A Curator of Strategy, Leadership, Spirituality, and Rock and Roll…. "Changing the world…one "contact" at a time…."
Driving home the other day, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s epic tune “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” was on the radio and it got me thinking. What is the song about? Clearly it is the end of a happy time—but to what end? A quick Google search reveals it is actually about John Fogerty’s brother Tom …
Continue reading "Have You Ever Seen The Rain? Or The Decline of Empire Part II: DeMarco Banter"
In 1946, the late, great, legendary Ray Charles heard "Lucky" Millinder’s band was coming to town. Charles worked miracles to arrange an audition, and he was sure this was his chance to get noticed--if he could connect and play with Millinder, that would almost guarantee a ticket to the big time. When his opportunity came, the …
Continue reading "Ray Charles, Self-Leadership, Resilience, Preparedness, and Talent–DeMarco Banter"
Throughout history—there has always been a link between leadership and courage. I know it might sound obvious, but have you ever worked for a leader that was a coward? How did that go? Its also easy to sit here at our computers and think—well, not me—I’m very brave. Years ago I was training in martial …
Continue reading "Leadership and Courage: Neo-DeMarconian Thought"
“Reason shows us there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” ― Seneca, Letters from a StoicFailure is an inside job--inside our head. So is success--all depending on how we define it. If we want to achieve, we have to win the war in our mind first. We can’t let the …
Continue reading "Stoic Thinking and Failure: Adjust Your Thinking–DeMarco Banter"
A bud of mine, Josh Zaker, passed this piece to me over 8 years ago and I came across it again just the other day. It was written for Foreign Affairs in the Spring of 1957... amazing at how relevant Dr Kissinger's words are still for us 63 years later. I have pasted the conclusion …
Continue reading "Strategy and Organization by Henry Kissinger Foreign Affairs (Apr 1957)"
By J. William DeMarco So true...think about it and then ponder...who are you serving? Yourself? Your office or organization? Your family? Your wallet? God? Bob Dylan took five months off at the beginning of 1979 to attend Bible school. His subsequent album Slow Train Coming reached No.3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and included …
Continue reading "Bob Says ya “Gotta Serve Somebody” … Do you?"
Most people think they are good listeners; most people are wrong. I have been spending time reviewing some of my favorite leadership books and came across The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership by Steven B. Sample...and I know listening is something I need to get much better at. According to Sample...A contrarian leader is an artful …
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Great conversation with Karla Nelson at People Catalysts—who believe it is not just the people. It’s their chemistry—of course we at The Mastermind Century Group could not agree more. Karla and her team have a great assessment (Movers, Shakers, Provers and Makers) to help assist in getting a deeper understanding of your leadership vehemently—check it …
I recently started a journey towards a doctorates degree. I have longed believed most of all the required reading for leaders has already been written--so what in the heck am I going to do? Well--attempt to uncover it and make it accessible to today's leaders. Ancient philosophy is ripe with leadership lessons for all …
Continue reading "The Stoic Mind and Neo-DeMarcoian Thought"
This is part 2, of a two-part interview, where we discuss "How to Innovate" from both the Air Force level and personal level with Retired Colonel Bill DeMarco. If you didn't hear part 1 (click here), please do. In this part 2, we further explore innovation from a personal standpoint, including determining your innovative profile …
Continue reading "Episode #14: How to Innovate with (Ret.) Colonel Bill DeMarco – Part 2"
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