REFLECT
What George Marshall Would Tell Today’s Leaders
by Aaron Childers The military places a large amount of responsibility on young leaders from the moment they assume their positions. This can be overwhelming at times, but it isn’t a modern problem. In fact, some of the struggles that...
Why Every Leader Needs to Create a “Me Manual”
By Joe Byerly One of the first pieces of advice I received when I joined the Army was to create an “I love me book.” This binder became a repository for all my awards, evaluation reports, orders, and even handwritten notes from senior leaders. I...
Silent Sacrifices, Powerful Impact: The Truth About Military Spouses
Albert D. Keever Jr. In the military, the term “dependent” usually refers to someone who relies on a service member for financial and medical support, such as a spouse or a child. It’s a label that, on the surface, appears...
Power is the Great Auditor
By Joe Byerly Do you believe you have a strong character? Do you think you’re a highly competent leader? Do you think you understand the full extent of your faults? Do you think you can do a better job than the guy or gal currently in the role you...
Learning to Live a Halfway Interesting Life
By Joe Byerly It’s been three years since I deployed to Europe on short notice with the 82nd Airborne Division in preparation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nine months since I gave up command of a cavalry squadron in Europe. And six months...
Chasing the Inner Circle
By Joe Byerly Most of us, whether we admit it or not, feel the pull toward the ‘inner circle’ in our professional lives. For some, it’s a passing thought. For others, it’s an obsession that can cost friendships, even family, in the pursuit of being...
Power and the Inner Circle
By Joe Byerly We often think of power as something that belongs to the person in charge. The corporate executive, political leader, or military commander is the one with all the power, right? However, power rarely exists in isolation, it...
Rev Up Readiness: How Auto Skills Centers Drive Military Excellence
by Mike Murray Being a service member in the United States military comes with a lot of little-known benefits. Most people are familiar with the big benefits, like healthcare, dental, access to commissaries and exchanges, and legal or financial...
The Thing That Will Destroy Us
By Joe Byerly Some of the best things in life start small and grow over time—relationships, financial investments, fitness levels. But the same pattern can apply to something far more dangerous: power. Power isn’t inherently bad; we need it to make...
The Most Important Notebook the Chief of Staff of the Army Carries
By Joe Byerly A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with the Chief of Staff of the Army General Randy A. George when he showed me a small 5×7 notebook he always carries. Inside are nearly two decades of insights and lessons, ideas that...
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...
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...
Mentorship: Finding Meaning Beneath The Surface
by James Duncan It’s Monday, and the scene is an all-too familiar one. After battalion formation, the Soldiers shuffle over to the truck line. After a few minutes recapping Sunday night football and griping about the cold from the morning’s run,...
Communicate Your Staff Estimates in the Language of Risk
by Tom Gaines and Micah Stedman “Gentlemen, we have run out of money; now we have got to think.” – Winston Churchill Somewhere out there is the perfect unit. The commander’s intent is perfectly understood by every member of this...
Building Mutual Trust: Candor, Clarity, and Curiosity
by Ryan Cornell-d’Echert In our organizations, how comfortable are people admitting they do not know? How often do we respond with, “Sir, I don’t have that information. I’ll take it as a due-out,” or “Ma’am, we should have thought of that. We’ll...
A Brittle Force: Grappling with Surging Military Suicides
by Greg Wall and Jacob Mays As we near the end of the calendar year, it seems that 2023 is likely to go down as the deadliest year in history for self-directed violence in the US military. In 2022 the DoD reported the highest Q1 suicide rate since...
Social Media is an Essential Tool For Modern Army Leaders
By Michael Everett Leaders in the 2023 military need to interact on social media. Period. Whether you like it or not, modern leadership has spilled over into the digital domain. If you fight the social media current, you will almost certainly meet...
Improve Your Reporting in Five Simple Steps
by Jacob Loftice Reporting drives military operations. It consists of developing and providing various information that guide leaders’ understanding of their formations’ capabilities, priorities, and assessed risk. Despite how common and important...
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Transparency and Stability: The Twin Beacons of Leading Highly Effective Organizations
by Ben Showman The Leader’s Responsibility The Army has a clear definition of leadership. It is carefully and intentionally crafted for Army leaders to flexibly accomplish missions while simultaneously improving their organizations. However,...
Is Foreign Service ILE Right for You?
by Jake Kohlman As I filled out my location preferences ahead of Intermediate Level Education (ILE), I knew I wanted to try something other than the traditional path of the Army’s Command and General Staff College (CGSC) in Fort Leavenworth,...
Creating an Army Master Tactician Additional Skill Identifier
by David Weart Editor’s Note: This article was modified from its originally published version on February 7th, 2023. Simply stated, the Army should expand the Master Tactician Test (MTT) offered at the Command and General Staff Operations...
Searching for a Purpose in Professional Military Education
by David Kahan My time at the Captain’s Career Course (CCC) was a disappointment. Arriving at Fort Huachuca, Arizona in April 2022, I hoped that Military Intelligence CCC (MICCC) might help either to prepare me for my next position or teach...
Counterproductive Leadership: Impact to People and the Organization
by Jakob Hutter Effective leaders who demonstrate confidence, courage, compassion, and character enable an organization’s success. Stay in any organization long enough, and you will understand that counterproductive leaders can leave serious harm...
Sixteen Things I Wish I Could Tell My Senior Rater
Authors’ Note: The authors of this post, @notyourtacofficer and @therecoveringcommander, are mid-career, post company-command officers wallowing in their KD-complete broadening assignment lives and contemplating what’s next. Referred to as the,...
Thinking Like a Fox: The Military’s New High Ground
by Nate Bump In our modern world, complexities abound. As a result, many assume more specialists focusing on challenges like ‘strategic competition’ is the answer. However, evidence supports officers specializing as generalists via a...
Our Sloppy Over-Reliance on Texting
by Jack Hadley Farewelled by my unit and signed out on PCS leave, I stood at a German train station headed to the airport. Then my phone went ding! I reflexively glanced at it, feeling a small but noticeable tinge of stress. I was no longer a...
Don’t Look the Part, Be the Part
by Oren Abusch In the early spring of 2020, my Battalion ran a two-week marksmanship course. Each day, NCOs would go to the range to hone their shooting skills and, on one particular range day, I noticed an NCO kitted in the most expensive...
Information Quality’s Outsized Effect on Decision-Making
by Jack Hadley and Addison McLamb We all know bad decisions when we see them. For example, the commander who can’t ‘decide’ to stop talking at Friday formation, the NCO so entrenched in his ways he can’t accept the simple solution in front of his...
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