Change and adversity are often mentioned in the same breath because many see unexpected, unwanted change as a hardship and pervasive loss of control. The ancient Chinese indicated their understanding of this concept by constructing a two-part pictogram. However, this two-part pictogram for change appears to imply contradictory thought. The bottom part by itself isRead more
When the Vietnam Conflict ended in 1973, 566 military prisoners of war returned from captivity in North Vietnam. More than 45 years later, the psychological tests of approximately 300 of these repatriated prisoners show few instances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. How can this be when other groups in history who have experienced captivity have oftenRead more
Global economic turmoil has taught numerous lessons-the most important one: When leaders make good decisions, little else matters. When they refuse to make decisions or show a pattern of making bad ones, nothing else matters. Leaders should hear this as a clarion call that awakened us all to the fact that we can no longerRead more
Most humans hate ambiguity, and as Nat King Cole once said, “That’s a natural fact.” While most would choose to avoid uncertainty, a select few embrace it. The problem occurs when those who don’t welcome ambiguity lack the information that they need to understand what’s going on-especially during times of rapid change. The absence ofRead more
On April 9, 2019, America lost another hero, Lt. Col. Richard Cole, the last of the eighty Doolittle Raiders. He was 103. At the age of twenty-six, Richard Cole did not set out to become a hero, but he did. In 1942 the very notion of an attempt by America–which was ill-prepared for any sortRead more
