Articles
Ep. 136-Building a Hall of Fame Life: David Baker on Sports, Service, and Significance
The FTGN Merch Store is Live!! Help Support the site with official FTGN Gear! Send us a text In this episode, Joe welcomes David Baker, former President & Executive Director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, to explore leadership, legacy, and...
Just Write! A Message to Junior Officers and NCOs
by Mike Everett Army senior leaders want to hear what you have to say. You don’t have to take my word for it–General Randy George, the Army Chief of Staff, has been very clear about his call for Army leaders to put pen to paper. The Harding...
Leading, Following, and Influencing in a NATO Headquarters
by Jared Nichols “Leading and following in NATO is an art, and it is as much political negotiation as it is military leadership.” – Unnamed NATO Officer In 2021, on very short notice, I began a three-year NATO assignment at Multinational Corps...
Ep 135- Breaking the Myth of the Charismatic Leader with Sam Walker
Send us a text The FTGN Merch Store is Live!! Help Support the site with official FTGN Gear!In this episode, Joe welcomes Sam Walker, author of The Captain Class: A New Theory of Leadership, to dive into the world of leadership and...
Breaking Trust and How to Deal with It
By Oren Rosen It was a typical day in ROTC when one of my students walked into my office. He had just returned from National Guard hurricane recovery operations and wanted to stop by for a quick chat. I was happy to see him and was ready to ask him...
Leveraging Public Affairs for Information Advantage in Modern Warfare
By Jennifer Bocanegra In today’s complex battlespace, the power of information can be as decisive as any weapon system. As a Public Affairs Officer (PAO) with over 15 years of experience in both Army and joint operations, I’ve witnessed...
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Deciding if Continued Military Service Is Right for You
By Joe Byerly This is a deeply personal question, and the answers are unique to each individual. While some reasons may seem similar—staying in for family, getting out for family—the underlying motivations and circumstances can vary greatly. These...
Out of the Ashes: Personal Reflections on Resilience, Suicide Prevention, & Mental Health Improvement
By Jacob Cool I experienced a parent’s worst nightmare on June 16, 2020, when the doctor informed me over the phone that my 16-year-old son Jake T. had died unexpectedly. We would later learn he had a rare heart condition. Overwhelming...
Ep 134- The Science of Better Conversations with Alison Wood Brooks
Send us a text The FTGN Merch Store is Live!! Help Support the site with official FTGN Gear!In this episode, Joe welcomes Harvard professor and author Alison Wood Brooks to discuss her groundbreaking book, Talk: The Science and Art...
The Command Assessment Program Decoded: How It’s Weighted and Why It Matters
By Joe Byerly Over the past several years, the Command Assessment Program (CAP) has been met with a mix of open arms and concern. I went through the program in 2020 and vividly remember hearing from frustrated leaders who felt blindsided. They had...
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The Army Profession: Reconnecting with our Sense of Duty
by Daniel Blackmon In early December, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a presentation on the profession of arms, given by General (ret.) David Perkins. He asked: “The Army Profession…do we actually have a profession or do we have a...
Pluralistic Ignorance: A Danger to Organizational Culture and Leader Selection
by Shane Hughes “A toxic leader devastates the esprit de corps, discipline, initiative, drive, and willing service of subordinates and the units they comprise.” (Christopher Doty, 2013) The U.S. military prides itself on developing leaders. We...
Stories of Service: Mentor Your Subordinate to Engage with the Public
By Brian C. Gerardi Each year, our nation observes holidays centered on its service members and veterans. These commemorations—Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day—often include invitations (“tasked” or “asked”) to senior service members...
Affinity Over Alikeness: How to Mentor Soldiers Different Than You
by Emma Abusch “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” -Steven Spielberg It’s 0200 and I’m flying to my first no-notice deployment. I look up...
Avoid These Mistakes
by Jacob Loftice I recently had a conversation with an NCO regarding his frustrations with the plan for a certain event. His points had merit, but were diminished by how he conveyed them. Offering a critique coupled with a diatribe about a staff...
Mold in the Barracks? The Hots&Cots App Will Get Leaders’ Attention
(Sgt. 1st Class Jason Hull/U.S. Army photo) By Rob Evans It’s an open secret that military barracks across the Department of Defense (DOD) are inadequate and underfunded. Junior enlisted soldiers often struggle in obscurity, with their leaders...
Leaders Make Meaning: The So-What Beyond Purpose, Direction, and Motivation
by Tom Montano “Wow, so are you guys actually Soldiers?!” The crowds at Mount Vernon asked me this over a dozen times that winter Saturday after our colonial battlefield tactical demonstration. I was wearing my Revolutionary War era blue jacket and...
Thinking of Yourself as Phil Jackson: Team Building Reflections from Command
by Oren Rosen Building your team is important work. And managing that team once assembled is what determines if the team will perform at championship caliber. As a commander, you inherit most of your team—but that does not mean the roster is...
Thinking in Pixels: Developing Leadership Skills from Video Games
by Jakob Hutter Since the early days of ‘Pong’ and ‘Space Invaders’, the realm of pixels has more than just provided entertainment. Where every action has consequences and challenges lurk at every corner, a journey to explore and conquer provides...
Pay It Forward: Mid-Career Moolah for Continued Service
by Sara Roger Picture this: it’s the summer of 2025, and you just finished company command. As you pack up your office, you reflect on the last 18 months: the late-night calls and emails, the last-minute taskings, the oversaturation of...
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