Articles
The Internal AAR: What to Do After a Bad Evaluation (or a Great One)
By Steven Prater “You just did your job.” Those words still resonate with me. The moment my Senior Rater hit me in my own self-worth during one of my previous evaluations. If you are in the military long enough, you will eventually hear words...
Knowing What Something Isn’t
By Joe Byerly There are some things I know with 100% certainty. I know purpose isn’t something someone else can hand you. I know you can’t warm up a Chick-fil-A sandwich in the microwave while it’s still inside one of those tinfoil-lined bags. And...
Ep 184- Before the Lessons Disappear with Colonel Michael Kloepper
Send us Fan Mail Michael Kloepper, former commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and current Brigade Tactical Officer at the United States Military Academy, joins Joe to explore leadership, readiness, and the responsibility to pass hard-earned...
Ep 183- The Soldier’s Curse with Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of Gates of Fire, the War of Art, A Man at Arms, and The Arcadian, joins Joe to explore writing, resistance, and the soldier’s long search for peace. This episode examines the story...
Family Fitness Opportunities: A Father’s Day Gift from Afghanistan
By Joe Byerly When I returned from Afghanistan as the world was shutting down in March of 2020, I struggled to regain my footing. I missed the mission, the people, and the sense of purpose that had been the heartbeat of deployments during the...
Ep 182- Are You Suffering from the Success Wound? with Brooke Taylor
Brooke Taylor, author of Healing the Success Wound, joins Joe to explore the hidden pain that comes from mistaking achievement, productivity, and success for self-worth. This episode examines the “success wound,” the belief that our worth is...
How LinkedIn Upped My Military Game
by Stephen T. Messenger As a U.S. Army officer, I never had much need nor desire to interact on LinkedIn. After all, it’s for people job hunting, not military professionals, right? I understood it to be like any other social media platform, only...
Ep 181- Steve Jobs in Exile with Geoffrey Cain
Geoffrey Cain, author of Steve Jobs in Exile, joins Joe to explore one of the most overlooked chapters in Steve Jobs’ life: the twelve years between his fall from Apple and his return to build one of the most influential companies in the...
In the Wake of a Leader’s Suicide: Leading Through Grief, Readiness, and Organizational Complexity
By Colonel Laura Weimer The burden of command is heavy. In early 2023, I felt that immense weight of responsibility coupled with personal pain and grief. Seven months into command of a division Headquarters Battalion (HHBN), one of my company...
Ep 180- When Your Brain Won’t Turn Off with Dr. Tommy Shavers and Carlos Perez
Dr. Tommy Shavers, founder of NESTRE Health & Performance, and Carlos Perez, a retired Special Forces officer, join Joe to explore a powerful idea: the brain is not fixed. It can be measured, trained, strengthened, and improved. This episode...
Identifying Bias in Your Workplace? Read Kim Scott’s Just Work
by Aidan Looney As a West Point Cadet, I often hear that the academy is a leadership laboratory. Cadets are given the space and opportunities to experiment in leadership and learn how they want to lead before going out to the operational...
Three Hockey Books On Leadership
By Dan Sukman If you want to go somewhere fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, go together. – Glen Sather Sports often serve as a metaphor, and in many cases as a testing ground for real life. There are lessons we learn playing youth...
Book Review: Phil Jackson’s Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success
By Ryan Kranc and Megan Jantos Editor’s note: This piece is published to coincide with Army Leader Exchange’s second annual #MarchMasters competition. Click here to vote for From the Green Notebook or other leader development content...
Book Review: Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
By John Geracitano Having three kids at home, time has become my most valuable commodity. This may be why the bestselling book Four Thousand Weeks resonated with my halfway-complete journey of an approximate 80-year life. In a sea of...
Why We Should Read Fiction
by Addison McLamb I recently spent an hour looking at lists of “top leadership books.” There were a few books on psychology, some on strategy, and some on decision-making. Most were published in the last 5-10 years. None of the lists included any...
What Reading Taught Me About Living in 2023
By Joe Byerly Essayist Maria Popova recently wrote, “To look back on a year of reading is to be handed a clear mirror of your priorities and passions, of the questions that live in you and the reckonings that keep you up at night.”...
AI Picked 25 Books Military Leaders Should Read
by Jasper AI (with oversight from Joe Byerly and Jack Hadley) A Note from Joe and Jack: Recently From the Green Notebook leadership has been playing with artificial intelligence (AI) tools for artwork, branding, and social media posting. To assess...
4 Reading Recs For Holistic Self-Development
by Jack Hadley Military professionals’ reading for self-development tends to fall into two general categories. First, well, military professional reading. This genre is flexible, but generally includes things like A Message to Garcia (and other...
A Father-Daughter Book Club Review of Slaughterhouse-Five
by Amy Padilla My father is a retired Marine Corps Major General and a combat veteran who gave over 37 years of his life to the service. He is now living his best life in Woodland Park, CO, enjoying retirement and lots of time with family. A big...
What Reading Taught Me About Living in 2022
By Joe Byerly Lesson #1: The finish line is never fixed Several authors warned about the dangers of hitching our happiness to goal achievement. Too many of us spend years doing things we don’t enjoy while sacrificing the things that bring us...
