First Blog

Every leader has their own style on leadership.  Let's collect some of these for your consideration.  Some apply to work, some at home, some in life.  Teachers are leaders, together with parents, supervisors, CEOs, generals, and presidents.  Not all have all qualities.  Which do you have? How to lead. 1.      Lead by example. 2.      Lead by doing. 3.      Lead by showing. 4.      Lead by courage. 5.      Lead by decisiveness. 6.      Lead by inventing. 7.      Lead by vision. 8.      Lead by inspiration. 9.      Lead by listening. 10.   Lead by optimism. 11.   Lead by truthfulness. 12.   Lead by reliability. 13.   Lead by self-belief. How many leadership skills do you have? The great teacher may have skills of inspiration and listening, but what about inventing?  The general may have skills of being decisive and having courage, but what about vision and listening?  You see, leadership captures some aspects but not others.  This is why leadership is am

Power and Privilege, two power words of our day.  Most people want at least one; some want both. So, is there a difference? Power is a general term that implies the ability to shape conditions, control people, or enhance particular goals. Power has many forms, of which privilege is only one. Privilege is usually conferred, but general power is seized. Here are a few other forms of power.  Privilege Good looks Money Property Ability Knowledge Authority Family Leadership Some people have only one.  Others have a few, but few have all.

When I was young, all there was just plain old intelligence , then measured by the IQ test.   The test has survived, flawed as it is, and continues to affect lives.   Its very existence proved to be a challenge to the many other forms of intelligence. These days we have emotional intelligence, and lately, artificial intelligence.   All are significantly different. More forms have been identified including… Emotional (empathetic +) Naturalist (nature smart) Musical (sound smart) Logical-mathematical (number/reasoning smart) Existential (life smart) Interpersonal (people smart) Bodily-kinesthetic (body smart) Linguistic (word smart) Newer forms of intelligence include... Artifical (algorithmic and programming) Information (mining and correlating) Entertainment (artificial living smarts) Medical (diagnosis smart)   Older but still valid forms include... Teaching (showing how smart) Mechanical (engine smart) Hunting and tracking (outdoors smart) Pl

A message to all contenders… The Biggest Club • You belong to the club, and worked hard to achieve prominence among all. • You believe you should be club president.  • An outsider joins, and by fluke wins the leadership. • What do you do? Accept? Or Reject? • Republicans face this now. It could happen to the Democrats.  • We could soon live within the SSA – Socialist States of America. • Even now the “U” for “United” is fading.

President Trump is trying to push through tax cuts or reforms to help build the economy. Building the economy is good.  We need this.  The matter is of methods.  His preferred method to berate or deprecate his own party to action.  He needs to exercise leadership with the entire Congress.  Leadership is an ephemeral quality only a very few understand and even fewer know.  The Congress is rather leaderless, and has been for many years. Both parties share this guilt. Congress can obstruct, and it is masterful at delay and inaction.  Briefly, doing stuff is not their forte.  Leadership!! The President can command and he can direct, but can he work with? This is needed right now.   When was the last time we had such a leader, able to build bridges, to communicate, and to achieve? ------------------- Independent people don’t like masked riders, or masked demonstrators, or masked anarchists.  These make them nervous.  They don’t like freedom of speech denied; they don’t like alter

What has happened to the US Government?  It seems like Congress is doing little, either party, preferring to squabble internally, or not allowing compromise.  Sometimes both.  The consequence is that the President makes regulations and takes other executive actions.  Both parties here.  The courts have become the legislature, assuming the job of interpreting the law in some preferred fashion – and their “legal” arguments are increasingly weak and partisan*.  I believe this era of polarized politics is the root cause of the dysfunction. I believe some persons or some organizations are at the switch, keeping this state of conflict at high tension.  For some of these, the goal is the reshaping of America toward some uncertain model.  For others, there seems to be a harkening to return to the traditional certainty and comfort of a remembered past. The central issue these days is Obamacare.  It seems no one likes it much, at least those paying the full freight of premiums.  But whi

Leadership is an aspect of your life, in almost every way.     It is important for yourself, in your family, your business, in your city, state and country.   Leadership is critical and crucial in sustaining and promoting a proper social world.  Personal leadership is important for animals of all kinds - us included.  In this brief post, let’s look at just four types of leadership.  These cover more than you might think. ·          Leadership of oneself .   You must first and foremost lead yourself by making frequent life’s decisions.   You must be in charge of what you do, how you look, how you behave, and how you project yourself to others.   Most of us can do this.   Some cannot.   Some cannot make even simple decisions about the regulation of their lives, daily, weekly, annually.   Prisons are full of people that cannot make even the simplest personal decisions; the prison provides needed personal regulation.   Please do not underestimate or dismiss this, the most basic type of

April 8, 2013: Margaret Thatcher has departed.  Wonderful to her supporters and despised by others, she  now rests upon her contributions.  Is there a lesson learned?  Maybe.  Looking at British leaders for the last while, we've seen a few monumental figures with vision and resolve.  Thatcher is among them. So also was Churchill and Gladstone. They are rare. Indeed they are the exception. Between Churchill and Thatcher there was no one, and after Margaret there has been almost no one. Maybe Blair, though he was caught up in the past and present.  Articulate though he was and is, he did not command the world stage as did others.  England's leaders have been populated and punctuated by true visionaries, and then replaced by unmemorable leaders and losers.  This has been the nature of British affairs. In the US, we have seen Reagan, Roosevelt, and Lincoln - and in between, what?  Affairs in the US are about the same. Yet, the same obtains for other world leading countries.  In