Articles
The Narrative Fallacy: Challenging Army Myths
by George Fust Every organization has institutional narratives. These taglines go beyond best practices, they are embedded in the soul of the organization and passed from generation to generation. Sometimes these phrases, often framed as advice,...
The Best Education
By Joe Byerly High school. Trade school. The Executive MBA. These are all education programs that teach us. The missed opportunity. The presentation we bombed last Thursday. The friendship that quietly faded away. We can learn from these too....
Ep. 162- Wisdom Takes Work with Ryan Holiday
Send us a text New York Times bestselling author Ryan Holiday returns to From the Green Notebook for his third conversation with Joe—this time diving into the themes of his latest and final book in the Stoic Virtues...
Forks, Spoons, and Holes in the Sidewalk
By Joe Byerly How many times have you tried something new, only to find it didn’t bring the results you hoped for? In fact, that “new” thing left you feeling exactly as you did in the beginning—disappointed, frustrated, maybe even stuck. I was...
Ep 161- The LANDEURO Talks
This is the longest episode ever of From the Green Notebook—and for good reason. Joe brings you a special LANDEURO Talks edition of the podcast, recorded at AUSA’s inaugural LANDEURO conference in Germany back in July. While at LANDEURO, Joe...
Compliance vs Commitment: Our Appearance as a Promise of Trust
Photo Credit: Donte Shelton, 49th Public Affairs Detachment By Sam Balch There are two common schools of thought about uniforms and personal appearance. Some see them as walking résumés, proof of what we have accomplished. Others treat them like...
Boromir and Faramir: A Cautionary Tale for the Ambitious Officer
by Major Colin A. Sexton In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the brothers Boromir and Faramir of Gondor embody contrasting responses to power, purpose, and personal ambition. Their story is not just a subplot in a fantastical epic; it is a...
Harmony and Chaos: Navigating the BSB-DSSB Tug of War
by Tony Grajales Power corresponds to the human ability not just to act but to act in concert. – Hannah Arendt Spartans, Raiders, and the Pyramid In the U.S. Army, sustainment operations are more than support functions; they are a battlefield...
A Cat, a Hat, and the Benefit of Constraints
By Joe Byerly In 1957, Theodor Geisel’s publisher challenged him to create a children’s book with characters, a plot, and all the trappings of a great story using only a first-grade vocabulary list of less than 250 words. He produced The Cat...
From Problem to Prototype: Innovating Dental Care for Large Scale Combat Operations from the Ground Up
By FiSamuel Reggans As the First Sergeant of a Dental Company Area Support (DCAS), I’ve long understood how critical dental readiness is to combat power, and that is no different in Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO). However, the doctrine and...
Why Military Leaders Should Study Human Nature
By Joe Byerly This is the first question, in a five question interview with author Robert Greene. Joe: You’ve spent decades researching and writing about power, mastery, and war. In your latest book, The Laws of Human Nature, you have written what...
Warfare Has Moved On: The New Rules of War
By Joe Byerly One of my favorite books this year is Sean McFate’s The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder. Sean challenges everything I’ve learned over the last 15 years, and I can’t help but wonder if...
Five Army Commanders Worth Studying
This post originally appeared at Modern War Institute on January 8, 2019 By Joe Byerly When we begin our military careers we have choices when it comes to how we’ll develop our leadership abilities. We can, for example, go through our careers...
Want More Military Leaders Reading? Use The Pabst Blue Ribbon Strategy
By Joe Byerly Most military professionals agree that reading plays a critical role in professional development, however, the practice isn’t as widespread as it should be throughout the services. Unfortunately, self-development is about as...
August Cole, Science Fiction, and Whiskey: It’s a Thing
As February comes to a close, where are you at with the status of those New Year’s goals you made over a month ago? Are those resolutions nothing more than a distant memory? Whether it was a plan to exercise more, eat healthy, or finally quit a...
From Hal Moore’s Bookshelf: What He Underlined
By David Moore My father, LTG Hal Moore, passed away two years ago on this day -10 February, three days shy of his 95th birthday. The purpose of this article is to not seek empathy but to use the occasion to reinforce a few beliefs that...
General Donn Starry on Leadership
By Joe Byerly As military leaders we should want nothing more than to give our enemies an unfair fight—with the advantage in our favor. And one way in which we do this is through training our forces. I can’t think of anyone who has written as...
How to Increase Your Professional Reading
We all can agree that reading is good for the brain. Leaders from George Washington to General Patton leaned on books to fill their knowledge gaps, and their efforts paid off on the battlefield. Former Defense Secretary James Mattis reflected on...
5 Lessons Books Taught Me in 2018
Since 2013, I’ve written an annual blog post highlighting my favorite books from the previous 12 months. This year I wanted to try something different. I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned from the list of 40+ books I read....
8 Must-Read Science Fiction Books
Within the last few years, we’ve witnessed the evolution of biohacking, the rise of a state-based social credit system, and a US election influenced by the use of artificial intelligence. Futurists might be able to follow the thread...
Power Without Preparation
By: Joe Byerly Have you ever watched a baking show and thought, I could do that? Or seen a YouTube clip of someone playing a popular song on guitar and thought, How hard can it be? Or listened to a podcast and said, I could make one of those? Then...
