[June 2, 2020] After a peaceful day of protests in Atlantic City, New Jersey, mostly black rioters, started destroying storefronts throughout the city. Atlantic City is small compared to Minneapolis, New York City, or Seattle. But it’s mayor, Marty Small, Sr., is a big man, a man with ideas on how to make the lives of his citizens… Read More »
[May 24, 2020] An Army Colonel once told me that his path to success had a lot to do with him stealing good ideas from others. Initially, I was shocked. But I realized that we all steal ideas all the time; we call this learning. We take the ideas of others, make them our own, and integrate them… Read More »
[April 26, 2020] In late 1775, on a sunny afternoon in Kinderhook, New York, several young women had gathered for a quilting bee. Suddenly, their peace was interrupted by a man who dropped in and commenced to harangue “against the Continental Congress.”1 The quiltmakers had had enough, they stripped the young man naked to the waist and commenced… Read More »
[April 20, 2020] We have all received bad advice from time to time. But it is our responsibility to either accept it, or not. When my friend Wilson was growing up with me, he asked our second-grade teacher what he should create for the upcoming annual science fair. The teacher told him to just ‘figure it out.’ That… Read More »
[April 19, 2020] Today, I would like to take a moment to discuss the novel, The Red Badge of Courage (1895)1 and link ideas in this fictional account of war to modern thinking on soldiering. As a young teenager, I discovered an old paperback copy stuffed in the back of my grandfather’s tool shed. My grandfather was born… Read More »
[December 20, 2019] An old, tough U.S. Marine sergeant once told me that the only reason he was alive today was that the [U.S. Marine] Corps had transformed him from a weakling teenage boy into a “lean, mean fighting machine.” It was the hardest thing he had ever done, and this Marine knew what he was saying. The… Read More »
[October 17, 2019] Discussion of the importance of character can be found in ancient texts, intertwined with the fog of ancient history. Unsurprisingly, character can be found in the modern, high-speed technological prowess we experience today. Hard work, self-sacrifice, positive attitude, and good judgment are just a few character traits that place the most admired citizen on the… Read More »
[August 7, 2019] Several readers wrote to me and asked if I would give some leadership points on the recent mass shootings.1 This article is designed to provide some of my thinking but with some input by others. These twin tragedies do allow leaders to show their “stuff” by doing those things within their authority to make a… Read More »
[March 16, 2019] Movies can be really funny; especially those that play on old human weaknesses. The 1997 movie, Liar Liar, starring Jim Carrey, is a real treat; particularly, as Carrey is a lawyer who tells the truth for 24 hours straight. To be a good person and to be a true leader one should tell the truth… Read More »
[February 14, 2019] Criticizing military leaders for their failures is not something I write about lightly. But, as all who have “been there and done that,” know that criticizing can have a meaningful and positive impact. The reason that thoughtful criticism is necessary is that people die when military leadership fails. One good thing about U.S. military leaders… Read More »