[February 20, 2017] One of the best things about the U.S. military is the enormous amount of resources used to produce the best leaders possible. I was fortunate to participate in a number of programs designed to improve the leadership capacities and skills of their senior officers. What I took away from it was that leadership really is… Read More »
[February 19, 2017] … and that will always be the case so leaders need to stop using it as an excuse. I often speak with young adults who’ve simply given up trying to be the best they can be because there are so many people better – much better – than them. My son was on a baseball… Read More »
[February 18, 2017] There’s been a lot of criticism of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. Critical behavior is certainly not new in the political environment but there is a common understanding among professionals that to disparage an incoming leader is amateurish and ethically wrong. “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.” – Abraham… Read More »
[February 17, 2017] I was talking with my wife the other night about underrated topics in casual conversations among friends. She has a keen eye, far better than me, for those tidbits. One thing she found particularly galling was that most talk was not about fun times but almost exclusively about political issues. Friends were more interested in… Read More »
[February 16, 2017] U.S. President Donald Trump promised during his campaign that he would build a “great wall,” do so inexpensively, and make Mexico pay for it. Although Trump’s wall is intended to make America safer, it is a politically charged subject and for many diverse reasons. Politics to the side, I will argue that it is possible… Read More »
[February 14, 2017] We’ve all had our share of bosses who let power (derived from their positions of authority) to go to their heads. Abuse of power is so common that the U.S. military tracks it against Flag Officer violations of rules of behavior and actively warns against its poisonous attraction. “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power… Read More »
[February 13, 2017] Whenever I think about the foremost problems we recently faced in combat, I’m reminded of a sign I saw somewhere in Baghdad. It read, “Complacency kills.” I was told my first day on the job to “stay focused and keep an eye out for anything that could be a threat.” The biggest threat to success… Read More »
[February 12, 2017] As an Army ROTC cadet, I once attended a special exercise that involved team building. One of the Leadership Development Exercise events involved cadet teams, four to each, working to cross a concrete gap with planks of wood. They key to completing the task was that everyone had to work together. My team had a… Read More »
[February 11, 2017] It has often been said– and I want to reinforce it here – that successful leadership means possessing a strong ability to bring people together to achieve a common goal. Implied here is that the leader helps shape consensus in others. We see leaders do this through their good words and deeds. “A genuine leader… Read More »
[February 10, 2017] There’s an old saying that a bad attitude is like a flat tire, you’ll never go anywhere without changing it. In my experience, that’s very true. We’ve all had both good and bad days in our personal lives and our attitudes have reflected it. But it is the bad attitude of a leader that makes… Read More »