REFLECT
What’s the Cost of Greatness?
By Joe Byerly A dozen eggs costs about $3. A value meal at McDonald’s? Around $5. A Friday night movie ticket? $17. These prices are tangible. We know them before we walk into the store, pull into the drive-thru, or pick someone up for a night out....
One More Play: Commanding at the Finish Line
By Joe Byerly Today marks one year since I changed command and then signed out on terminal leave from the Army. This morning, I reread my journal entry from that day—and decided to write a few reflections on that decision: to stay in the 20-year...
How to Become the AI-Empowered Iron Major
Partnering with Your AI-Teammate in the Mundane Trenches of Staff Officer Warfare By Jerry Champion It’s after 1800, and you’re knee-deep in your sixth meeting of the day. The chat thread in Microsoft Teams is growing longer by the second, sidebar...
My “Why”: The Army Family
By Mike Everett We’ve all been asked numerous times: Why did you join? The answer early in my career was “to pay off my college debt.” There may have been other reasons—the challenge, love for country, and a meaningful career. But, initially, the...
How to Quit Climbing the Envy Ladder
By Joe Byerly One of the pitfalls of ambition, if we’re not careful, is that we start looking outward too much, always measuring our life against the lives of others. They have a nicer house. A cooler job. A better car. Even their vacations look...
Make the Best Decision for You: Why I Stayed in the Army
by Dave Leydet As I sat in my high school algebra class, the principal’s voice came over the loudspeaker. “A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center,” he announced. I thought to myself, That’s odd; why are they telling us about a random...
Kids, COAs, and Career Crossroads: the Coordinated Chaos of being Dual-Military
By CPT Alex Weisser “Until I get too old or too ugly; Uncle Sam will tell me when to leave.” That’s what I tell people when they ask me how long I plan to stay in the Army. To an extent, my tongue-in-cheek saying is heartfelt. I enjoy Soldiering....
Retiring at 20: Why I Chose Family Over Competing for Battalion Command
Three years ago, with palms sweating, I walked into my senior rater’s office for a counseling session. I told him, “I don’t want battalion command and plan to retire at the first opportunity.” It took months to gather the courage to say those...
Sometimes, They Have to Touch the Stove
By Joe Byerly Now that I’m a parent of kids who are getting older, I find myself wanting to play more “life defense”—to protect them from the bruises and blows of growing up: failure, misfortune, consequences. I think we all do this to...
Letting Go of the Uniform, Not the Lessons
By: Joshua Risner In the Right Place I turned 15 on 9/11. I was raised in a patriotic household in rural America, by a family that valued and demonstrated service to others, to the community, and to the Nation. Like so many others, 9/11 was the...
Do I Make Good Decisions?
By Joe Byerly Do you make good decisions? If you think the answer is yes, how do you really know? A decision may seem sound at the moment, but time can reveal a different outcome. I can think of several decisions that felt right initially but led...
Was My Military Career Worth It?
By Joe Byerly I recently grabbed a drink with some friends in Southern Pines, NC. As I sat sipping my beer, one of them turned to me and asked, “Now that you are at the very end of your military career, was it worth it?'” He and his...
CrowdStrike, COVID, and System Fragility: Takeaways for Today’s Leaders
By John Geracitano On July 18th, a software patch from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike tore through Microsoft operating systems, exposing the fragility of our technological networks. This incident didn’t just crash Windows computers; it required...
Shared Humanity and Mutual Benefit: Lessons from Baghdad
John “Dragon” Teichert Life is not a solo sport; neither is leadership or innovation. We all need the equipping, encouraging, and emboldening that comes with strong, trusting relationships. All too often our rugged independence, a positive...
The One Question That Every Leader Should Ask
By Jason W. Hughes “Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.” – Andy Stanley The Question: How can I be a better leader for you? Oftentimes, we think our leadership...
Bigger Sibling’s Advice for Post-Platoon Leader Life
As I prepared to move across the hallway and take over as our company’s Executive Officer (“XO”), I was sick-to-my-stomach nervous. Sure, I had been reasonably successful as a Platoon Leader, but what on earth did I know about running a company? It...
Do You Only Have Chauffeur Knowledge? Here’s How to Gain Expertise
by John Geracitano Famed physicist Max Planck gave countless speeches on his research in the company of his trusty chauffeur, who listened to each one. They once switched roles for fun, and the chauffeur gave Planck’s speech without fault. But when...
SITREPs to Startups: Initial Lessons Post-Transition
By Christina Plumley In January, I left Active Duty after 10 years in the Army. Like many transitioning junior officers, I intended to use the GI Bill for graduate school. I leveraged a variety of veteran transition programs, made plans and...
