A Curator of Strategy, Leadership, Spirituality, and Rock and Roll…. "Changing the world…one "contact" at a time…."
Articles by me or at least mostly by me…
I spend a lot of time pondering the question: "What is leadership?" It's really not that complicated, until we spend time to really think about it. A friend of mine Steve Cockram of GiANT Worldwide talks about how a leader's responsibility is to take the simple, understand and acknowledge this "simple" in all it's complexity, and distill the complexity back …
Continue reading "Leadership is… (simplicity?) [Leadership Quotes] DeMarco Banter"
by J. William DeMarco Walking Montparnasse in Paris one Christmas--I caught the ghost of Hemingway sipping a cafe au lait at the Dôme. I was struck by all the great minds that had walked the streets of the Left Bank. I recall having the same thoughts walking the streets of Florence Italy, eating Thai with the boys in Mountain View CA or …
Okay, or die might be a stretch, maybe be miserable, or really stressed out. Amor fati is a Latin phrase translated as "love of fate" or "love of one's fate". It describes an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in life, including suffering and loss, as good or, at least, necessary. Lately I have been …
Continue reading "Amor Fati or Die and Happy New Year–DeMarco Banter"
By J. William DeMarco DeM Banter: For those tracking with the last 4 weeks--we've resisted a strategy and leadership paper I worked on in 2008. In typical DeMarco fashion--we are posting the first chapter last. Chapter 1 “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” –Sun …
Continue reading "Wondering Where The Lions Are/Putting Leadership Back into Strategy: Chapter 1"
DeM Banter: As mentioned in the ABSTRACT POST, Chapter 1, 2, and now in Chapter 3: in 2007-08 I was fortunate enough to be selected a a National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. An outstanding year spent with some of the foremost personalities in National Security on both the Right and the …
Continue reading "Wondering Where the Lions Are: American Grand Strategy"
We all have rituals to live and work more productively. These rituals act as a way to build a resiliency to what we may face during the day. They can also help us stay focused and keeping us on track throughout the day. Our daily rituals consist of habits, routine and schedule. We all have …
This year we spent a good bit of time focusing on ethics in our Leader Development course at ACSC. I am not sure if readers are familiar with the Cardinal Virtues--Plato identified the four cardinal virtues in The Republic. Plato narrates a discussion--a metaphor of sorts--of the character of a good city where the following …
Continue reading "Can Aristotle Teach Us About Leadership? Neo-DeMarcoian Thought"
“To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.” - Andre Malraux One of my all time favorite quotes that all leaders need to be reminded of time and time again... it is SO not about you! Reading this AM from Acts and pondering the concept of servant leadership. Have you ever thought about …
(Repost from 2013--my days at OTS are done, but you just have to love anything Pappy Boyington) One of the many highlights of working at the USAF's Officer Training School is hosting a myriad of heroes and distinguished visitors (DVs)--over the last week we hosted General Duncan McNabb, USAF (Retired). If you scan the blog …
One of the most amazing things I do twice a year is work with the amazing folks at Judge Business School at Cambridge University. On my last visit our former Deputy Chair LtCol Brandie Jeffries joined us and we had the opportunity to do this podcast with Dr Neil Stott discussing social innovation. Thank you …
Continue reading "The Social Ideas Podcast: social innovation in the air"
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