The Power of Shared Purpose

As a military officer, I’ve served with some of the finest people I’ll ever know. Few of them were exactly like me, but all of us shared a common purpose to serve our country. It’s that shared purpose that unified a diverse group of people around a singular mission to fight for our country, our […]

Raising Them Right: The Value of Onboarding

Onboarding new employees is critical to the success of any organization. Without a deliberate and thoughtful onboarding process, new employees are set adrift in an organizational culture without any guide–and some will lose their way. Done correctly, a good onboarding process will imbue the new recruit with company values and energize them to find where […]

Be Balanced

        I believe that being successful means having a balance [in] life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles. – Zig Ziglar     When my son was very young, he would give me the same advice as I left for work […]

Book Review: Lost Mandate of Heaven

Leaders are also readers, and when I travel I use the time to catch up on my reading and writing. Ignatius Press recently sent me The Lost Mandate of Heaven by Geoffery D. T. Shaw to review, and it was time well spent! Shaw tells the story of the rise and betrayal of President Ngo […]

Be Free – Part II

In Part I, I put forth the idea that “freedom” is not simply doing whatever we want, but doing what’s good and in a way that builds ourselves and others up. To illustrate, we will look at traffic controls which are tools such as traffic signals, signage, speed limits, and pavement markings. Traffic controls restrict […]

Be Free – Part I

“Freedom” is a word often misused in our current vocabulary. We view our “freedoms” in such a broad manner that the word sometimes loses its meaning. Particularly in the case of young people, “freedom” is synonymous with “doing whatever I like”, but that’s not authentic freedom. Authentic freedom is being able to choose what’s good […]

Of Surfing, Leading, and Be’s

Aloha everyone! I am privileged to appear on The Civil Engineering podcast with leader, career coach, and former Air Force engineer Christian Knudson.  Episode 19: Riding The Wave of Change As a Civil Engineer Leader – goes live today Wednesday Nov. 25 on iTunes at 6am EST. This weeks Civil Engineer podcast features Mickey Addison, career military officer, civil engineer, author […]

Join Me at JETC 2015! – UPDATED

  I’m excited to be presenting at the Society of American Military Engineers’ JETC 2015 next week in Houston, Texas! As a Life Member, it’s a privilege to serve my Society by leading a Speed Mentoring session, moderating a panel on Theater Security Engagement World-Wide in the Contingency Engineering Track, and presenting “The Five Be’s” […]

From the Blogs: What the Team Needs

I spotted this great article from People Development Mag on leading teams and wanted to share!  I like their model:   and it closely resembles my own:     Says Ms Shafer: When initiative, productivity, creativity and execution are lacking, the costs to the team can be very real. The tangible results can be a lackluster […]