What is the Key Ingredient to Leadership?

As I prepared to write this article, I conducted a Google search and posed the question, what is the key ingredient to leadership? Over twenty pages of results returned listing qualities such as integrity, trust, honesty, etc. True, those are important and necessary qualities, and I have written about them in the past. However, as…

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Have You Forgotten 9-11?

September 11, 2026, is the 25th anniversary of the despicable and dastardly attacks on our nation by Islamic extremists. If you were alive on 9-11, do you remember where you were the morning the news broke? I do and I will never forget that morning. What follows is the blog I wrote in 2023 for…

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Know Your Team

In 1942, prior to the Battle of Midway, Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance assumed command of Task Force 16. This was a result of Vice Admiral William F. Halsey’s admittance to the hospital for a skin condition. “One great advantage in making Spruance the stand-in commander, was that he was already familiar with the personnel…

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“You have sixty-seconds…”

Sometime last year I came across Captain Steeeve on Facebook. He is a former naval aviator and airline pilot, and I enjoy watching and listening to his analysis of aircraft incidents and accidents. Why? Because I teach leadership and decision-making under stressful conditions and he has quite a bit that apply to both. Captain Steeeve’s…

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Hey Chiefs, Are Your Firefighters Present and Accounted For?

That is the question, are your firefighters present and accounted for? You may say, “Of course they are Rick! They show up when they are supposed to and their names are on the roster. Also, we ensure accountability at the scene of an emergency. So, what kind of a question is that?” Ok, so their…

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Discipline is Not a Curse Word

Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the United States entry into World War II, the United States Army conducted large scale maneuvers in Louisiana in September of 1941. Major General Leslie McNair had an instrumental role in this exercise. In his book Crusade in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote,…

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Complacency, a Psychological Obstacle

Prior to the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s involvement in World War II, there was a general feeling in our country that the war in Europe and Asia was not an American problem. This attitude was also prevalent with many members of the U.S. military. In Dwight D. Eisenhower’s book,…

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