Articles
Four Reasons to Write a Book Review
by Caleb Miller Have you ever met someone with a goal to write a certain number of words a week? How much quality content are they actually producing? Have you ever met anyone with a goal to read a certain number of pages a day or books...
A Leader’s True North – Start with the Golden Rule (Yeah, that one)
By CSM Scott Dinse A young leader has plenty of reason to be confused about what effective leadership looks and/or feels like. We have books, podcasts, experts, and even celebrities telling us what we should be doing and how we should be getting it...
Adjusting the Learning Curve to Mentor the Workforce of the Future
by Chaveso “Chevy” Cook Recruiting and retaining top talent, especially from younger generations, is a hot topic, regardless of the workforce context. From managing Millennials, Gen Z, and incoming Gen Alpha in our workspaces, to garnering their...
The Need to Lead (Without Ego) with Dave Berke
Retired Marine Corps fighter pilot, Top Gun instructor, and leadership consultant Dave Berke joins Joe for an honest conversation about ego, responsibility, and what it truly means to lead—both in the arena of combat and in everyday life. As the...
An Open Letter to NCOs: Reclaiming Developmental Counseling
By: Gustavo Arguello Let’s be honest: most leaders feel that they are stretched thinner than a supply sergeant’s budget at the end of the fiscal year. Between deployments, training exercises, training meetings, and the endless admin requirements,...
The View We Never Get
By Joe Byerly It’s like looking down from a mountain top and seeing it all. I know everything that’s going to happen to him. As he struggles through college algebra, I know he’s going to be just fine and earn his degree. As he wrestles with...
From So What to Therefore
This is part II of a two-part series for intelligence officers. Read part I here. By Louis Crist Have you ever been told, “Just give me the ‘so what’!” I saw this over and over again as an OC/T, watching commanders frustratingly critique their S2s...
Think Like a Commander
By Lou Crist Several years ago, during an interview, I was asked, “What is the most important thing an S2 does?” The question took me aback. After some thought, I answered that the S2 should impart their understanding of the enemy to the commander....
Ep 165: Fascism, Communism, and the War for Middle-Earth with Joe Loconte
Dr. Joseph Loconte joins Joe for a powerful exploration of faith, imagination, and courage in times of crisis—how two Oxford professors used story to resist the darkness of their age and inspire generations to come. As a historian and author...
Burned Brakes and Broken Habits: Bringing a JMPI Mindset to the 2d Cavalry Regiment
By Sam Balch The Paratroopers stand quietly in the PAX shed, helmets on, heavy rucks pulling on their shoulders, face paint applied, and parachutes strapped tight. A Jumpmaster moves deliberately down the line, inspecting every strap, snap, stitch,...
McChrystal: Everything I Thought About Leadership Has Changed
By Stanley McChrystal Because leaders don’t rise as much as they emerge to fulfill a specific need for followers at moments, it can get dangerous when leaders emerge who give resonance to our darker impulses. To caution against this, we need to...
So You Want to Study Military Adaptation and Innovation?
Adaptation and innovation are particularly relevant to today’s Army given the challenges faced in recent wars and the uncertainty of future armed conflict. Our ability to meet the operational demands posed by a variety of enemies and their...
What Does It Mean to be a Military Professional?
By Tony Ingesson and Ray Kimball Over fifty years have passed since the seminal texts that fundamentally changed the conversation on professional Western militaries were written. Samuel P. Huntington’s The Soldier and the State, Morris Janowitz’s...
Can Your Network Help Your Career?
One of my favorite books this year is Friend of a Friend: Understanding the Hidden Networks that Can Transform Your Life and Your Career by David Burkus. It’s not your typical business self-improvement book. Burkus examines 50+ years...
Can Reading Make Us Better Leaders?
One of my favorite podcasts is the Read to Lead Podcast hosted by Jeff Brown. In each episode he interviews an author about their book and discusses insights on leadership, personal development, productivity, and more. I recently caught up with...
The 2018 Ultimate Summer Reading List
With summer vacations quickly approaching I reached out to a group of successful leaders, authors, journalists, and podcast hosts for book recommendations. I asked them to suggest a book and why they picked it. The books on this list range from...
Will Machines Change War as We Know It?
I recently had the pleasure of reading a copy of Paul Scharre’s Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War and it quickly became the book I recommend to any leader wishing to understand the complexity...
The Right Read Can Make You a Better Leader
From ARMY Magazine, Vol. 68, No. 4, April 2018. Copyright © 2018 by the Association of the U.S. Army and reprinted by permission of ARMY Magazine. Reading for professional growth is an important practice for military leaders. However, there can be...
Three Books You Should Read Before Company Command
For most officers, company command ranks in the top ten of their professional highlights reel. It’s a rewarding, yet humbling position for those who experience it. Over the course of 12 to 36 months, command provides captains with the authorities...
