[April 24, 2016] In August 1944 during the Sicily Campaign of World War II, General George S. Patton slapped two U.S. Army soldiers for what believed to be cowardice. Patton was a hard driving, highly disciplined leader of troops during the war and was undeniably one of its most successful generals. Accepting criticism of these slapping incidents was… Read More »
[April 23, 2016] Most leaders don’t have the ability to clearly define where they’re going. My grandmother tried to teach me as a child that the best way to be happy was to know what I wanted and to tell my family about it. Not unlike a child (their mission is to be happy), it is common for… Read More »
[April 22, 2016] Yes, war settles disputes and I won’t qualify the statement because it’s true. Human history has been burdened (and enthralled) with war from its beginnings and it will continue to be so; at least into the near future. But, are the results of war predictable and desirable? That is my subject today. To take a… Read More »
[April 21, 2015] With a small group of high school friends, we began college as freshmen engineer majors and with the hopes that we would survive the heavy course load heaped upon us. A few of us did finish but only those of us who had the ability to organize details in our lives and school were able… Read More »
[April 20 2016] A number of folks have commented on my two military leadership priorities; quality training (in peacetime) and taking care of people. There are many reasons for having these two as important aspects of military officer responsibilities but I’ve found that they work reasonably well and people remember them. The only problem I encountered was that… Read More »
[April 19 2016] A good friend of mine, I’ll call him Bill, was a truly good leader of soldiers. He was an U.S. Army Infantry officer and he was the type of person you wanted to be in charge of troops in time of war. Bill was aggressive, reliable, trustworthy, and could operate with little guidance or help. … Read More »
[April 18, 2016] Geez, you would think that with so many senior political leaders running for high office that they would know the first rule of mature leadership … Rule #1 … never blame the other guy for failures where you have responsibility. Everyone knows that leaders don’t personally do everything and that their job is to provide… Read More »
[April 17, 2016] One day in the future, I hope to travel to North Korea and tour the countryside to see inside a nation that has been at the heart of impoverishing millions of its citizens and threatening the world. The hermit kingdom of North Korea has revealed signs of collapse (or implosion) for decades and despite predictions… Read More »
[April 15, 2016] To be a great mentor doesn’t require much … but it does demand a passion and purpose to arouse the spirit of those mentored. Much has been said about mentorship here in theLeaderMaker.com and elsewhere. How to separate fiction from fact and opinion from reality is what leadership is all about. What I’ve done here… Read More »
[April 12, 2016] Yes we do accumulate bad habits and it’s not unusual for senior leaders to be hindered seriously in their job performance directly for this very reason. I’ve seen it happen many times. Leaders are particularly susceptible to picking up bad habits because they’ve reached their position through successes that have given them a bit of… Read More »