Knowing What Something Isn’t
By Joe Byerly There are some things I know with 100% certainty. I know purpose isn’t something someone else can hand you. I know you can’t warm up a Chick-fil-A sandwich in the microwave while it’s still inside one of those tinfoil-lined bags. And...
Family Fitness Opportunities: A Father’s Day Gift from Afghanistan
By Joe Byerly When I returned from Afghanistan as the world was shutting down in March of 2020, I struggled to regain my footing. I missed the mission, the people, and the sense of purpose that had been the heartbeat of deployments during the...
How LinkedIn Upped My Military Game
by Stephen T. Messenger As a U.S. Army officer, I never had much need nor desire to interact on LinkedIn. After all, it’s for people job hunting, not military professionals, right? I understood it to be like any other social media platform, only...
In the Wake of a Leader’s Suicide: Leading Through Grief, Readiness, and Organizational Complexity
By Colonel Laura Weimer The burden of command is heavy. In early 2023, I felt that immense weight of responsibility coupled with personal pain and grief. Seven months into command of a division Headquarters Battalion (HHBN), one of my company...
Gambling with Influence: Don’t Bet Your Life on Someone Else’s Promise
By Joe Byerly I sat across from the Army general during my initial counseling, just a few months into squadron command. He talked about the two years of command ahead of me. But when he moved on to my next career move, I interrupted him. “Sir, I...
Saber Junction 25: Reflections of a Regimental Commander
By COL Donald Neal, 83rd Commander, 2nd Cavalry Regiment Just five more minutes of sleep. In the tranquil pre-dawn hours of Saber Junction 25, I learned a commander’s lesson that no field manual could fully encapsulate. I awoke to the sounds of...
Non-Judicial Punishment: The Authority We Are Least Trained to Wield
By LTC Steven Huckleberry Commanders are entrusted with many authorities, but few are as consequential, and as little prepared for, as the execution of non-judicial punishment (NJP) under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Unlike...
Are You Chasing Daisies?
By Joe Byerly We build the future in our head with such vivid imagery. We can taste the salt on the rim of an ice-cold margarita. We can walk through every moment of the romantic date—every reaction, the way candlelight hits our partner’s eyes. We...
From Participation to Domination: How Units Can “WIN” the Officer Army Talent Alignment Process (ATAP)
If you don’t invest in the people who power your mission, don’t be surprised when the mission fails. – General Stanley McChrystal by Edward Prueitt The Army Talent Alignment Process (ATAP) has fundamentally transformed...
“Unc” Status: On Experience, Meaning, and Mentorship
by Brian C. Gerardi Somewhere between microeconomics and managerial accounting, I earned a new nickname: “Unc.” It started as a throwaway joke in a group chat. Our cohort of veteran business students attended a happy hour and I was the first to...
Stories That Win Wars: The Role of Narrative in Military Planning and Innovation
Tom Gaines In military strategy, critical thinking, adaptability, and effective communication are essential. Traditional military instruction, focused on logic, data analysis, and protocols, often falls short in preparing leaders for the...
Unlock Your Potential Through Journaling
By Melissa A. Czarnogursky “The brain enjoys writing. It enjoys the act of naming things, the process of association and discernment.” –Julia Cameron I had the wrong perspective on journaling. Throughout my military career, mentors...
Multitasking is Bad for Your Brain
This post originally appeared on The Quiet Workplace By Michele O’Hagan In today’s job market, multitasking is the norm. “Ability to multitask” is listed as a “must” in nearly every job description. We pride ourselves on our ability to juggle...
Check Out the Military Review’s Series on Professional Military Writing
By Rebecca Segal In every job we serve, we learn. Whether you’re journaling to sort through your thoughts or crafting an article to share best practices, writing is an important part of the growth process. At FTGN, we focus on sharing those...
Reflecting on Gratitude- It Will Change Your Life
By Joe Byerly For as long as I’ve been writing, I’ve mostly focused on the positive aspects of leading others. However, not every day as a leader is a good day. In fact, leaders often experience very dark days.One of the hardest days of...
May 3rd Prospective Writers Information Webinar
If you are interested in writing for From the Green Notebook, or curious to learn more, please attend this webinar on May 3, 2024. It will include information on FTGN’s history, background, audience, readership, and a Q&A portion on writing for...
A Text to Garcia: Business Rules for Work Texting
by Joon Lee “We do NOT use Signal as our primary means of communication!” my fellow staff officer exclaimed. I sympathized—in our years of service, we’ve embraced the tenet that “we train like we fight,” that we must exercise our tactical systems...
3 Reasons to Attend The Next FTGN Writers Webinar
By Kevin Cutright Editor’s Note: Sign up for our May 3rd prospective writers webinar here. Not convinced? Read this piece. I was one of about 15 attendees in From the Green Notebook’s webinar for prospective writers in early February. I...
Warrant Officers Need to Write Well Too
by Mike Lima It’s not just officers who need to know how to write—it’s warrant officers too. Warrant officers now have many roles, including staff officer positions and numerous duties as action officers. As a staff officer, the primary...
Communicating Your Intent: Overcome the Illusion of Transparency
by Dr. Yasmine L. Kalkstein and Brian Gerardi My (Yasmine’s) early experiences as a leader, despite effort and good intentions, were fraught with failure. One problem I ran up against were complaints about my lack of communication. My...
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