[May 7, 2019] An old army buddy of mine used to say that it’s “better to quarrel with someone you disagree with, than to agree with someone you see eye-to-eye.” He believed that to be a great leader, you had to sharpen your skills through open debate, sober judgments, and hard-won ideas. To find those who will disagree… Read More »
[May 6, 2019] Two things came together yesterday that got me to thinking about a post-modern rallying-cry of many young people today. Collective responsibility – individual responsibility for the actions of others – is not new but its application to a range of modern problems is now more noticeable. Earlier in the day, I was listening to a… Read More »
[May 4, 2019] Since the beginning of the War on Terrorism after the attacks on America, there has been an increase in the number of organizations that fill needs the military cannot handle. One need is post-service veteran needs related to combat injuries. This is where K9 Warriors, Inc. comes in. Last week I attended a Veterans Administration… Read More »
[May 3, 2019] Michael Ramirez political cartoons often take on a biting quality when the subject matter hits close to home. In the thumbnail to this article is an older one of his drawings, titled ‘Change,’ that shows an Uncle Sam getting ready to repair America’s image. The cartoon is about entitlement and its destructive influence across the… Read More »
[May 2, 2019] There’s an adage that says you can’t please everybody, but I regularly experience leaders who attempt to do so anyway. I see this all the time. Many psychologists have suggested that this trait might be innate to explain the power it can hold over us. “When you stand alone and sell yourself, you can’t please… Read More »
[May 1, 2019] I’ve always enjoyed working with people who grew up and worked on a farm or ranch where they learned the value of hard work. They learned all about nature and spent long periods outside in the harsh elements, are self-educated and worked with their hands. This is the leader and the cowboy. Contrast these men… Read More »
[April 29, 2019] My pre-teen years involved working at several small jobs that taught me many things. Among those was the ability to work with others, pick who could be trusted, and learn about the limits of your friends. One summer, a friend of mine and I were going to make lots of money selling lemonade. Ben Carson,… Read More »
[April 28, 2019] An elemental part of intelligent leadership means being able to hold an idea in your mind and not accept or reject it. To examine an idea for its value and to entertain its significance is difficult. Nothing is more challenging than the ability to study, debate, and think through a concept without immediately accepting or… Read More »
[April 27, 2019] What matters most in a leader’s development is not how much information we can cram into his (or her) brain, but whether we can help them develop their character. It should, therefore, come as no surprise, that the main theme of this leadership blog is to help develop that character. Conscientiousness, however, is the greatest… Read More »
[April 26, 2019] What we do as humans, echoes throughout time. While I was a new Lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, Georgia, we learned about the Mi Lai Massacre in Vietnam. The massacre was a stain on our military reputation and the reason why we studied it so closely. Leadership means keeping alive our historical… Read More »