[June 11, 2014] During Basic Combat Training in the U.S. Army, I learned quickly that giving an excuse for not doing my job or for failing to take responsibility for something for a decision that was mine, had the “effective range of zero.” Army Drill Sergeants took nothing for granted and took no excuses from us trainees and… Read More »
[June 10, 2014] On my way to JFK Airport in New York City last week, I discovered by accident a really good radio station that had Howard Schultz discussing the concept of success and how really difficult it can be. What intrigued was that the radio station was dedicated to leadership topics. Good leaders are always looking for… Read More »
[June 10, 2014] A pattern emerges from the study of great leaders demonstrating that many of those who are the greatest of leaders were successful at both governance and military leadership. This pattern holds for Ramesses II (1303 BC – 1213 BC), also known as Ramesses the Great – the third Egyptian pharaoh of the 19th dynasty. He… Read More »
[June 09, 2014] Effective leadership means the leader should be regularly identifying and eliminating their bad habits; those that affect their leadership. Bad habits make it much more difficult to be successful leaders. Mountains of self-help articles and books are written, seminars given, and academic courses taken on how to eliminate bad habits.1 Leaders, of course, are subject… Read More »
[June 08, 2014] Lately, in senior political and military circles, there have been discussions about a new type of war, a “new cold war” with China and Russia. This may seem a bit odd given what we are hearing about Russia’s efforts in the Ukraine or China’s involvement in disputes over several islands. Leadership however means clarity and… Read More »
[June 08, 2014] In the 1980s, my friends and I had long conversations about Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein and his role in the Iran-Iraq War. The debate about whether he was an evil dictator or a grandfatherly figure protecting his country raged off and on; even after he used chemical weapons to attack Kurdish civilians in 1988. Yet,… Read More »
[June 07, 2014] Many authorities on education think they have the answer to teaching leadership for the 21st Century. Generally, their desire and motivation is present to teach basic and advanced leadership principles. They may have much of the answer right. For educators trying to predict what the future will hold for leaders is not an exact science… Read More »
[June 06, 2014] Codenamed Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied France had been long in coming. Success was an outgrowth of the many leadership lessons from the failures at Dunkirk and other battlefields. Those lessons were hard earned and cost the lives of tens of thousands of military and civilians. Yet, what did the military and civilian senior… Read More »
[June 06, 2014] Operation Overlord was the codename used for the invasion1 of German-occupied France. Today’s anniversary of those landings allows us to look back at a time that was very different when compared to our world today. However, we can see similarities across history that evil is not always recognized early for what it will do if… Read More »
[June 06, 2014] Seventy years ago today, over 160,000 Allied soldiers landed on a 50-mile stretch of beach at Normandy, France. Assembled was also the largest naval task force ever created with 7,000 vessels and in addition there were 24,000 paratroopers dropped inland. The invasion was a controversial plan fraught with great risk and peril if it should… Read More »