[November 18, 2020] Just the other day, a note was sent to me from a long-time friend from my days as a young man. At my friend’s request, I mailed him a list of books that I had recently read. These were books that required a bit of thinking to understand fully. He asked because he was starting… Read More »
[November 10, 2020] My Army buddies and I have been fortunate to have worked with some of the most incredible people who have ever lived, members of our nation’s military services. One group that we especially liked are called U.S. Marines. Hooah! Today is the 245th birthday of the founding of the Marine Corps. My wife, a real,… Read More »
[November 5, 2020] I’ll begin by noting that the term caretaker leadership is almost never used. The reason is that the two terms are an oxymoron when used together. I have discovered, however, that caretaker leadership happens all the time when a leader is unwilling or unable to fulfill the inherent duties of leadership and yet remains in… Read More »
77 QUOTES/NOTES/SNIPPETS from a VIETNAM WAR Veteran with PTSD: 1. Inspire or be Inspired…Or Die 2. When you are at the intersection of this way and that way- Go your way. 3. I pray today that all veteran deaths are due to natural causes. 4. I pray today that all outbound homeless pick up buses for standdowns return… Read More »
[October 24, 2020] Sage counsel from all cultures and from across history, found in philosophical and religious texts, encourages us to not lie. What is so human is that we rarely chose to follow the advice. Dr. Jordan Peterson, professor from the University of Toronto, says that we should try to tell the truth, but at least don’t… Read More »
[October 21, 2020] As the current COVID-19 pandemic slows and the Fall weather approaches, I am revisiting one of the greatest books of all time. In March of this year, I wrote a short review of The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn.1 It may have seemed like I was on kidding when I tried to sum up… Read More »
[October 14, 2020] There will be times as a leader you will be the bait to attract unwanted attention and the enemy’s firepower. During my first combat tour of duty, my small unit was tasked to build a small engineering project “outside the wire” to attract an enemy insurgent cell’s attention. Overlooking my unit was a Special Forces… Read More »
[October 12, 2020] Shortly after the terror attacks on U.S. soil, September 11, 2001, I was sitting on an Army bus when I overhead two buck Sergeants talking. The red-headed Sergeant said that he had wished he was on one of the commercial jets that had crashed into the World Trade Center a few days earlier. He believed… Read More »
[October 10, 2020] Last night at our weekly Boy Scout meeting, the boys held an election to determine who would be their next Senior Patrol Leader. The Scoutmaster, an experienced and fine gentleman, explained how the Scout election process worked and how to judge the candidates properly. He made several important points. First, among his points was that… Read More »
[October 9, 2020] A not uncommon theme I’ve hammered on a bit too much – some say not enough – here in these leadership pages is the absolute importance of telling the truth and having the courage to accept it.1 Despite its overwhelming importance, we are still driven to lie, cheat, steal, and dodge the truth. To do… Read More »