Telling the Story: Using Narrative to Synchronize Operations
By Rich Groen In tactical operations, effective communication remains one of the most underappreciated yet crucial competencies for field-grade leaders. At the upper echelons of operational and strategic planning, one of the most enduring...
Timeliness Over Perfection: The Critical Balance in Fast-Moving Operational Environments
By Caleb D. King III Have you ever found yourself delaying reporting something up the chain of command because the information was not perfect or pretty? How much time did you spend perfecting the information before other decision-makers could...
The Day Lightning Chose Me
By Kyle McCarter Not everyone gets the chance to grow their lore, legend, or earn a cool scar. But I was blessed with such a day in the summer of 2005. It was a regular, hot, humid, and rainy day in Florida. I was stationed at Camp James E. Rudder,...
Friction’s Impact on Warfighting: Time is Readiness
By: James Boyd, Adyton CEO and Co-founder Time is readiness. I’ve seen firsthand how we tend to operate as if time is a free and limitless resource. It is neither. Whether it’s making soldiers stand around waiting to be released or...
Beware of Time Pollution!
By Joe Byerly As a younger Army officer, I used to see a week or two of empty space on the calendar before a major exercise and think: “Perfect! I’ll schedule some training or professional development for the team.” But as...
Army Junior Officer Counsel – Enabling Junior Officers to Drive Change
by Major Chris Slininger The Problem The Army has been facing recruiting and retention challenges, particularly within the junior officer population: Lieutenants, Captains, Warrant Officers One, and Chief Warrant Officers Two. While recruitment and...
Why Senior Leaders Should Compete for an Expert Badge
Photo By Edward Muniz | Col. Michael Stewart reading Coordinates. by Joseph F. Adams I am an expert and I am a professional. – The Soldier’s Creed Cold mud and rain dripped down my forearms as I lay in the prone position and aimed my M80 Claymore....
What is Your Relationship with Time?
By Joe Byerly “I’ll try to find some time.” “I need more time.” “There’s not enough time in the day.” These phrases used to roll off my tongue without a second thought. My relationship with time was…contentious. My calendar dictated my life. ...
Is Your Superpower Actually Kryptonite?
By Mike Shekleton Many of us have seen a brand-new platoon leader, who is in peak physical condition, fall flat on their face during their first time leading platoon PT (physical training). Excited to lead and looking to impress their NCOs...
4 Tips for Selling Your Ideas
By Joe Byerly Have you ever had an idea you thought was solid gold, but when you presented it to your boss or coworkers it fell on deaf ears? Maybe it wasn’t that your idea was bad. Maybe it was you. Hear me out: Sometimes our ideas ARE solid...
4 Tips from Sir Winston Churchill to Write Better Emails
By Joe Byerly Emails- They are the bane of our existence, but they are how we communicate in the modern world. Each day, military leaders clean out their inboxes only to have them fill back up within hours. Unfortunately, quantity doesn’t...
A Toast to Small Wars Journal
By Joe Byerly Much like many of the biggest comedians today can trace their beginnings back to the same comedy club, there are countless national security writers and senior military leaders who can trace their intellectual roots back to Small Wars...
How to Write as a Thinker-Practitioner
By Vincent A. Dueñas In his treatise, Why Don’t We Learn from History, B.H. Liddell Hart opens the first chapter with a general discussion of history and its merit. In describing the advancements of the conduct of warfare over the course of history...
An Open Letter to Battalion Commanders: How to Use Social Media
By Scotty Autin Commanders- I feel like most of us are missing an opportunity. We’re missing a chance to get the command messages out to audiences and shape the narrative of our units. More so, we’re missing a chance to talk directly to...
Why I Write: Pressing the Button
By Joe Byerly The following is an excerpt from the book, Why I Write: Craft Essays on Writing War, scheduled to be published by Middle West Press in December 2019. The one-of-a-kind anthology from the non-profit Military Writers Guild features...
Feedback Matters: How Poor Communication Can Lead to Bad Job Performance
By Joe Byerly (This post originally appeared on ClearanceJobs.com) Have you ever been caught off guard with a performance evaluation? Have you ever found out that the great job you thought you were doing wasn’t so great after all? I believe that...
Learn and Look Before You Tweet
Some things you should understand before jumping headfirst into the information environment By Larry Kay Last week was “media literacy week,” which unlike national doughnut and Twinkie day, should be elevated to a more prominent occasion given how...
Risk and Reward
By Josh Powers Last week, General Abrams (@DogFaceSoldier on Twitter) published a short article encouraging more senior leader engagement on social media. Titled Social Media: Senior Leaders Need to Get on the Bus, the article provides ten reasons...
Avoiding the Echo Chamber: Digital Media Leader Engagement and Education
By: L.M. Hughes In the wake of #AUSADigital2019, one of the most brilliant conversations I’ve seen on effective leader engagement on social media, led by From the Green Notebook’s very own Megan Jantos, I kept noticing how panelists and...
Podcast
Listen to our latest episode.
Store
Support our work.
Get Involved
Learn how to partner with us.
Lead with the best version of yourself.
Sign up for our emails.