I am always intrigued by those who preach the need for unity but insist that such unity must be upon their terms. In other words, “surrender yourselves to our cause, for only we know what is right and good.” And there are too many – far too many – who do just that.
I had intended to write a short monograph on leadership, but the event in Sutherland Springs, Texas needs a comment. I’m familiar with Sutherland Springs from 1969, when it was on the northern edge of our bailout area at Randolph AFB. There were plenty of open fields surrounding the area, and open fields are what you’re looking for if you’re about to let your jet aircraft crash into the ground while you take a nylon escalator down.
Go into a bookstore and ask for a book on leadership, and they will point you to an entire section wherein they keep the tomes highlighting the leadership styles and practices of Jack Welsh, Attila the Hun, Ulysses S. Grant, and hundreds of other supposedly sagacious leaders of yore. Now some of these hundreds were, indeed, great leaders in their time, but their styles are of little use to the reader wanting to become a better leader in their 21st Century organization.