Archive of Posts

Below you can find a complete archive of posts from The Military Leader. If the content engages you, be sure to share it with your team.

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Published Articles & Media

I’m excited to highlight that Inc. Magazine picked up my “It is what it is” post.
Check it out here:  The Stupidity of “It is what it is”

Cooperation Without Coordination on ProDev2Go
The Strategic Development of Tactical #Leadership
 with Matt Rasmussen on Strategy Bridge
If you think snot rockets are gross…
 – Carrying the Gun – March 2016
How Effective is Your Leadership Narrative?
 – From the Green Notebook – November 2015
Lieutenant Lessons…Continued – Small Wars Journal – April 2014
Getting Your Mental Map Realigned (Sadr City 2008) – War On the Rocks – June 2014

And here is the collection of syndicated articles on Task & Purpose.

“12 Things Good Bosses Believe” – based on Robert Sutton’s article in Harvard Business Review)

12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#12)15333692505_d8293e4e04_z
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#11)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#10)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#9)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#8)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#7)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#6)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#5)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#4)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#3)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#2)
12 Things Good Bosses Believe (#1)

“Twenty Habits that Hold You Back from the Top” – based on Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

Speaking When Angry (Habit Series #7)
Telling the World How Smart We Are (Habit Series #6)

Starting with “No, But, or However” (Habit Series #5)

Making Destructive Comments (Habit Series #4)

Passing Judgment (Habit Series #3)
Adding Too Much Value (Habit Series #2)
Addicted to Winning (Habit Series #1, pt 2)
Addicted to Winning (Habit Series #1, pt 1)

Blog Posts from The Military Leader

purpose

At the end of the map marker…

Time to Change Perspective

Seasons in Leadership

Creating Stability in Your Organization

Sharing the spotlight

Partial Thanks

The opportunity before you

Prone to advise

Climate & Responsibility

Leadership and Likership

A New Foundation for the Profession of Arms

Avoid the Meeting Meltdown

Who is the Hero?

Three Leader Sins to Avoid

Are You Doing Your Most Impactful Work?

Leaders Turn Brick into Paper

If you think snot rockets are gross…

At the Intersection of Values and Hardship

A Time for Perspective

Build Your Team with a Little Gift Giving

The Books I Read in 2017

I ,Too, Was Afraid to Do Counseling

Where Do You Get Your Inspiration?

“Rank Ordering Your Future” – A Look at CSL Preferences

Permitted but Useless

2 Years of Lessons from Battalion Command

Inspire Transformational Change by Not Giving So Much Guidance

What Combat Demands from Every Individual

4,567 Words of Advice for Crushing ROTC Advanced Camp

The Military Leader Reading List

5 Things Commanders Should Know About Communications

Announcing…The Field Grade Leader!

27 Questions to Identify Culture and Define Vision

Picking Which Ball to Drop

11 Tips for Succeeding as Aide-de-Camp

Patton’s Advice Has a Serious Flaw

Providing Clarity with an Evaluations Philosophy

The 5 Leadership Love Languages

You Don’t Have Time for Professional Reading…Try This

Stories of Failure – “That time I made my FRG Leader cry.”

Traits, Obituaries, and Life’s Purpose

We Can Do Better at Teaching Army Doctrine

Great question…what DID I learn in command?

7 Gifts for a Military Leader

The Chilling Story Behind the Mayflower

The Best Military Gift You’ll Ever Give

The Bee, the Brain, & the Bully

1,000,000 Conversations About Leadership

Rank-Based Mentoring for Commanders

Performance-Based Mentoring for Busy Leaders

“Action Man” – Know Your Role and Be a Hero

17 Productivity Hacks for Your Military Staff

This Mindset Shift Changes Everything

“Two Matts and a Pat” – Recognizing the Value of Mentorship

Prevent Power from Corrupting Your Leadership

In Leadership, You Are a Consumer, a Producer…or Irrelevant

10 Ways to Start a Conversation About Leadership

11 Priceless Colin Powell Quotes

Why Do Toxic Leaders Keep Getting Promoted?

