In The Way of the Owl, martial arts expert and naturalist Frank Rivers uses the owl as a model for effective conflict management. The book is full of useful advice, such as: 1. A sharp blade is both safer and more effective than a dull one (6). 2. Security lies in knowledge, benevolence in training… Read More

Today marks the 153rd anniversary of the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, effectively beginning the end of the Civil War. It’s a good day to think about leadership lessons from Lee, and a good day to read about the general. Elizabeth Brown Pryor’s Reading the Man is… Read More

One of the main characters in our Transformational Journey from the Alamo is, of course, Davy Crockett. Like so many American heroes, much of what we think we know about Crockett is not based in fact but rather consists of stories created over the years in order to “sell” something. For example, both the Walt… Read More

For Civil War soldiers, the only thing worse than armed combat was the sheer danger and terror of sitting in camp. Of the 750,000 men to die during the war – a recent revision from the traditionally cited number of approximately 620,000 – two-thirds died of disease. That means that 340+ men died of disease… Read More

One of the biggest questions leaders ask is, “How do I motivate my team?” Often we structure a monetary reward system to elicit motivation, but as William Henderson says, “Money is weak glue.” In Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation, authors Neel Doshi and Lindsay… Read More