With bourbon production up 435% in the last two decades, the state of Kentucky has a lot to be pleased with. Distillers are building rickhouses as fast as they can. Companies specializing in building rickhouses are backed up. Distillers who once claimed all local grains now claim to be able to source local grains as [...]
In “The Coming Reckoning,” we explored how the United States is fracturing and how that fracturing may be delayed or averted. However desirable it may be to many, perhaps most Americans, that the country remain united, a path towards dissolution appears as a possible avenue ahead of us. While there are countless voices predicting a [...]
This article appears in the July/August (Vol 25/No 6) edition of Gilbert, the magazine of the Society of GK Chesterton. Please visit the society web site www.chesterton.org and subscribe or become a member! He travels because of his ignorance; it is exactly in that that he shows his intelligence. --GK Chesterton “Wow. This place [...]
With sincere thanks to James Fallows who invited me to write this article and to Ben Speggen who is an excellent editor and made this far better than it was, I am linking to my latest article which was published by the Our Towns Civic Foundation. In this article, I argue that the United States [...]
At a recent Sunday family gathering, a young extended family member was telling of his apprenticeship as an electrician. Six months out of high school, being paid to work and learn the trade, he will test out of his second year of apprenticeship in another 6 months and be a certified journeyman. His firm wants [...]
Back in January of 2020 we wrote a piece on What to Expect in 2030. The piece still holds up, I think. As far as general predictions go, these are not particularly bold, but they are interesting and not widely written about. But there is one more prediction that we ought to make and then [...]
The promises of the information revolution and Third Wave of society ushered in an era of competition and lower prices on an entire range of goods by globalizing the manufacture of products and the democratization of services. This revolution enabled people around the world to participate in the global chain of service and supply. By [...]
We've discussed in the past on these pages the importance of clear, concise and well, considered objectives in order to have a goal for strategies to achieve. We've discussed the myriad pitfalls leaders struggle with from inability to define their vision and objectives, to the lack of discipline required to see the planning process through [...]
I’ve been reading a lot lately on certain social media accounts about how modernity is better than “the old days” and also about how much better things were back in “the age of chivalry.” I totally get what advocates are saying from both perspectives. I’m not entirely sure those advocates are representing their arguments well. [...]
We’ve written about Why We Don’t See It Coming in the past. Very often we are not even aware of how far off we are. A billion is not just more than a million. It is 1000 times more. So when we talk about specific topics and issues, it is important to be precise if [...]
Colleagues, my latest article appears at the Vital Masculinity Project, who asked me to write about crisis leadership for their journal. I hope you enjoy the article. In any crisis, people in the middle of the crisis almost desperately seek out those who keep their heads about them to be near in the hopes of [...]
The first week of January, 1994, I found myself walking slowly through the Capitol Rotunda with my friend, Bob Gorman. Bob was a small town newspaper editor going through DC, and since I was about to move away, we met for a leisurely walk through the nation’s Capitol building, as one could do back then. [...]
The video linked below titled Children in Serbia 1920 is haunting. A few thoughts about it after watching several times: First, these children were most likely dressed in their traditional Serbian cultural outfits for the camera, which was very likely the first time they were ever pictured. This technology was rare even on American farms, [...]
This article was written for Ad Otium, a very good web project and blog, and for whom I am very grateful for the opportunity to write. Please visit this site and read his articles and links. It starts with a heartfelt and seemingly innocuous comment, “I wanna do what you’re doing.” There is so much [...]
In "The Secret of the Unicorn Tapestries," (The Paris Review) Danielle Oteri heartens those of us who seek contemporary examples of excellent prose, historical accuracy and evidence, connecting ideas in seemingly disparate fields, and a sleuthing tenacity found in Chesterton's Father Brown. This article ought to be assigned reading for half a dozen graduate programs [...]
By Tom Ruby and Scott Bethel It seems to us that the United States is hurtling down a road that forks in the near distance into two roads. The fork on the left leads to civil war. The fork on the right leads to autocracy. We missed the exit for the pluralistic civil society that [...]
Business and civic leaders are working their way through perhaps the most tumultuous year of their careers. A global pandemic, an election year and civil unrest. Yet you don't have the time nor the bandwidth to feel sorry for yourselves, so you go to it and work the issues critical to your job. That's how [...]
Over the past several years I've asked a lot of people in relaxed conversations what their red lines are. In nearly every case, my conversation companion is taken aback by the question. The concept of red lines isn't something they think about. But here's the rub for every one of us. We all have red [...]
