I’ve been… Read More »
[May 30, 2020] The year before my good friends Bill, Greg, and I were headed to the same college for degrees in engineering, we each bought a car. In Texas, a car is a “must have” if you plan to get anywhere. We all envied Greg. He bought a 1968 red Chevrolet Camaro. The car was in immaculate… Read More »
[May 27, 2020] Leaders are essential to other people. And since they are also vital to any team or group, leaders have a moral and leadership obligation to take care of themselves. We don’t have to like our leaders or agree with them, but followers have an equal duty to remind leaders to care for themselves. Leaders should… Read More »
[May 26, 2020] Wilson, my best friend since before I could remember, was out to make a few cents to buy candy. He and I would hook up on Saturday mornings and canvas the small town we grew up in for discarded coke bottles. After collecting as many as we could carry, we would turn them in for… Read More »
[May 24, 2020] An Army Colonel once told me that his path to success had a lot to do with him stealing good ideas from others. Initially, I was shocked. But I realized that we all steal ideas all the time; we call this learning. We take the ideas of others, make them our own, and integrate them… Read More »
[May 22, 2020] There are times in our lives when we are trying something new and innovative that the old methods simply don’t work. In the military, when we are on the attack, one method of flushing out the enemy to force him into unexpected actions is reconnaissance by fire. Such a risky technique is what we’ve all… Read More »