Leadership author and speaker
Leadership author and speaker
Mickey is moving his household from Hawaii to Texas. While he’s moving, please enjoy these posts from last year, and remember “The Five Be’s” Second Edition comes out in September! Last week, I brought you Part I of a discussion of courage from my book, The Five Be’s. This week I conclude with some stories about […]
Mickey is in the midst of moving his household from Hawaii to Texas, so please enjoy this “classic” post from 2016. Original posts will resume in September. Also, don’t forget that The Five Be’s Second Edition goes live on Lulu and Amazon next month!! In the film, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, the Task Force Commander, Admiral […]
Do you ever feel like your life is “stuck” in neutral? Well, do I have a real “dynamic duo” of women who can help you put your life in 5th gear! I had the honor and pleasure of being a guest on the Best Life Ever podcast, hosted by Kimi Morton and Pua Pakele & […]
The military change of command ceremony is rooted in centuries of tradition back to the time of Frederick the Great. In the days before radio communications, the unit’s commander used his flag as a symbol of command and to signal movements on the battlefield. Leaders would physically hand the unit’s organizational flag from the outgoing […]
In 2013, I was pleased to be featured in a 4-part series on a radio show called Character Matters! with Bob Vasquez the US Air Force Academy’s KAFA-FM radio. CMSgt (ret) Bob Vasquez was a fabulous host, and we had a great conversation about leadership. You can subscribe to his feed on SoundCloud here. Today’s post is […]
Today’s post is all about the second “brick” in the foundation of leadership: Respect. As I travel around I meet a lot of good people, but it seems to me the social norms about respect are not what they should be. Too often I find the extremes: either a legalistic approach to respect that approaches […]
Looking for leadership opportunities–and accepting responsibility–is a crucial ingredient to any leader’s character. The colonel looked at four squadron commanders and said, “The general will be inspecting the facility tomorrow, everything needs to be perfect.” Three of the assembled commanders looked at their feet, while the fourth simply smiled and said, “Sir, I got this. […]
I’m pleased to present another excerpt from my book, Leading Leaders: Inspiring, Empowering, and Motivating Teams about the importance for senior leaders to do some things personally: In my own experience as a leader, I have often been surprised at how much impact little things have on people. Each year former and current students from my alma […]
Below is an excerpt from the hilarious and inspiring book, Patio Wisdom, by my brother Tony and I. You can get your copy here. While stationed in Germany, Tony attended the European Harley-Davidson Super Rally over Memorial Day weekend. It was Europe’s version of Sturgis, South Dakota, and that year it was in Austria. He’d […]
In the first part, I discussed the necessity for leaders to help their teams find value in participation in professional and social organizations related to the business. For Air Force officers, that used to be the Officers Club, but I discovered my younger officers didn’t necessarily sign up to that particular tradition. Like the office coffee […]
Innovation in any large organization requires courage–courage from senior leaders right down to the front line worker. If done with courage and clear vision, then leaders can develop a true culture of innovation–a “startup mentality”–even in the public sector. Is it really possible to have a “startup” in a huge global enterprise? The answer is […]
It was axiomatic as a brand new lieutenant I was expected to join the Officer’s Club. I read about the expectation in my Air Force Officer’s Guide, and senior officers repeatedly reinforced that expectation. It was part of my professional obligation to support the Club, and I accepted this at face value. In fact, other a couple of […]
Last week, I brought you Part I of a discussion of courage from my book, The 5 Be’s for Starting Out. This week I conclude with some stories about courage. __ Can you learn to be courageous? More to the point, can you learn to control fear? Yes, you can. Learning to be courageous has a […]
Memorial Day is approaching and I thought a couple of posts on the subject of courage was in order. I’m pleased to bring you an excerpt from my book The Five Be’s as a two-part series on courage. __ Admiral Tarrant from the film The Bridges at Toko-Ri asked, “Where do we get such men?” The […]
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 […]
Asking the right questions is usually better than knowing the right answers.There’s an old saying in the Air Force that colonels rarely ask questions to which they don’t already know the answer. I never really understood that saying until I became a colonel, then the light came on. Everyone wants to show the colonel how […]
“Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage without fear.”– Eddie Richenbacker, World War I flying ace There are as many definitions of the word “courage” as there are people. Courage can take many forms, but we generally think of courage in two main categories: physical courage and moral courage. When […]
Rule #2. Don’t spook the herd. Emotional demonstrations are always counter-productive and stifle initiative. My second rule, “Don’t Spook the Herd” was born of several lessons I learned personally. Back in my cadet days at Texas A&M, I learned the importance keeping my emotions in check as a leader when I took over as an […]