Here are some related thoughts on our current crises. I'm feeling more pessimistic about our country's future than any point in my adult life. I'm not talking about some snowflake angst. I've deployed to combat zones 3 times and have dealt with the pressure of human lives and national security issues my entire adult life. [...]
by Tom Ruby and Scott Bethel We're now half a year into the Covid-19 Pandemic. So much has changed and so many experts have missed the performance or integrity cut that few people can be certain they have confidence in what is real and what isn't. Now is the time for business and government leaders [...]
This Coronavirus pandemic has interrupted individual lives and communal national lives to a degree unseen by younger generations in their lives. Older generations who lived through WWII are nearing the end of their lives and their memories of their lives during that time are fleeting. That means this pandemic is genuinely a new experience for [...]
Pretty much everyone has tired of the novelty of Zoom meetings and Zoom Happy Hours. And yet we can be assured that we will be conducting core office meetings electronically beyond the foreseeable future. Even after the Covid-19 pandemic is a memory, the effects will linger in the form of working from home and drastically [...]
Excellent piece in The Atlantic, "Why The Coronavirus Is So Confusing." It gets back to a previous post on the Equation which discusses how to deal with situations in which there are lots of variables. We people are not very good at considering the interaction between multiple causal variables working at the same time. Here [...]
If the Coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it is the importance of evidence in decision-making. Facts abound in the world. Most are irrelevant to any particular issue. But being unaware of the facts relevant to your organizational situation blinds you as a leader. I encourage all senior leaders, especially CEOs and Board members to [...]
With time comes clarity. That is the case with much that happens in life. So it is with the Coronavirus. Not with the science of how the virus infects people. That is known. But with how it moves from person to person before they show symptoms, how long it can remain on surfaces, how far [...]
It is genuinely difficult for leaders today to think ahead to how they're going to lead their businesses, departments, governmental jurisdictions, trade organizations, etc, out of the present darkness of pandemic. After all, they're practically overwhelmed by managing the disruption day-to-day to remain open and active. Here's the thing...Leaders, the preponderance of your focus has [...]
By Tom Ruby and Scott Bethel Back in the first week of January, Tom posted some specific predictions for what the world would see in 2030. Not yet half a year into that decade, the Coronavirus Pandemic is accelerating some of those predictions. Sure, there were people who predicted that a pandemic would wreak havoc [...]
We're now a couple of weeks into the Pandemic that is the Coronavirus or Covid-19. It is time for a progress report on where we are and what are our prospects for recovery. First and foremost, we need to remember, reiterate and remind one another that this pandemic is real and not a hoax. It [...]
With the Covid-19 Coronavirus now in full Pandemic mode, leaders at every level, from political leaders to titans of industry, to small business leaders, to town councils and emergency management planners, all eyes are on you. In times of crisis, people look for someone to follow. In times of crisis, people look around for the [...]
How many of you are in a business whose investors or owners have set an aggressive growth goal for the company? Or perhaps you have been told you're really great at something that you should scale up? Growth and scaling are natural and good goals for companies. It can be incremental, slowly building more capacity [...]
There's a mythical person it seems that most everyone wants to be like, the spontaneous, carpe diem, grab-my-overnight-bag-and-go-at-the-drop-of-a-hat person. The person who doesn't overly think things through. The person that feels the best way to start a project is to just start it and go from there. Real life, however, is not so romantic. Real [...]
I've been corresponding recently with a young friend I used to work with. We were discussing weekly reflecting. Taking time out to think about where you are personally and professionally. He has really good insight for someone at his stage in his career, far better than I had at the same point many years [...]
The Washington Post has done a service to its readers and indirectly all businesses in its years-long effort to expose the waste of lives, resources and time the US government alone has spent in Afghanistan over the last 18 years. There ought to be hand-wringing in the halls of the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom and [...]
Its always easy to look back and say, "Yeah, we should have seen that one coming..." Stunning how few people who were professionally studying the Soviet Union for a living saw its collapse. Yet all the signs were there. And the few who did see it coming were scoffed at. Funny how nobody found them [...]
George Packer, writing on the passing of Leslie Gelb in The Atlantic, quoted Gelb in saying "Foreign policy makes no sense." Packer added: "He meant that our leaders, even ones he respected, often don’t know what they’re doing. They have to make decisions with large but unknowable consequences in ignorance, thinking wishfully, perhaps under the [...]