Learning is a Team Sport: An Interview With General Dempsey and Ori Brafman
Back in the fall, I read an advanced copy of Radical Inclusion: What the Post-9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership, and couldn’t put it down. In 173 pages, General Dempsey and Ori Brafman challenged me to become a better...
Representing the Uniform, Even When It’s Not On
By Noah Jager When we wake up in the morning and put on the uniform, sometimes freshly pressed or other times rumpled and grabbed from a rucksack, we are expected to uphold the standards that come with our service. With the American flag strapped...
My Commander Is Available 24/7: Is Yours?
By Mike Eads If military leadership is built on presence, experience, and decisiveness, then my commander is unmatched. He is always available—ready to provide guidance, review plans, refine decisions, and offer precise feedback at any hour of the...
Why ‘In the Meantime’ Is the Only Time
By Joe Byerly I’ve been thinking a lot about how we treat the present versus how we imagine the future We’re often too harsh on the present and too idealistic about the future. In the present, we don’t have enough time. We’re too busy. Too many...
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The [Re-iterated] Case for an Apolitical Military
by Brett Tinder We are not political pundits. Our service does not strip us of our rights to vote, but faithful adherence to American civil-military relations requires an ambivalence to political change. An apolitical military benefits the...
The Picture of Captain Dorian Gray
By Micah Ables There’s a portrait hidden in the closet of every company commander – one that bears every unspeakable thing they have to see, hear, and carry. To every young commander or first sergeant who’s seen more than any one person...
On Getting Humbled
By Joe Byerly The words escaped my mouth before my brain could catch up. I saw my commander lean back in his seat, eyes narrowing. His chair creaked like a spring under pressure—until it snapped forward. Then came the ass-chewing. My face...
What Three Hobbits Teach Us About Friendship, Virtue, and the Company We Keep
by Jay Carmody Since J.R.R. Tolkien first published The Lord of the Rings trilogy nearly 70 years ago, authors and fans have published a wealth of articles exploring Tolkien’s characters and universe. One topic worth revisiting for military leaders...
Why We PT (Together), and Why You Should Too
by Garrett M. Searle In 2014, Admiral William McRaven, then Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, made a famous speech at a commencement ceremony for his alma mater, the University of Texas. The thesis of his address was the importance of...
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...
Editorial Responsibility within the PME Network
By Nick Alexander Opportunities for intellectual growth within the profession of arms seem limitless. With the advent of social media, the growth of #miltwitter, and the plethora of international profession of arms blogs, it has never been easier...
Meet Them Where They Are, As You Are: Being Present and Engaged in the Information Age
By Thomas “Doug” Meyer, Founder of The Company Leader “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” These immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, spoken a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, referred to the city of Mos Aisley. But...
Social Media: Senior Leaders Need to Get on the Bus
By General Robert B. “Abe” Abrams The emergence of social media over the last decade has impacted just about every facet of life, reshaping the ways in which we interact, socialize, and communicate. Digital natives – like my 24-year old...
4 Irresistible Army Influencers Set to “Seduce” AUSA Audiences
By Megan Jantos If you’ve spent any time on social media you will find that there are people who instantly attract your attention. You could be quickly scrolling through your digital platform of choice and when you see their posts you can’t help...
On Writing: Look Out! There be Sea Monsters!
By Joe Byerly A few years ago, I wrote a post encouraging military leaders to write for professional publications and online professional outlets. I confidently argued, though only anecdotally, that there were no sea monsters and leaders could...
Advice on Writing and Editing
By Jason Criss Howk Over the last decade, I was privileged to publish my ramblings in many different outlets from scholarly journals to slick mass media periodicals—large and small, paid and unpaid, known and unknown. On top of that, in the age of...
How to Write a Blog Post
By Joe Byerly Since launching From the Green Notebook in 2013, I’ve had a lot of conversations with other military professionals who want to write, but feel they are unable to get words down on paper. A blank page is a tough obstacle for many...
The 7 Unwritten Rules of Email
By: Dave Chace and Joe Byerly In the military, we receive training or a manual on every piece of equipment and program we use except for one very important one: Email. Although it’s our least preferred method of communication, it’s one of the...
The Do’s and Don’ts of Letters of Introduction
By Scott Shaw and Chad Foster Writing letters of introduction to your future battalion or brigade commanders has been a staple of the basic and career course since we were lieutenants and captains (and before our time as well). This time-honored...
#AUSADigital: The Next Wave of Digital Leader Development
A decade ago the only place to go for leader development in the military was your local bookstore or one of the handful of professional journals. We had online professional forums, but accessing them wasn’t always easy. Then blogs came along. And...
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