There’s an old saying that goes something like this: No matter what your point of view, you can prove it in the Bible. It’s true in the Bible, and it is true in the US Constitution. For instance, my son who is a young lawyer was president of the Second Amendment Society at his […]
Current Affairs
The Ghost Map
A peculiar phenomenon follows me when I walk into a book store: Books speak to me. I’m not schizo. I don’t literally hear words such as, “You hoo, here I am.” On the other hand, I might as well, since the end result is the same: I buy them. Could you resist a book […]
Revisiting Ike
Until yesterday, when I heard David Eisenhower discuss his grandfather’s iconic 1961 farewell speech, I never fully grasped the full wisdom of President Dwight Eisenhower‘s words. David, in his new book Going Home to Glory, a memoir about life with his illustrious grandfather, puts the famous Military-Industrial Complex speech into a broader context, explaining why […]
Secretariat + Social Network: Wondering What’s Real
Last week, I watched two films based on “true” stories about two extraordinary historical events (where opportunities for leadership abound). One is about a horse and a woman. One is about a young male and his brain. One story is finished. The other is just beginning. Of course, I’m talking about Secretariat and Social Network. […]
6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68
These are the magical numbers every fan of tennis now recognizes. It was a game for the ages when, at last, American John Isner defeated France’s Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon today – after three days and more than 11 hours of play. Yesterday, people in my office were constantly interrupted with friends and family calling […]
Leadership as Theatre: General Petraeus
If you don’t define yourself, others will. This often-quoted concept is not one I thought particularly applicable to military officers until I read the May 2010 Vanity Fair article on General David Petraeus, a man I’d never thought too much about. Sitting on an airplane headed to a conference to Ft. Lauderdale, I learned […]
Big-Time Fees: Big-Time Stick
It’s not nice to talk about money, so Mother-and even the Feds say. Mother, of course, was thinking manners. The Feds? Price fixing….. Yet, everybody’s doing it. Tonight, including me. It’s just too interesting, especially given the economic times. What caught my attention is media coverage about the current rash of former CEOs thought headed […]
Apple Addiction and Other Technology Traumas
If I hear one more technical support person parrot, “I apologize,” and not mean it at all, I may run for Congress on a platform to hold all call center executives accountable for consumer torture. Surely, I am not the only person in this country who is sick and tired of being treated as if […]
Looking at the Surface Rather than the Substance of Airport Security
On a recent trip to the Mexican coastal town Zihautanejo, getting through security at Dallas Ft. Worth was reasonable. Coming back was another story. At the airport, before we were allowed to check in at the reservations desk, all bags and passengers were searched carefully one by one. Then, I was required to check […]
Boone Pickens + Al Gore: Strange Bedfellows
I sometimes feel I shouldn’t be surprised by anything any more. Yet, sometimes, I am. When I heard conservative billionaire T. Boone Pickens describe his new-found friendship with former vice-president Al Gore, I laughed in disbelief along with the rest of the people at my table. Boone was serious. “If Al Gore ever invites you […]