[May 19, 2014] Growing up Caucasian in a small north Louisiana town with only one blinking light was not very noteworthy but I do remember the “colored” and “white” signs on the bathroom doors of the corner gas station. Grade school in the segregated South is a distant memory for me, but only later was I to realize… Read More »
By guest blogger Sadako Red [see disclaimer] [May 16, 2014] My goal as a senior leader, is to give the reader my thoughts on race and leadership in America and above all where I think we’re headed, perhaps good and perhaps bad. For I am an optimistic leader, the one who thinks the glass is half-full rather than… Read More »
[April 28, 2014] World War II veterans have been called the Greatest Generation; and they rightly deserve our admiration. Yet prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, this might not have been the case. Sadly, these veterans are passing away and few will survive the next decade – shutting the door on what we can learn directly from them.… Read More »
[April 24, 2014] Racial discrimination is legal and officially sanctioned at the highest levels of leadership in the United States government (discrimination in universities anyway). While this could be a shock to many, it should be surprising that there is also strong resistance to eliminating those legal racial barriers. Does this sound like the 1960s, pre-Civil Rights era?… Read More »
[April 23, 2014] It should be clear by now that great leaders (truly all leaders) provide an extraordinary level of motivation. When we look to history for examples of motivation, one of the most famous is the Islamic Commander Tariq. What he said to his men is something I learned in grade school history class (and probably all… Read More »
[April 19, 2014] My best friend in high school owned a 1962 Chevrolet Corvair – before the end of our senior year, the car was a heap of trash because of its propensity to roll in a tight turn. That was when I first heard of Ralph Nader, a man who made car safety a calling that eventually… Read More »
[April 11, 2014] Over the past few days, within the blogosphere, there has been talk about the “intelligence equals education” debate. The debate centers on whether a college degree is a requirement for “higher [political] office,” like President of the United States. The implication we can get from this debate is that leadership probably requires a college degree. … Read More »
[April 11, 2014] They were known as the Brooklyn Mohawks and they were famous as “fearless high-rise construction workers.” As iron workers and riveters, they helped make the New York City skyline in the early 20th Century. As senior leaders know, leadership employs bravery (moral or physical courage). The Iroquois Nation’s culture1 with a “warrior ethic” was a… Read More »
[April 10, 2014] Today we are being told that former IRS official Ms Lois Lerner was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about the targeting of “conservative groups” by the IRS1. Interestingly, we are starting to see more political leaders coming forth asking the IRS to be transparent about what happened. I argued a… Read More »
[April 08, 2014] Senior leadership means knowing when to act, when to speak, and when to make a decision. Because senior leaders are involved more at the strategic level work (and thus less at the tactical level), it is not typically necessary to be quick to make a move. Senior leadership in this respect is similar to the… Read More »