Misunderstanding Military Millennials

John Derr

“Lessons from Uncle John”

Stories of Failure – Undermining the First Sergeant

Grow NOW!…with these 7 Podcast Interviews

Connecting Today’s Soldiers with Yesterday’s Sacrifice

The Three C’s of Trust

How Compassion Can Make or Break a Career

Meet the Extraordinary Leader

Leadership Reflections from Battalion Command

12 Tips for Showing Leadership During Your Staff Time

An Open Letter to Company Command Teams

An Open Letter to Cadets

The Art of Presence

People…the Army’s Legacy of Leadership

Stories of Failure – Ranger School

When Everest Just Isn’t Your Summit

Leadership in Action – Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Luck be a Lady

Proactive Luck

The Role of Luck in Becoming a Successful Officer

Leadership

Putting Leadership Back in Leader Development

Have We Removed Leadership from Leader Development?

McChrystal and a Grain of Salt

Professional Etiquette in the Digital Age

More Important than Rank

Advice for the Starving Staff Artist

My In-Depth Guide to Creating a Blog Post

Sebastian Junger Knows What We Know About Combat

7 Ways to Fail as a Staff Officer

What Hell Looks Like

The Top Posts from 2015

The Most Important Leadership Quote You’ll Read this Year

What Combat Leaders Need to Know About Neuroscience

Stop Telling Me to Listen to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History!

What’s Your Leadership Narrative?

Leadership Speed and Why It Matters

Making Sense of Battalion Command Selection

4 Keys to a Successful Military Transition

hell

This is #Slack…and Here’s How Your Unit Can Use It

Work and Life

When the Military Profession Isn’t

Stop Calling Your Soldiers Children

Quotes for The Military Leader

Achieving Effects with Your Boss (pt. 3): Decision Time

Professional Development, One Paragraph at a Time (ProDev2Go)

The Leadership Bottleneck

Leadership in Action: Colonel Charles A. Beckwith

14 Simple Ways to Connect with Your People

I Admit It…I Forgot How to Workout

The Post-Active Duty Leadership Environment – Part 3 (Developing Leaders)

Achieving Effects with Your Boss (pt. 2): Intentional Engagement

Achieving Effects with Your Boss (pt. 1): First Impressions

“Sir, You Humiliated Us” – A Commander’s Lesson in Humility

The Secret to a Blister-free Foot March

How to Write Your Own User Manual

Systems that Strangle

Leadership Bottleneck

Purpose, Freedom, and the Superman – An Officer Looks Back

Junior Leaders…Success Depends on a Proactive Mindset

On Good Ideas and Hard Work

It’s Time to Rethink 360 Degree Reviews

Insight from TED You Can Use Right Now

8 Supervisor Tips for Getting More Done

Lessons from Uncle John

Taming Your Imperfections

Leaders, Your Facebook Phobia is Holding You Back

Simon Sinek’s Advice for the Military’s Sexual Assault Problem

How to Leverage Digital Leader Development

Forging Adaptive Leaders Through Crucible Training

18 Ways to Mitigate Off-Duty Risk

The Leader’s Role in Preventing Off-Duty Risk

How Do You Spot a Leader?

The Good (and Bad?) of Mentorship

5 Questions That Can Save You From Disaster

The “Phil-Osophy” of Life

Being “Somebody” Isn’t Good Enough

Command Performance Worth Plugging Into

The Top 15 Posts from 20143379472935_04467d2940_b

10 Microsoft Excel Shortcuts to Make Your Life Easier

The Science of “Mission First, People Always”

The Power of Gratitude in a Leader’s Life

9 Misguided Reasons to go to SOF Selection

Having Influence that Echoes

5 Must-Have Conversations for Military Leaders

Leaders Hold the Dominant Terrain

8 Myths About HRC Assignment Officers

Rangers Get a Legitimate Voice in New Book

Why “It Is What It Is” is a Stupid Phrase

Sleep that Sabotages Leadership

SOF Selection

“9 Misguided Reasons to go to SOF Selection”

