REFLECT
Power and the Most Dangerous Myth of All
By Joe Byerly At 24 years old, Robert McNamara became Harvard Business School’s youngest assistant professor. Six years later, he joined an elite team at Ford Motor Company known as the “Whiz Kids” and helped turn the company around. Within a...
Saying Goodbye to the “Sunday Scaries”
By Joe Byerly If you had told me years ago that the “Sunday Scaries” would one day disappear from my vocabulary—or that the phrase “Thank God it’s Friday” would lose its meaning—I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Military service gave me...
The Climb to Power Conceals
By Joe Byerly We often hear that power reveals. That once someone has it, their true character is finally exposed. But what’s less often acknowledged, and arguably more important for you and I, is that the climb to power conceals. The...
More Than a War Story: The Power of Reflection
By Joe Byerly Better than Reality TV One of the greatest benefits of military service is the number of life experiences we pack into a year; sometimes even into a single week or day. We bring together people from different backgrounds, cultures,...
What Fairy Tales Teach Us About Power
By Joe Byerly Have you ever actually read the original Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen? It’s pretty dark. There are no singing crabs, cute blowfish, or happy endings. It’s a story about a girl who gives up something of great...
No One Warned Me About This Part of Leaving the Military
By Joe Byerly Before I retired from the military, everyone told me the same few things: “You’ll struggle with purpose.” “You’ll miss the mission.” “You’ll miss the people.” And they weren’t wrong. I’ve felt all of that to some degree. As I’ve...
Power and the Popularity Trap
This is Joe’s latest series on Power. Check out his first post here! By Joe Byerly The need to be liked is something many leaders wrestle with. But when the desire for popularity is mixed with the desire for power, it creates a toxic brew—one...
Insecurity, Power, and Tyrants
By Joe Byerly Why do people chase power? Many of us fool ourselves into thinking our pursuit of power is noble. We want to make a difference. We want to bring about change. We want to make things better. But lurking just beneath those reasons is...
Judgment Comes Full Circle: I’m the Major Now
By Sara Roger Chaos, uncertainty, deadlines, endless meetings, new guy syndrome. You might call these facts of life, but for me, they were the ingredients in this week’s signature dish: “Fill the Gap for the Brigade Operations Officer.” For the...
Why FightCamp Is the Perfect Garage Gym Setup for Veterans Getting Back in Shape
By Joe Byerly After 20 years in the military, staying physically fit is hardwired into who I am. But I’ll be honest, my body doesn’t bounce back the way it used to. My knees aren’t fans of long runs or high-impact workouts like CrossFit anymore,...
From a Company Commander to Platoon Leaders: Relax—and Check Your Ego
by Michael Everett Relax. Be where your feet are. Be yourself. Learn how to Army. Read, write, learn. Own being the leader of your platoon. You are about to be handed the keys to a platoon and officially begin your time as a platoon leader...
Wayne Gretzky and Coup d’oeil
by T.G. Bradbeer In his classic work, On War, Clausewitz describes the concept of Coup d’oeil as “an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmering of the inner light which leads to truth.” This ‘inward eye’ refers to the ability...
How To Be a Data Literate Leader—And Why It Matters
Photo by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash by Justine Meberg As the Army shifts focus from asymmetric to peer threats, modernization involves significant change. New hardware and software will gather and process increasingly more information across a vast...
It’s Not Innovation Versus Readiness—Innovation Is Readiness
By James Ashworth, with Rebecca Segal The U.S. Army has been charged to transform in contact, using deployments and exercises to stimulate innovation. To do so successfully, while still training your tactical mission, requires a conscious approach...
From a Staff Sergeant To Future Platoon Leaders: Own Your Roles and Responsibilities
by Cindy M. Lopez As you senior Cadets approach Commissioning, I hope that you are all as excited as I am for you. As a Non-Commissioned Officer, I do have a few requests from you. When I first pinned the rank of Sergeant (SGT), I had only...