With the passing of Air Force Maj Gen (Ret) John Casciano, the country has lost a leader, a gentleman and mentor for countless men and women over the last 5 decades. A career intelligence officer who rose on a non-traditional path that included both Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command, a long deployment to [...]
On Wednesday the 28th of May, 1986, then Vice President George H.W. Bush gave the commencement address at the US Air Force Academy. The speech itself was unremarkable. It was the man himself that stood out to me. He was very gracious. While most of my fellow newly minted lieutenants stiffly saluted and shook his [...]
In a Christmas Day release from The National Interest, (retired Army General) Tom Spoehr makes a passionate case that the upcoming audit of the Defense Department is unnecessary and potentially wasteful. Sadly, this Op-Ed column is riddled with straw man arguments, false trails and magic pixie dust to deflect the targeted reader, in this case, [...]
A family member once asked me during a home viewing of The Hunger Games what the point was of watching something that was so fantastical and obviously could never happen. I responded that this was not fantastical at all, but a fictionalization of human history. "When? When did this happen?" Well, I said, how about [...]
Transparency. How much light gets through. Can you see what is on the other side of the divide? Perhaps no concept brings on headaches for senior leaders. Perhaps no concept brings on hesitation from investors. Perhaps no concept makes workers wonder whether their jobs will be secure in the future. Why? Why should I as [...]
Well, this is an interesting time in the U.S., isn't it? For all those who say we should avoid discussing politics and religion at work and family gatherings, you have larger issues to worry about than having to figure out what is interesting about the weather, the early turning of leaves this summer, and the [...]
"Someone hauled that wood up here." That was one key point of discussion when our family stood atop the Kofel, a small, but steep granite mountain on the west side of Oberammergau in the Ammergauer Alps of Germany. You don't need to be an experienced mountaineer to get to the top. The [...]
I was listening to NPR this morning when a story came up about the new status symbol in the US these days: Busyness, or at least the appearance of being too busy for leisure and other people. Boy have we flipped things upside down or what in the last 20 years? It used to be [...]
If you've read this column over the last few years, you would likely have noticed several themes, one of which is peoples' remarkable consistency in getting in their own way on the road to success. I've written many times that the three most important words a senior leader can say is "I don't know." Once [...]
Warning Aspiring Leaders: If you set about bringing down the king, you had better be prepared to BE the king. That means fixing all the issues you were complaining about. Leading, governing is always harder than complaining. Side note: if you're unable to separate your political feelings from the intellectual argument on leadership that follows, [...]
Look around, leaders. Who do you see? Yes, it is meant to be a loaded question. We are told constantly through the popular culture and through many of our religious cultures that we are to see and value the dignity of the individual and not merely the skin colors or genders. And as far as [...]
Well, if there is a subject many of us didn't think would be at the forefront of popular culture at the beginning of this year it certainly would have to be truth. There's no question that the political culture has that word at the center of discussion as does the media. But it isn't only [...]
Sorry to say, but if you are, you don't know it, and most likely nobody is going to tell you. But there's hope. You can turn it around. Really. The New York Times piece "How To Keep Your Office Holiday Party From Going Off The Rails" is a good place to start. “Getting on top [...]
One of the truths of all human endeavor, especially in business, is that your actions have consequences. That is, after all, why we make decisions and think about what we need to do to achieve our desired outcomes. And when we do it properly, we are rewarded with success. But what happens when we take [...]
"What are the last 5 books you've read?" I was surprised how often I was asked that question as a young rising professional by my bosses and other senior leaders considering hiring me. Then as I grew older, I found myself asking the same question to my direct reports when I took over a new [...]
Here is a typical situation when a leadership and organizational consultant goes into a new business to help them out. The consultant has a discussion with the client trying to get to the bottom of several issues in the front office. There are multiple paths that needed exploring, but the consultant's process tells him where [...]
There is no longer any doubt about it. We are at a decision point in history. We are nearing the point at which we have the opportunity to throw the switch on the tracks of history to go down a new path. However, I fear we as a people are too busy with our necks [...]
We need to talk. We need to listen. We need to love. Everyone. Our neighbors. Those who aren't our neighbors. The promise of technology, the internet and social media was that people would be able to get together in virtual communities. The reality is that people have used the information revolution to increasingly associate with [...]
Ideas. The best leaders live in the realm of ideas. Facts and details are great and necessary. But connecting ideas is what advances business and humanity. You've heard me say often that the senior leader's job is to stay above the daily fray and focus on the long-term vision and strategy (see here). I also [...]