How to Write a Change of Command Speech

A Powerful Way to Discover Your Bias

Article: “A Military Leader’s Approach to Dealing with Complexity”

What Mastery Means for Military Leaders [TED Video]

The Military Leader at 100

How to Build a Team of “Yes Men”

The Post Active-Duty Leadership Environment – Part 2 (Leadership)

7 Military Blogs You Need to Check Out

A Career of “Career-Ending” Jobs – Eisenhower’s Wavy Path to Success

6 Ways to Enhance Your Close-Out Formation

Challenging the Army Culture – “A Good Answer to an Obsolete Question”

TED Video: “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”

Article: “10 Things You’re Doing at Work That Say ‘I Don’t Care’”

Join The Women’s Mentorship Network

Bias

How To Survive a Shrinking Army

The Principles of Military Leadership

Making a Difference in the Middle East with AfPak Hands

Why Curiosity Matters

Article: “9 Things Successful People Won’t Do”

The Post-Active Duty Leadership Environment – Part 1 (Service/Excellence)

3 Leadership Lessons from Ferguson, MO

Article: “Getting the Most Out of Professional Reading”

5 Steps to Effectively Communicating Your Message

General Mark Welsh Gives “Intensely Personal” View of Combat

Leadership Lessons from an Airborne Commander

What 1,000 Leaders Looks Like

Battalion-Level Leader Development Overview

16 Resources for Preventing Distraction, Maximizing Productivity, and Prioritizing with Purpose

What a Cigarette Butt Has To Do With Freedom

Article: “8 Ways to Spot Great Leadership”

workout

A Simple Observation About Great Leaders

TED Video:  “Lead Like the Great Conductors”

“Don’t Do What Others Could Do” – Lessons for Delegation and Authority

11 Keyboard Shortcuts You Must Learn

4 Running Form Changes to Increase Speed and Efficiency

Stop Creating Confusion and Start Providing Answers

What Becoming a Parent Taught Me About Leadership (pt. 2)

What Becoming a Parent Taught Me About Leadership (pt. 1)

7 “Weak” Traits Military Leaders Should Cultivate

Quote: Terrain is Decisive

3 Traits That Will Get You Fired

Be a Smart Ranger! Stop Doing These 7 Things

12 Tips for Effectively Counseling Your Subordinates

Quote: Marshall on the Combat Leader

Leader to Follower: “You’re not really important to me.”

Staff Officer Tip: “Surge on the Problem”

Iron Major Survival Guide v2

TED Video: “Why good leaders make you feel safe”

Article: “Leadership Lessons from a Three Star General”

“The Energy Comes from You”

Article to Veterans: “9 Reasons Why I Won’t Hire You”

You Are Being Watched – A Lesson in Example

What You Can Do About Your Full Inbox

Speech: “Start by Making Your Bed” by Admiral McRaven

10 Easy Ways to Develop Your Leaders

TED Video: The Impact of Leadership

War on the Rocks Interview with General Martin Dempsey

Where’s Your Latitude? (ADP 6-22)

Freedom

TED Video: A New Look at Rewards and Motivation

TED Videos on Leadership

Article: Curve Ball for General McChrystal

Article: “Why Aren’t You Delegating?”

Article: Manage Your Work, Manage Your Life (HBR)

Wisdom from Doctrine (ADP 6-22 – Army Leadership)

Lessons from a ‘not-so-new’ Lieutenant

Tragedy and Readiness – Fort Hood’s Lesson

Putting Ego in its Place (pt. 2)

Putting Ego in its Place (pt. 1)

Achieving Influence

When Failure is Caused by Leadership

Commander-Centric Leadership

10 Life Lessons and Leadership

Wisdom from Two Distant Professions

The First Post!! (March 24, 2014)

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