Why You Should Reinvent the Wheel
by Todd Schmidt How many times throughout your career has someone told you to not reinvent the wheel? Scientists estimate that the wheel has been around since about 3500 BC. Originally used for manufacturing pottery, milling, irrigation, and...
What I Learned about Leadership from a 24-Year-Old Sales Manager at Best Buy
by Stein Thorbeck It’s probably unfair to name a single greatest leader I have worked for. But if someone held a gun to my head today and forced me to name someone, I would think about impact. I would tell them the name of a leader who changed the...
The Beowulf Problem
by Cherian Zachariah Beowulf spoke and made a formal boast for the last time: “I risked my life often when I was young; now I am old. As king of the people, I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will abandon his fort...
How Aristotle Challenged Me to ‘Embrace the Suck’
by Scotty Fargo Aristotle was all for the embodiment of excellence, characterized well by his quote, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” This article serves as a reflection of what I have learned as a cadet...
The Timeless Relevance of Classical War Theories in Modern Warfare
Montage of Sun Tzu, by the Chinese School, 19th century, via FineArtAmerica; with The Battle of Yešil-köl-nör by Charles Nicolas Cochin II, via The Met; and Carl von Clausewitz by Franz Michelis Wilhelm, 1830, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin by...
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The Impact of Moral Efficacy on Army Readiness
by Marc Meybaum, Cole Cannon, & Brian Martinez You stand in the hot sun of a motor pool staring down at a sea of equipment layouts. You have been desperately trying to manage the ream of property book pages as you conduct your change of command...
Lessons from Large Scale Combat Operations, Part III
by Larry Kay, Josh Cosmos, Dan DeNeve, Nicole Courtney, Jeremy Mounticure Editor’s Note: In this final article of our three-part series, the authors will describe the staff’s attempt to create “decision space” for the commanding general, while also...
Lessons from Large Scale Combat Operations, Part II
by Larry Kay, Josh Cosmos, Dan DeNeve, Nicole Courtney, Jeremy Mounticure Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part article, stay tuned for the final part tomorrow. In the previous article, the authors discussed the importance of aligning...
Lessons from Large Scale Combat Operations Part I
by Larry Kay, Josh Cosmos, Dan DeNeve, Nicole Courtney, Jeremy Mounticure Editor’s Note: This is the first of a three-part article, stay tuned for the next two parts over the coming days. The division is the Army’s principal tactical...
Lessons From the Dark Side: Leadership by Vader
by Eric Shockley The presentation with the Emperor had not gone well. Progress on the completion of the Death Star had been slow. Delays, complications with contractors, hiring challenges, and the ongoing war with the Rebel Alliance had all...
Expertise: How Interwar Periods Inform our Army Officer Development
by Ben Elliott Imagine this scenario: A mainland force for years has been steadily infringing on the domestic issues of its regional neighbors and most recently began to advance toward its strategic direction to control its near abroad. At...
Greener Pastures: Can the Implementation of Self-determination Theory Improve the Army Talent Management System?
by Catherine Cline Joining any military requires some intrinsic motivation to commit to selfless service. However, the Army has a growing disparity in the retention of mid-grade officers and for various reasons, loses almost half its officers by...
Operationalizing Multi-Domain Operations at the Tactical Level: SOSRA and Seven Steps of Engagement Area Development
by Michael Soyka The United States Army made a significant leap forward in modernizing its doctrine to align to current and future threats with the publication of FM 3-0 Operations in 2022. While the new FM 3-0 builds on the changes...
A Lesson from History: Never Present the “Throwaway” COA
by Rick Chersicla From 431 BC to 404 BC, the two preeminent Greek city-states of the time engaged in what would be a generational struggle. This war (really a period of intermittent conflict with the occasional stretches of peace) commonly known as...
Yours, Mine, Ours: Identifying Responsibilities Amongst Leaders
by Andrew Wilhelm and Michael Hellman In the winter of 2021, my new Platoon Sergeant and I sat down over coffee and began building our new partnership. I had seven months of Platoon Leader time under my belt and a relationship with my first PSG...
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