[March 20, 2015] Shortly after U.S. President Obama gave the “green light” to capture or kill the terrorist Osama Bin Laden – who was subsequently killed – the president used a sports metaphor to explain the decision not to release photos of the body. President Obama said, “We don’t need to spike the football.”1 In other words, since… Read More »
[March 19, 2015] It has always been of interest for leaders to discover those profound issues of the day by asking the question “what keeps leaders up at night?” – figuratively speaking. Our focus here at theLeaderMaker.com has always been to uncover what makes leaders tick and sometimes what frightens our most senior leaders. Our nation’s leaders in… Read More »
[March 18, 2015] In 2006 while serving in Iraq as a U.S. Army engineer, I encountered Joe S. (a pseudonym) an auditor with the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO). He was looking into whether U.S. dollars were spent appropriately on the Iraqi reconstruction effort. Following all laws and regulations of the United States is a requirement of the… Read More »
[March 17, 2015] Deep in the manmade tunnels of Cheyenne Mountain in the state of Colorado is located the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Stenciled on one of the tunnel walls is a quote from an Air Force general, “Perfect performance might just be good enough.” One implication is that since perfection is impossible, it is up… Read More »
[March 16, 2015] While watching a recent television special on the Black Plague, one of its main themes was that the millions of deaths caused by the pandemic lead directly to the disintegration of many long established social institutions. It follows that the scale of the deaths and suffering led to probably the greatest leadership failures in history.… Read More »
[March 15, 2015] … and keep it. A trend that I observed while in the military for nearly four decades was that the trust military members have for each another was declining. How to establish trust and keep it was always a concern because without it we had nothing. With major U.S. elections scheduled next year, those wanting… Read More »
[March 14, 2015] A year ago in a U.S. Army senior-level forum for Flag officers, a small group of military folks got to hear from a very successful basketball coach, Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Generally recognized as one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University, is a leader whose success comes from… Read More »
[March 13, 2015] We are hearing good news about the battles in Iraq that the Islamic State (ISIS) is being pushed back. I am proposing that the Iraqi army advances in Iraq is not all good news because it is being assisted by Iran and without U.S., Arab, or allied support. The unintended consequences of this means that… Read More »
[March 12, 2015] The recent ruckus over Ms Hillary Clinton’s use of private email to conduct United States official business gives us an opportunity to provide a few senior leader thoughts on leader transparency. Ultimately the email controversy is about transparency; whether a leader is playing by the rules and being open, fair, and honest with the American… Read More »
[March 11, 2015] One of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted characteristic of a senior leader is forgiveness. Rarely talked about and while practiced by many, unevenly applied. Leaders who practice forgiveness will benefit everyone in their organization and simultaneously retain the best worker talent and improve performance. People make mistakes – some unintentional and some by choice –… Read More »