I put together a video for those of you who may be making the transition from the military to the civilian world and are finding it more…

Dear readers, I so appreciate your being here. I’m moving this newsletter to Substack, so please join me there! Is there something calling you, in your professional or personal life, that you’ve been avoiding? Maybe it’s addressing a challenge or obstacle, taking an educational opportunity or a stretch assignment, or…

What’s on your reading list? If leaders read, it stands to reason that your work in leadership — of yourself, of a team or organization– needs to include a thoughtful reading program. How do you think about the precious hours you have to read? Grab the latest copy from what…

“Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and people expected me to behave in a certain way. I bucked the system.” — Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American in space 2. “If you have a goal that is very, very far out, and you approach it…

Melissa Stockwell was just 24 years old in April of 2004, commissioned as a 2d Lieutenant from ROTC in Colorado and assigned as a second lieutenant platoon leader in the Army’s transportation corps to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. …

What’s needed in post pandemic leadership? The answer is clear. The pandemic isn’t over, but a few things are becoming clear: leadership in a post-pandemic world will have to change. As companies contemplate what a return to work will look like and how to define a new normal, some are…

After two years of pandemic and counting, anew year is upon us. A new year of possibility, of opportunity, of HOPE. (More on how to set yourself for success with mindset in Chapter 5 of The Grit Factor!) What are the ways you want to enter the new year? With…

Your inner voice is your North Star — if you can hear it — Over three decades of service in the Army, including commanding four companies and a training battalion, Major General Dee McWilliams was faced with a terrible choice in 2003. To earn her third star, McWilliams was asked to leave her posting in Germany to return to the Pentagon, as it geared…

For Becky Halstead, leadership started out with her being a team player. Growing up in rural New York, Becky Halstead played on the basketball team, but she only started running because the team needed one more girl to be considered a full team. “I had nine varsity letters, but I…