A widely accepted premise is that leaders should have a vision for their organization or group.  However, vision that is not based on reality is nothing but fantasy. Leaders’ vision, therefore, should be grounded on attainable ends, even if this grounding is speculative to some degree.  So, how can a leader have vision that is wedded to something firm in a rapidly advancing technological age?  A look back in history to a widely-acknowledged leader who [...]

Last month we all said goodbye to a truly great American hero; Neil Armstrong, who achieved “living legend” status for being the first human being to ever set foot on the moon.  Although Neil Armstrong gets credit for the first footprints on the Moon, his feat was the result of the efforts of tens of thousands of individuals that contributed time, energy and resources to the effort. The ability to accomplish this event launched thousands [...]

When I was a kid, my family faithfully watched the sitcom The Jeffersons.  The show (which spawned from All in the Family) explored much of what was happening culturally at the intersection of race relations in the United States.  We loved to watch the antics of the crazy character, George Jefferson, played by actor Sherman Hemsley. On July 24, 2012, Hemsley died of complications related to lung cancer. His death brought back a flood of [...]

My wife, Liz, is a pilot for Southwest Airlines, and I jokingly tell my friends that although I do not fly actively today, I live vicariously through her, and her career at SWA. However, my own relationship with her employer dates back to 1995 when I was also hired by Southwest. Fresh out of the Air Force, I followed my friends to the place where ex-fighter pilots went to fly commercial airliners and tell stories [...]

At Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Center for Aviation and Aerospace Leadership (CAAL), we have a team of experts whose focus is on keeping our industry and the companies and institutions within it abreast of the best ways to compete in the global marketplace.

Leadership discussions often focus on the subject of motivation. In traditional terms, leaders are somehow understood to be the “motivators.” They must create within the employees the driving force, the need, the rationale, the raison d’etre. It’s as if leadership must have some power to inject, to force feed, to create a sense of urgency in the employee. Years ago, as an Air Force Academy cadet, I spent multiple hours in the office of the [...]