[February 17, 2022] With great fanfare, the CEO of Morgan Stanley investment bank announced a new Freshman Enhancement Program in conjunction with Princeton University.1 Morgan Stanley’s program excludes those who are not Black, Hispanic, Native American or LGBTQ+ freshman undergraduate class of 2025. By doing this, Morgan Stanley violated their core values. Putting aside the issue that anyone… Read More »
[February 16, 2022] Teamwork makes the dream work and it’s never been more important than in today’s diverse and distributed workplaces. Without a team mentality and established practices for communication and collaboration, companies are prone to organizational silos and a breakdown of leadership. Collaborative teams, on the other hand, are efficient, innovative, and accountable to the company’s goals.… Read More »
[February 15, 2022] Last night, my wife watched a political commentary on her Fire Tablet device. She yells over to me and says, “You gotta see this.” Two black women, Diamond and Silk, were non-stop yakking it up about freedom and liberty, how our political and legal system is failing, and making us both laugh. It was just… Read More »
[February 14, 2022] When I became an Infantry Battalion commander (with approximately 700 Soldiers), I instituted a policy of wearing our Class A uniform (similar to a suit and tie) to daily work, unless we were in the field. Before that, their commander had “dress down” days and “come as you are weekends.” I stopped this dressing down… Read More »
[February 13, 2022] My school years were often punctuated by teachers asking me, ‘Doug, why can’t you follow the rules?’ I was never really that good at it. After joining the U.S. Army, I struggled to follow their rules and would suffer as a consequence. Understanding why there were rules (regulations, policies, directives, orders, etc.) was helpful but… Read More »
[February 12, 2022] In 1986, I took command of a line U.S. Army Infantry Company. Nearly 200 men were members of my unit, mainly Infantry, but a few support soldiers. We had medics, communications specialists, clerks, and a couple of mechanics. It took a continued effort from the command team to point all our people in the right… Read More »
[February 11, 2022] Sometimes, history presents us with unexpected lessons. I recently read Antony Beevor’s 1999 book, Stalingrad: The Fateful siege: 1942-1943. My objective was to learn as much as possible to help me be a better leader. But can we take lessons from a long-ago battle and make those lessons apply to us as an individual? Yes,… Read More »
[February 10, 2022] I admit to putting off the publication of this article for several months. I wrote it back in July of last year and decided to wait for several reasons. I list those reasons below. Some folks I trust implicitly, all in the U.S. Army, have told me about internal policy changes and evolving military priorities… Read More »
[February 9, 2022] I discovered long ago that motivation makes the difference in how well or poorly we all live our lives. I also found that avoiding personal destruction and failure was the most common motivational factor for leaders; not struggling for success, not happiness, not good feelings, and not helping the world. That’s right. The fear of… Read More »
[February 8, 2022] Growing up, us kids had minimal permission to watch television and were restricted to one 30-minute show per evening. My brother and I chose the TV show Combat!, starring Vic Morrow and Rick Jason.1 This televised war drama series covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans during World War… Read More »