[August 28, 2014] One of my first experiences and frustrations in leadership as a brand new U.S. Army second lieutenant was that my commander’s indecisiveness made the lives of his men difficult. Upon my arrival at the unit I got less than 5 minutes in his office for him to welcome me and to give me my assignment.… Read More »
[August 26, 2014] Occasionally I run across a great organization that uses its expertise to help both military personnel and veterans. Today, I would like to introduce StopSoldierSuicide.org. Until recently, despite their wonderful work, I had not heard of them. Fortunately, there are people like those in this organization that really do help people. Stop Soldier Suicide is… Read More »
[August 25, 2014] Every once in a while I come across a person’s firsthand account of North Korea (link here). The author is witty but informative. There is some good information to be had from reading the entire blog entry. In particular I liked the focus of the discussion on how big a deal the leadership of the… Read More »
[August 24, 2014] My grandmother constantly told me to mind my manners, go to church, and obey the Golden Rule. Grandmothers are always right, of course. I can never outdo her but here is a list of a dozen leadership lessons I learned from spending 40 years in the U.S. Army. Things I learned in the military should… Read More »
[August 23, 2014] Significant risks to “modern” senior leaders are not having all the best ideas on the table while making decisions and communicating strategy. This includes having all the relevant information available and the thinking behind the best ideas. Both the information and thinking needed is best achieved through encouraging open debate. Successful organizations, lead by some… Read More »
[August 22, 2014] Leaders who find themselves being emotionally drawn into certain situations risk being seen as biased, untrustworthy, fixated, and partisan. The best leaders treat their job as a professional. Senior leaders should be careful about taking things personal in their work. The message sent is that they can be swayed or manipulated by certain issues. Therefore,… Read More »
[August 21, 2014] Here at theLeaderMaker.com, we are commemorating World War I with the hope of never repeating the same political and military mistakes. Students of history know WWI was a nasty affair that resulted in the deaths of millions. It wrought havoc everywhere and instead of solving any problem, it actually put into motion events that would… Read More »
[August 21, 2014] Anyone spending time in front of the camera of the press knows that the skills needed to come across as credible are different. Likewise in a print media interview, what you know about your job is often less important than your ability to project a well-informed, shrewd, and practical understanding of the subject … and,… Read More »
[August 20, 2014] Mel and Tim were an American soul music duo and one of my favorite singing groups back in my early college years – the 1970s. They were best known for the song “Backfield in Motion” but they sang another song that I listened to and most people have heard. Mel and Tim sang “It’s the… Read More »
[August 20, 2014] A few months back in May, I wrote about the targeting of government leaders using “investigations” as a tool to divert them from doing their job (see links here and here). A few days ago a Texas grand jury indicted Texas Governor Rick Perry for threatening to veto and then vetoing an appropriation for the… Read More »