It's better to be right than first. We've talked often here about narratives in the past (see here and here) and why it is so critical for senior leaders to look for evidence when making decisions and developing strategies to achieve corporate objectives. Sunday's Washington Post featured an article titled "Amanda Knox is innocent. But [...]
Perhaps it is time to have an internal dialogue within the Government and between our treaty partners about precision in language about what an ally is and isn't. And if necessary, we ought to take the bold steps of making formal changes to whom we call allies. It matters. I would contend allies and coalition [...]
I sat in a client's office a couple of years ago when the client told me he didn't like my second Maxim (click on the link here to see the full list): Seek Balance in Life. He said that in his experience, people use the concept of balance to not work as hard as they [...]
May I offer you a challenge? Carefully consider the following question: As a CEO or senior leader, how willing are you to learn? It may seem like a simple question. It may seem not worth your time. But indulge me for a minute. Go down the hallway to the rest room or close the door [...]
Whether you are a young rising professional or are tagged to be a senior leader's executive assistant, there are some very sound steps to help you get through turbulent waters. Few people want to go through the pain of the steps required to rise through the ranks in the corporate world, but those who have [...]
It has been a difficult week for liberalism in the world. The notion that people ought to respect the election results even if it puts in power those they oppose isn't working. The idea that cosmopolitanism - diversity and respect for other cultures - is better than everyone looking and thinking the same seems to [...]
How odd that the Washington Post said that the biggest "threat" to the European Union is the will of the people. The Brussels technocrats who have steadfastly maintained a distance between themselves and the people of the member countries all for the ostensible betterment of those people through routine and predictable rules of commerce and [...]
Last week I had a very serendipitous convergence. I had fresh in my memory the day two weeks ago that I spoke to the government classes at our local high school. It's not the kids' fault that they didn't know what the social contract is. The overwhelming sentiment among these seniors was that we should [...]
Last week, I visited a mentor who arguably taught me the most about professionalism in my early career; lessons that have stayed with me until. John Casciano certainly didn't look like the type that would rise to the highest levels of National Security leadership. Short in stature, he certainly wasn't going to rise based on [...]
When Air Force General Michael Fortney told his subordinate commanders to root our and do away with Queep (http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2016/05/03/2-star-general-puts-wasteful-queep-duties-crosshairs/83873648/), he continued a long tradition of senior leaders trying to Lean down their operations and do away with those meaningless duties that take away focus from the company's bottom line. Unfortunately, his directive is doomed to [...]
There is a popular notion these days that younger workers and professionals, especially millennials, aren't interested in working hard to put in their time before being promoted to leadership positions; that they somehow feel entitled to all they want without putting in the time like those who went before them. I'm not sure I buy [...]
A recent publication of the entire results of a 40 year old study on health and diet puts another nail in the coffin of what "everybody knows" regarding diet and heart disease. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/12/this-study-40-years-ago-could-have-reshaped-the-american-diet-but-it-was-never-fully-published/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_most-draw5) This post isn't about what we should or shouldn't be eating. It is about truth in research and completeness in our search [...]
Realizing that we are all in the same boat as far as reading about and thinking over implications of the coming election, I've stayed away from sending out any emails or personal thoughts on what's coming up. This is NOT a post about who I think will win or who I think we should vote [...]
In previous posts we discussed how leaders have a responsibility to create organizational clarity, ensure the organization's identity and direction, create an organizational structure to meet the long-term objectives, to stay above the day-to-day fray and let their subordinates do their jobs, and to learn to say "I don't know." That all still applies. But [...]
I was overseas in 1997, on assignment in a Middle East country in what could only be described as an "everybody-has-to-go-through-it" temporary assignment. My predecessor had told me that the bad guys had slowly, over time, moved a host of military equipment to locations in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. But those movements didn't [...]
In previous posts we discussed the importance of senior leaders focusing on the long-range vision and strategy and leaving the day-to-day “doing” to your doers. But through lots of feedback and discussions in the field, it is time to put out another post on how to do that. Leaving the doing to the doers does [...]
The benefit of applying critical thinking methodology to all aspects of life is that you are rarely surprised, and when you are, you can more easily adapt. But the hard part is that, at first, you will be nearly universally scorned by those who either can't or won't think critically. Those that listened heard me correctly on [...]
This is my first Maxim for leaders. It seems strange to many that I speak of goodness before market share or process refinement or the importance of a corporate strategic plan. But I put it first deliberately and not for some pretend altruism. Before all else, goodness can make an organization. No matter your job, [...]
