[October 19, 2016] One of the greatest military commanders in history, Napoléon Bonaparte, once said that a leader is a dealer in hope. Leaders everywhere strive to give their followers hope … even when that message has only the flimsiest chance of success but especially during times of great danger. Hope is the great motivator. This is the… Read More »
[October 18, 2016] It’s my belief, based upon experience and study of leadership, that the proper development of good leaders requires a bad leader to give them lessons on how not to act. For my purposes here, when I write about a “bad leader” this refers to those with poor skills, not evil traits; not to confuse evil… Read More »
[October 14, 2016] I’ve been asked this question many times and the answer is, of course, “no” … the characteristics of military leaders are the same as all other leaders. To some of my friends, they were a bit surprised by my answer because, like many people, they are confusing leadership style with leadership characteristics. This may only… Read More »
[October 13, 2016] A few days ago I got an email from a friend of mine in the Australian Army. He and I served together in Iraq fighting insurgents who were good at killing civilians and blowing things up. Often ignored when one is in the “middle of the fight” are those things that bring us together and… Read More »
[October 2, 2016] It seemed so simple and yet so obviously necessary, yet no one had thought of it. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said, in a speech earlier this week, that she knows about the “gruesome realities” that North Koreans face daily and appealed to them to “Please come to the bosom of freedom in the South.”1 … Read More »
[September 12, 2016] As part of our physical fitness training in the Army, my fellow soldiers and I regularly negotiated the standard obstacle course. Its purpose was to challenge us to find ways to successfully navigate through the many barriers (and have a little fun that I never seemed to have). Yet, leaders face many other types of… Read More »
[September 9, 2016] The wearing of stylish clothes or handsome looks doesn’t make a person a leader or someone to be respected. Today, many of our senior leaders look and act like anything but what they are supposed to be. A leader will lack credibility unless that leader can live the part of a real leader. Only by… Read More »
[September 3, 2016] From the ranks of those who study leadership, lessons from some of the most admired military leaders of all time has been summarized for us. After hundreds of interviews with current military leaders from across the globe, research has shown that there are special nuggets that inform and teach us what makes a person successful… Read More »
[September 1, 2016] My introduction to sports was as a very young child and as a participant in large family gatherings to watch baseball’s Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and the New York Yankees play and win the World Series. We never missed a game watching the 1958 series. Their leadership on the field was legendary and… Read More »
[August 30, 2016] For a vibrant, open society to have heroes is necessary like a living animal having blood that flows through its veins. A hero helps us define the limits of our aspirations in life and so it is with Nancy Wake, the Allies’ most decorated servicewoman of World War II. Her story is one of daring,… Read More »