Hygiene for Leaders: Beyond Soap and Water
(Kim Ki Sam/Stars and Stripes) By Jamison Geracci and Jon Ayers Many servicemembers know that during their military separation process, they should get checked to see if they suffer from sleep apnea. The benefits of this are twofold. First, the...
Confessions of a Fixed-Mindset Leader
By Brandon Frei “I have not failed once… When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” -Thomas Edison The Army I grew up in was full of leaders who were rewarded for accomplishing the...
Using ‘Mental Models’ to Outthink the Enemy
From ARMY Magazine, Vol. 66, No. 9, September 2016. Copyright © 2016 by the Association of the U.S. Army and reprinted by permission of ARMY Magazine. By the end of August 1944, Gen. George S. Patton Jr.’s Third Army had left a swath of...
Don’t Be a “Water Bucket” Leader
by: Joe Byerly Command in the U.S. Army, regardless of echelon, is one of the greatest privileges (and stressors) bestowed upon commissioned officers. Unfortunately, many of us seem to stumble through these small windows of our military...
Finding the Path Towards Mission Command: An Exercise
By Joe Byerly Following my time in company command, I had the privilege of teaching future company commanders and first sergeants at the Cavalry Leader’s Course at Fort Benning, GA. During this assignment, I quickly learned that one of the...
Leader Development: Ends, Ways, and Means
This is the final installment of a series on leader development. For the previous posts, please read Leader Development: The Leeroy Jenkins Model and The Maker’s Motto. Over the last several weeks I’ve discussed leader development...
The Weekend Safety Brief Must Go!
By: Joe Byerly One of the first principles of the philosophy of Mission Command is “Build Cohesive Teams Through Mutual Trust,” and I would argue that the antithesis of this is standing in front of the formation every single Friday reading off...
Leader Development: The Maker’s Motto
Author’s Note: This is the second installment in a series on leader development: For the previous post check out Leader Development: The Leeroy Jenkins Model “If you can’t open it, you don’t own it.”...
Flattening the Decision Cycle in Tactical Units
If you look in the Army’s manual on Mission Command, it says the philosophy is based on 6 principles: Build cohesive teams through mutual trust Create shared understanding Provide commander’s clear intent Exercise disciplined initiative...
Rowing Well, and Living Better: Leader Influence on Officer Retention
by M. Caleb Bloom The first time I heard the phrase, “Row well, and live,” I did not know what it meant. I was a First Lieutenant on a Battalion-level staff after finishing my time as a Platoon Leader. The Battalion was only a few months into a...
Security Force Assistance Brigades: In Competition, Crisis, and Conflict
by Brian M. Ducote, Jim Gallagher, and Jason Elmore The thought of U.S. Army advisors often conjures images of an American Soldier in a foreign land, standing side by side with an inexperienced recruit. The advisor demonstrates the finer points of...
Train Small to Win Big: Rethinking Our Training Plan for Lethality
By Jake Murphy It is all too easy to forget that higher echelons exist to set the conditions for small units, in both tactical and garrison environments. To combat this, it is critical to trust subordinate leaders to effectively lead their...
Operationalizing and Prioritizing Leader Development Programs
By Derek Prario Particularly in the time of preparation, modernization, and ‘culture reset’ that we find ourselves in, an effective military leader must develop others for future battles. The mandate to ‘develop leaders’ is essential and commonly...
The Army’s Purpose is NOT to “Deploy, Fight, and Win Our Nation’s Wars”
By Ben Ordiway I hope our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be. –Thomas Jefferson What is the Army’s purpose? The answer depends on where you look. Doctrine enthusiasts will point...
Good Leaders Ask Better Questions
by Ryan Cornell-d’Echert “Once you have learned how to ask questions – relevant and appropriate and substantial questions – you have learned how to learn, and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know.” -Neil Postman and...
Mission and Motherhood: Tools for Leading Pregnant and Postpartum Soldiers
By Katie Walter I was terrified when I discovered I was pregnant as a young Second Lieutenant in the Armor branch. Among the other stressors of pregnancy and raising a child, I was nervous my Squadron’s leaders might view me negatively for being...
What Junior Leaders Need to Understand About Their Field Grade Boss
By Quentin O’Neal Major Dave Leydet and Major Ryan Stephenson recently penned a phenomenal article detailing the importance of the relationship between a unit’s Executive Officer (XO) and its Operations Officer (S3). It also expounds upon those two...
Does Your Organization Need a Command Sergeant Major?
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on LinkedIn for a corporate audience. Listen to Joe’s interview with Juliet here. And keep your eyes open for Juliet’s return to the podcast! by Juliet Funt I have no military family, nor do I...
How to Lead Where Excellence is Already the Norm
By Terry Lee and Chevy Cook It’s no surprise that elite performers and high achievers tend to produce at a higher level, have outsized impact on their organizations, and are rewarded with selection, promotion, and more leadership...
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