Leadership Means Always Being Ready

By | June 28, 2017

[June 28, 2017]  I was fortunate to attend one of the U.S. military’s General Officer courses a number of years ago and to develop a number of friendships that endure to this day.  Called CAPSTONE, the four week course covers a number of major issues affecting national security.1  One lesson the course repeatedly reinforced was that leadership means… Read More »

Political Leadership: Maajid Nawaz

By | June 27, 2017

[June 27, 2017]  This is my third in a series of posts dealing with new ideas; especially political leadership ideas that are both difficult to hold and to realize.  Today, I’m presenting the thinking of Maajid Nawaz, British political activist, author, and statesman.  He is also a former member of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir and was imprisoned… Read More »

Setting Expectations

By | June 24, 2017

[June 24, 2017]  U.S. President Harry S Truman once said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”  The great Cold War that began shortly after World War II between the Soviet Union on one side and Western powers1 on the other and produced plenty of political “heat” dealing with it.  The opposing views of… Read More »

Delay in Maintenance: When Leaders Fail

By | June 21, 2017

[June 21, 2017]  Today is the first day of Summer and the media is full of stories about people being caught on malfunctioning trains, injured from falling building debris, and experiencing damage caused by road disrepair.  This is repeatedly the result of a delay in maintenance.  But, let’s call it what it really is … a leader failure.… Read More »

If You See a Need … Fix it

By | June 20, 2017

[June 20, 2017]  In the army we were always taught to never walk past a problem.  If you do, then you’ve just set a new standard of behavior – a much lower standard.  I thought people knew this but it was given a new lease-on life in my mind when I witnessed two soldiers walk into a recruiting… Read More »

Backlash Against Colleges & Leadership Failure

By | June 19, 2017

[June 19, 2017]  Last week I was traveling through the Kansas City airport and picked up the Kansas City Star newspaper.  In it was an article on University of Missouri financial troubles caused, in part, by a backlash from a series of racially charged protests.  Leadership failures at several of the university system’s campuses were center stage nationally.… Read More »