[February 14, 2016] I surprised my wife with a bouquet of pink carnation flowers for Valentine’s Day today and she’s been all smiles since. But Valentine’s Day is more than just another holiday to purchase something; it means that all of us have an opportunity to do something good for someone we love. “A heart is not judged… Read More »
[February 1, 2016] The published core values of any organization tells us a lot about the thinking of its senior leadership. With some analysis we can see if they will have difficulty in achieving their mission or not. Today, I’ll be highlighting the American Library Association (ALA) and their official core values. The ALA is an old organization,… Read More »
[January 18, 2016] In honor of the contributions made by Martin Luther King Jr., today was set aside to recognize his ideals and the leadership he gave before his life was tragically ended by an assassin. MLK’s principles have been fully incorporated into the American psychic and its moral values, making this nation a better place to live… Read More »
[December 30, 2015] Shopping this past month for Christmas and birthday gifts provided amble time for me to observe both good and bad small business practices in action. It also gave me a snapshot of their core values and whether their employees understood and practiced those values in serving customers. Any business that survives for more than a… Read More »
[September 25, 2015] George, a good friend of mine from our past army days, used to tell me often that, “I never drink good coffee because I might like it and then have to pay for it.” You see, in U.S. Army dining facilities and in our offices, coffee is most often found hot and free. Later, after… Read More »
[August 31, 2015] The greatest threat to a nation outside of armed invasion is the degeneration of its military from its professional standing into a bureaucracy. If we are to believe the outgoing U.S. Army Chief of Staff who told us that there is a struggle for the Army to maintain its professionalism, we will have to reverse… Read More »
[August 27, 2015] Texas A&M University is the first academic organization I’ve featured here under core values. The reason has everything to do with the fact that college-level organizations rarely have their core values advertised, if they have them at all. None that I attended had core values at the time and no one I know could recall… Read More »
[July 31, 2015] If there is one thing that I’ve learned as a senior leader it’s that the best predictor of success in leaders is how those adults fared as children – did they grow up in a stable family and have the right experiences? Many leaders have begun to emphasize the importance of developing certain characteristics in… Read More »
[July 21, 2015] There is an old Chinese short story about honesty and the rich gifts that telling the truth can bring upon us. Many of us, especially leaders, want success so badly that we can be enticed to lie … or perhaps just shade the truth a little. I’ve seen it done so many times by leaders… Read More »
[June 28, 2015] I’ve often written about how an organization’s core values help drive the conduct of its people and its external relationships with customers and stakeholders. Many examples were offered to help illustrate this fundamental fact about organizational behavior. Today, I will depart somewhat from my earlier format to bring forward an example of a more controversial,… Read More »