Thursday, May 10, 2007

Maybe the Generals are Listening

I mentioned earlier how a Lt. Col. scolded the Army Generals for not speaking more frankly to the President and Rumsfeld.

Probably, the President gets the advice he wants, since he likes to surround himself with yes-men. Probably, the generals can only speak safely after retirement, and they are starting to do that now. Did the scolding make a difference?

Robert

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Leadership Crisis in the Military ?

Lt. Col. Paul Yingling has published this interesting article in the Armed Forces Journal: "A Failure in Generalship"

He said that our generals should have given better advice to our government, which amounts to saying they should have told the President (or Rumsfeld) he was wrong and accept being forced out of their jobs.

The willingness of an advisor to disagree with the boss even at if the cost is one's job is a Confucian virtue.

Essentially, Col. Yingling said our generals need some Confucian virtues!

Robert

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

America's Leadership Crisis of the Week

The Wall Street Journal on Friday April 27, 2007, reported that Marilee Jones, a dean at M.I.T., was forced to resign after it was discovered she had lied on her resume when she went to work at M.I.T. She claimed college degrees she did not have. Apparently, she never graduated from any college.

There is not a week when we do not have a report of a leader in business or government in a scandal.

We have a leadership crisis.

Lee Iacocca, the former Chairman of Chrysler, has just published a book, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone."

One of the political parties claimed to embrace family values, but has been tarnished with many scandals: a Congressman who is a pedophile, a Congressional leader who covered up for him, Paul Wolfowitz, who worked for Bush, gave special treatment to his girl-friend, a State Department executive was caught using call girls.

Political parties are part of the problem of poor leadership.

Where is the solution? It is with you and me and our children.

We must set the standards.

Robert