Many moons ago, when I was a young leader and a younger man, I was a Platoon Leader for an infantry mortar platoon. I was in charge of about 40 people and 20 million dollars worth of equipment. At this point in my career, I had been very successful. I…
“When you become a leader, you give up the right to think about yourself.” -Gerald Brooks Leadership involves the leader, but it isn’t about the leader. If you’re reading this, your job probably isn’t about you. It’s about the people you lead. They work. You don’t. Your job is to…
His name is my name too. Back when I was a young buck, I had quite the ego. This ego made me believe I was better at most things than most people were. It wasn’t until I was knocked down a few pegs that I became more in tune with…
“The world breaks everyone, and afterwards, some are strong at the broken places.” -Ernest Hemingway Kintsukuroi (keen-tsoo-koo-roy) is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer. Philosophically, this art form treats the break as simply a moment in the life of the piece, rather than…
I once had a Soldier named Chip. Chip was a bit of a douche. He constantly rubbed people the wrong way. He would say frustratingly unprofessional things. He thought he was awesome. He wasn’t. I was senior to him, and several levels up. So, I did what I thought best. …
You are not what you say. You are what you do. Your actions are what define you. Now, thought becomes action, and thought is governed by your moral compass, maturity, and experience. Across society, everyone has a different level of moral commitment, and a different level of maturity and experience,…