Articles
Make the Best Decision for You: Why I Stayed in the Army
by Dave Leydet As I sat in my high school algebra class, the principal’s voice came over the loudspeaker. “A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center,” he announced. I thought to myself, That’s odd; why are they telling us about a random...
Kids, COAs, and Career Crossroads: the Coordinated Chaos of being Dual-Military
By CPT Alex Weisser “Until I get too old or too ugly; Uncle Sam will tell me when to leave.” That’s what I tell people when they ask me how long I plan to stay in the Army. To an extent, my tongue-in-cheek saying is heartfelt. I enjoy Soldiering....
Retiring at 20: Why I Chose Family Over Competing for Battalion Command
Three years ago, with palms sweating, I walked into my senior rater’s office for a counseling session. I told him, “I don’t want battalion command and plan to retire at the first opportunity.” It took months to gather the courage to say those...
Sometimes, They Have to Touch the Stove
By Joe Byerly Now that I’m a parent of kids who are getting older, I find myself wanting to play more “life defense”—to protect them from the bruises and blows of growing up: failure, misfortune, consequences. I think we all do this to...
Ep 148- Wandering into the Woods: Sarah Blake Morgan on Ego Death and Finding Purpose
Send us a text In this powerful conversation, award-winning journalist turned Army officer Sarah Blake Morgan joins Joe for a raw and reflective discussion on identity, purpose, and what happens when we step away from the life we always thought we...
Letting Go of the Uniform, Not the Lessons
By: Joshua Risner In the Right Place I turned 15 on 9/11. I was raised in a patriotic household in rural America, by a family that valued and demonstrated service to others, to the community, and to the Nation. Like so many others, 9/11 was the...
Three Lessons for the Commissioning Class of 2025
by John Geracitano Sixteen years ago, I was a struggling lieutenant—well-meaning but clueless. Despite caring deeply about my unit’s success, its soldiers, and my leadership role, I couldn’t grasp the “big picture.” Navigating the many demands of...
Because the Plot Demands It: On Roles, Responsibility, and Character
By Joe Byerly I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the various roles we play in life—and the responsibilities, behaviors, and costumes that come with them. Every role, from parent to spouse to commander to CEO, comes with a contract. Sometimes...
Ep 147- On Character with General Stanley McChrystal
In this powerful conversation, retired four-star General Stanley McChrystal joins Joe to discuss his new book, On Character: Choices That Define a Life. Drawing from decades of military leadership and personal reflection, General McChrystal...
The Case for Sharing Your Personality Test Results at Work
U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Ian Thompson By Jared Massie All service members should take a personality test. This helps you see yourself as others do and generates positive cycles of self-reflection. Additionally, personality tests cultivate an...
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Adaptive Problem Solving: Leadership Tools for the Modern Battlefield
by Chris Duncan Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine represented a paradigm shift for the way the world fights wars. For the units who were activated on an Immediate Response Force (IRF) deployment to Poland in anticipation of this threat, the...
Staying in Touch: How to Make Networking a Little Less Awful
by John Goetz It was a normal Monday morning as I opened my Outlook inbox to review the emails received over the weekend. As the messages populated, an unexpected wave of excitement washed over me as I zeroed in on one name. A former commander of...
Do I Make Good Decisions?
By Joe Byerly Do you make good decisions? If you think the answer is yes, how do you really know? A decision may seem sound at the moment, but time can reveal a different outcome. I can think of several decisions that felt right initially but led...
Was My Military Career Worth It?
By Joe Byerly I recently grabbed a drink with some friends in Southern Pines, NC. As I sat sipping my beer, one of them turned to me and asked, “Now that you are at the very end of your military career, was it worth it?'” He and his...
Cultivate Workplace Creativity With These 3 Methods
by Tommy Miller At the core of ever-changing warfare, human curiosity demands that we uncover new problem-solving approaches to create effective solutions. Just think about how much the Army and its warfighting tactics have changed from the...
CrowdStrike, COVID, and System Fragility: Takeaways for Today’s Leaders
By John Geracitano On July 18th, a software patch from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike tore through Microsoft operating systems, exposing the fragility of our technological networks. This incident didn’t just crash Windows computers; it required...
Shared Humanity and Mutual Benefit: Lessons from Baghdad
John “Dragon” Teichert Life is not a solo sport; neither is leadership or innovation. We all need the equipping, encouraging, and emboldening that comes with strong, trusting relationships. All too often our rugged independence, a positive...
The One Question That Every Leader Should Ask
By Jason W. Hughes “Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.” – Andy Stanley The Question: How can I be a better leader for you? Oftentimes, we think our leadership...
It’s Not All Supposed to Suck: Fighting Operational Friction
(Matthias Fruth/Army, 2019) By James Boyd I remember doing my first inventory preparing for deployment. It was 2008, the first iPhone had just been released, and I was new to a Special Forces Team. I spent days sifting through reams of paper filled...
Overcoming Barriers to Innovation: Taking Lessons Learned from Ukraine
by Andrew DeMoss and Luke VanAntwerp Over a century ago, on the European battlefields of World War I, new technologies in the form of machine guns and massed artillery forced armies into trenches. Leaders turned to other new technologies such as...
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