Quality Leadership Weblog :-)

Op-Ed. The Sidney Awards, By DAVID BROOKS, Published: December 25, 2009
Every year, I give out Sidney Awards to the best magazine essays of the year. In an age of zipless, electronic media, the idea is to celebrate (and provide online linkof poor quality:d “cost es to) long-form articles that have narrative drive and social impact.

One [...]

Business and the Way of Democracy, By ANDREA BONIME-BLANC and MARK BRZEZINSKI, Published: December 26, 2009
The role that integrity plays in the private sector is similar to the role that democracy plays in the public sector.

Much like transitions to democracy over the past four decades transformed governments from mostly authoritarian to mostly democratic, we are [...]

Article infers a reference to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The assessment has its critics but I have found it has been a useful tool – I’m generally pretty accurate in identifying preference which helps improve communications.
Op-Ed. An Officer and a Creative Man, By MARK MOYAR, December 19, 2009, New York Times
Researchers have found [...]

Note the reference to cause and effect.  The “effect” represented in the statement: “Our aim is to manifest the fundamental innate mind of clear light, the most subtle level of consciousness, and to remain within that level of mind without regressing to grosser levels.” On the “causes”:  the practice of the Great Completeness style of [...]

Defense Department Planning To Expand Minerva Initiative, (Inside The Pentagon)…Jason Sherman
The Pentagon plans this year to expand a fledging program launched by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to foster cooperation between the military and social scientists in a bid to improve understanding of 21st-century security challenges and develop a cadre of experts to influence national security [...]

Cheney: U.S. Close To Meeting Goals In Iraq, (USA Today)…Wire reports, Jan 5, 2009
 WASHINGTON — Vice President Cheney said Sunday that the United States is accomplishing its aims in Iraq. Interviewed on CBS’ Face the Nation, Cheney offered a spirited defense of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, of which he was a top advocate.
“We [...]

Government Alone Can’t Do Right By Our Wounded Soldiers (Wall Street Journal)…Jonathan Gurwitz, Jan 3, 2009.
You can’t earmark bravery or budget patriotism.
Private donors are already doing a lot to help recuperating soldiers in San Antonio. In recent years, two “Fisher Houses” were built near Brooke Army Medical Center by the Fisher House Foundation to [...]

Person Of The Year: Robert M. Gates, (Aviation Week & Space Technology)…Michael Bruno, Amy Butler and John M. Doyle, Jan 5, 2009
…Gates has focused on the simple idea, albeit a complex task, of getting the job done. This grounded purpose has been long needed in a Washington polarized by political disagreement over the use of [...]

Bush On His Record, (Wall Street Journal)…Kimberley A. Strassel, Dec 20, 2008, pg.13
As he sits at his mile-high desk, clad in his Air Force One crew jacket, George W. Bush is as he has ever been: upbeat, focused, confident in his past decisions and in the future.

On Iraq …
The action that will always most define [...]

 Moral Surrender To Pyongyang, (Washington Post)…Michael Gerson, Dec 19, 2008
…The negotiations with North Korea were worth a try. But diplomatic engagement does not require moral surrender. And when diplomats such as Christopher Hill are deployed, it does not signify that the adults have arrived. It means that hope is fading.
The argument was simple: In an [...]