[August 14, 2017] Somebody once said that one man’s scandal is another man’s creative performance. Whenever individuals are given the opportunity to break the rules, and a reward awaits, there will be someone who attempts to do so. It seems that there are always people willing to break the rules as well as those who love to hear… Read More »
[July 30, 2017] On a recent Friday morning I had the honor and privilege to attend a U.S. Navy Boot Camp graduation, located about an hour north of Chicago, Illinois. It was a proud day for everyone involved and it made all of us happy for those who made the decision to join the military. But this is… Read More »
[July 23, 2017] Nearly 50 years ago, Dr. Laurence J. Peter published a chillingly nasty but satirical book that helped shape in the minds of many what they had observed for so long. The idea was that in any “hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence”1 … and he called it the Peter Principle.… Read More »
[July 15, 2017] “Everything’s a priority!” yelled the commander of the U.S. Navy frigate. The story was from my uncle who sailed on an Anti-Submarine Warfare ship during the last months of World War II and so the story goes – as he told us children – the events that led to the sinking of his ship and… Read More »
[July 7, 2017] U.S. President Ronald Reagan once said of his political opponents that if “you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.” Leadership is about solving problems and senior leadership is about solving hard problems. That is exactly what is happening with the loose coalition of nations led by the United States which… Read More »
[July 5, 2017] In early 2004 on the outskirts of Baghdad during one of our firefights with insurgents, a calm voice came over the radio describing the critical situation in matter-of-fact tone. U.S. Army Captain Steve Bates1 had learned as a Boy Scout that staying calm helped when others were losing their composure. That was also his secret… Read More »
[July 1, 2017] Albert Einstein was an remarkable man. In the recent miniseries “Genius” produced by Ron Howard, the script looks at the peculiar Einstein through the lens of modern-day society. Einstein, like all great people, did make mistakes but quickly learned from them. Only those that truly put forth a rigorous effort will be a success when… Read More »
[June 29, 2017] There’ve been several lively discussions on leadership blogs and in popular news stories lately about what young leaders lack the most. Many say that a lack of relevant experience is their greatest shortfall and others tell us that young leaders are just plain self-centered. For the sake of a good argument, I will suggest that… Read More »
[June 28, 2017] I was fortunate to attend one of the U.S. military’s General Officer courses a number of years ago and to develop a number of friendships that endure to this day. Called CAPSTONE, the four week course covers a number of major issues affecting national security.1 One lesson the course repeatedly reinforced was that leadership means… Read More »
[June 27, 2017] This is my third in a series of posts dealing with new ideas; especially political leadership ideas that are both difficult to hold and to realize. Today, I’m presenting the thinking of Maajid Nawaz, British political activist, author, and statesman. He is also a former member of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir and was imprisoned… Read More »