More is better, right? More food for less money at the buffet; trackers on every shipping container to know what is inside and where it is in the world; more watts for less money per light bulb; more gigabytes of data per month on your mobile phone plan; more surveillance to help stop terrorist attacks. But [...]
Who are you and what do you want to be? Those are the two most important questions any business leader must answer when beginning a new business or job. And it is always important to review what you said when you started and renew your commitment to those answers at the beginning of each new [...]
There are few people who have not read the original or watched a TV version of Charles Dickens's, A Christmas Carol. As a story of a life redeemed, it is one that few people I've ever met can say anything negative about. Sure, we love to go see the play at Ford's Theater or our local [...]
The Economist highlights today's anniversary 40 years ago of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody hitting #1 on the British pop charts with an article about the iconic song and the level of artistry that went into it. But this article was more than just a commemoration of a great song that nearly everyone, no matter your generation, [...]
The small ethnic European restaurant in the small town in middle America was hurting. The owner/chef made great food, but tables were empty most nights. The reviews on social media were less than stellar with many pointing out that the restaurant sold out of some top menu items more regularly than they should. After meeting with [...]
How do you know when it is time to seek an outside view of your operations or to seek advice? And if you do, what should you consider in selecting a partner to give you honest, critical and unemotional feedback and advice? First, allow me to relate an allegorical story that is true in the sense [...]
One of the greatest challenges senior leaders face is dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity in all aspects of operations from strategic decision-making to daily tasks. When margins are narrow and your key variables are uncertain, it is naturally understandable to wait for more information before making decisions. However, the longer a leader waits for information [...]
Yesterday's news presented two articles (one by the Washington Post and the other on the blog, Medium) that seemed widely disparate, one about retired general David Petraeus remaining in the limelight well after his ignominious retirement, and the other about xenophobia in Germany against Muslim foreigners. What could these articles possible have in common? Samuel Huntington. [...]
The Atlantic just released a much needed and very important long think-piece titled "The Coddling Of The American Mind". Just at the time I have been considering withdrawing from the academic game due to the issues raised in the article, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt sound the warning that by stifling all speech - beyond [...]
The first role of the leader is to develop and maintain clarity of purpose in an organization. That clarity is required no matter the ease or difficulty of the environment or business climate. With clarity must come truth, no matter how difficult it is to accept. Strategic planning is only as sound as the leaders' willingness [...]
This past winter, my daughter realized she was driving on a flat tire on a rural road with no place to pull over. She called me and I met her there to show her how to change the tire to the spare and then take it to the shop for repair. It was a simple [...]
So many of our senior leaders in all segments of industry are so mired in the day-to-day minutiae of their companies that they convince themselves they have no time to look out into the future, let alone bring together their directors for long-term planning projects. We have said in past posts that getting out of the [...]
Thanks to Derek Brown of Mortensen for sending me the article from Harvard Business Review on "Why Compassion Is a Better Managerial Practice Than Toughness" (https://hbr.org/2015/05/why-compassion-is-a-better-managerial-tactic-than-toughness/?utm_source=newsletter_leadership&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=leadership010813&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-leadership-_-leadership010813&referral=00206). Interestingly, soon after Derek sent me the article, I saw in the current edition of the Atlantic an article titled "Why It Pays To Be A Jerk" (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/06/why-it-pays-to-be-a-jerk/392066/). So [...]
Last week we talked about preparing your mind daily. We discussed the importance of staying at your level of responsibility, avoiding the pitfalls of reverting to being a doer if your job is to lead. Discipline in time management, keeping your inbox clean and walking around were key points in keeping your head above the [...]
Leaders are best when they provide vision, clarity of direction and reinforcement of that vision to their people. To do so, they need to be shrewd time managers and constant learners, preparing their minds daily for the challenges they will meet the next day, week, or year. Leaders need to keep their organizations focused on [...]
Your Activity = ∫Ax x Bx x Cx… For any activity you undertake in life, from selling a horse, to arriving at work on time, to planning a vacation, to cooking dinner, certain variables interact with each other to determine the outcome. For centuries, many business and government leaders have known this to be the case. Today [...]
The higher you rise in any field the more important it is for you to be open to changing your mind. Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics (http://freakonomics.com/) fame say that the single greatest mistake leaders make is ignoring evidence. Maria Popova, the brilliant thinker and connector at Brain Pickings (http://www.brainpickings.org/) says you should "allow [...]
