REFLECT
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
6 Lessons I Learned Moving Nuclear Weapons Through North Dakota
by Andrew Klinger I was both excited and anxious the day I got my orders to Minot Air Force Base. I requested to be sent to a nuclear missile base because of the challenges and opportunities the mission presented. Every day, Airmen at Minot and...
How to Know if Your Presence Matters
By Sean Finnan Several years ago, I came across this quote: “If your absence doesn’t affect them, your presence never mattered.” As I was nearing the end of my O-5 command, I began to reflect on what I was leaving behind. Would my absence affect...
The Leader’s Guide to Creating a Daily Maintenance Battle Rhythm
By MG Jeffery Broadwater, COL Patrick Disney, and MAJ Allen Trujillo Have you ever walked into a situation in which you had no clue what was going on? Have you ever been in charge of a process that used a language to communicate that you did not...
Lessons Learned on Maintenance and Supply from Pegasus 6
By MG Jeffery Broadwater, COL Kevin Capra, and MAJ Allen Trujillo Managing property and maintaining equipment is challenging, especially when you’re in an Armored Division with a high operations tempo (OPTEMPO). The impacts of COVID-19 on 1st...
8 Lessons I learned during my recent deployment to Afghanistan
By Alex Licea It had been nearly a decade since my last combat/operational deployment as a young 27-year-old staff sergeant and newly promoted sergeant first class working in Southeastern Baghdad as the Public Affairs Noncommissioned Officer in...
Addressing Modern Cavalry Capability Gaps and Risks
By Josh Suthoff As military planning, prioritization, and resources comes back to Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) there must be a professional discussion on modern cavalry operations and capability gaps. The US Cavalry needs light weight,...
How to Succeed in a World of Merciless Taskers
By Colonel Glenn A. Henke The Problem Every Army command team faces the same challenge: how to manage the ceaseless onslaught of tasks that come from higher headquarters while conducting your own training and operations. Battery, company, and...
Risky Business: Enabling Commander’s Risk Mitigation in the Information Environment
By Daniel W. Clark The enemies, adversaries, and competitors of the U.S. and her allies continue to grow and improve their use of the information environment (IE). With each uncontested effort, they hone their tactics and techniques and improve...
Finding the Right Vision, Culture, and Climate
By Ryan Kendall Vision, culture, and climate In a previous post, I discussed the importance of developing a shared organizational vision. This idea is not new to our profession. However, when it came time for me to begin the process for my...
The Map on the Wall
By Jack “Farva” Curtis Whenever I write, I try hard to avoid expressing political or partisan opinions. Not only do I doubt you care about my opinions, but it would also be wholly inappropriate for me, in my current position as an active duty...
“Leading Up” as a Company Grade Officer
by Mike Martino “Someone got Sir off topic again…” Forty of us, students at the Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course (IBOLC), were huddled into a corner of Building 466A listening to our platoon tactical trainer. We were supposed to be discussing...
Questioning The Military Brain Drain
by Owen West Every so often an article declares that the military is suffering an avoidable exodus of its best junior officers. This argument has reappeared a dozen times since I joined the Marines in 1991. It’s misleading. Most officers who...
Do What You Say You Can Do
By Jacob Loftice The best training guidance I have received is “be able to do the things you say you can do.” Having the capability to execute your assigned mission is central to a unit’s readiness. It can be tempting to treat aspirations as facts...
Harnessing the Power of Knowledge Management
by Jakob Hutter Reinventing the wheel is often discouraged. But COL Schmidt, the Director of Army University Press at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, argues it’s crucial for leaders to make impactful decisions and drive meaningful change in their...
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...
Evaluation is Key. But So Is Training Without It
By Tom Sujack Smoke and I agreed the platoon should practice one more hip shoot before chow. We would start platoon qualifications early the next morning, so this would be our last chance to get this normally chaotic evolution right. When the fire...
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...
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...
The Army Profession: Reconnecting with our Sense of Duty
by Daniel Blackmon In early December, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a presentation on the profession of arms, given by General (ret.) David Perkins. He asked: “The Army Profession…do we actually have a profession or do we have a...
Pluralistic Ignorance: A Danger to Organizational Culture and Leader Selection
by Shane Hughes “A toxic leader devastates the esprit de corps, discipline, initiative, drive, and willing service of subordinates and the units they comprise.” (Christopher Doty, 2013) The U.S. military prides itself on developing leaders. We...
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