George Washington's Principles of Leadership

When choosing someone you may vote for in the next presidential election reflect on Washington's Principles of Leadership:

• Principle #1: Smaller Groups When Well Led Will Reflect The Unity Of The "Great Whole."
• Principle #2: Governance Requires The Best Men//Women So That "The Great Whole" Is Not Mismanaged.
• Principle #3: You Can't Please Everyone, So Seek The Good Of "The Great Whole."
• Principle #4: Jealous Parties Must Be Urged To Exercise The Wisdom Of Being Part Of "The Great Whole."
• Principle #5: Withering Criticism Can Be Weathered By A Consistent Policy Of Never Seeking Merely Local Or Partial Considerations, But By Always Seeking "The Great Whole's" Substantial And Permanent Interests.
• Principle #6: Pursue the true interests of the Country rather than popularity.

Good advice from the Father of our Country then and today.

Mr. President, be a Leader not a Lawyer!

"Change","we can do it" and all the energy of the Obama campaign: where has it gone? When I was listening to the address the President made to the cadets at West Point Military Academy I felt as though he was giving a eulogy at a funeral. President Obama, the Commander in Chief, the supreme leader of the military of this great nation first asks these brave, young, courageous young men and women to do their duty which in many cases means to risk their young lives and is some cases to give their lives for this country and then the next moment he is talking about a withdrawal strategy...what school of leadership did he go to?

The cadets wanted to hear something uplifting, bigger than themselves, patriotic and heroic... not when we are coming home and details of politicians and foreign policy. You may have delivered what the left wanted, the middle wanted and the right wanted but what the cadets wanted to hear was we are in this until VICTORY has be won.

As a lawyer I'll give you an "A" for the speech; as a President, Commander in Chief, and Leader of America an "F". Mr. President, keep trying, maybe someday you will get it...I pray.

Trust But Verify

I'm from the government and I'm here to help you. Somehow those words send chills up my spine and make the hair on the back of my neck stand up and make me instinctively reach to my left rear pants pocket to make sure it is buttoned tightly protecting my wallet. Like the late President Ronald Reagan said about the Soviet Union: "trust but verify" I say to you about your elected officials in Washington, D.C. ; that applies from the newest Representative all the way up to the top of the feeding chain. Listen not as much to what they say and promise but what they DO. They have speech writers to put the words together to make them sound righteous and filled with qualities of great leadership ability; but in the final analysis the way they ACT through their vote is what really counts. So listen to their rhetoric but even more important make sure what they say and promise is what they DO by their voting to insure that your vote for them was not wasted on a liar. Liars don't belong in government or for that matter in any position of trust.

Most important...DO NOT FORGET...when it comes to voting time if they betrayed you or if they kept their word. Those that cannot be trusted in little things cannot be trusted in big things or for that matter at all...do NOT FORGET!

Workplace Advice

Lucky is the man/woman who doesn't have a supercritical boss in the workplace who causes stress in everyone in the vicinity. Many people will try to resolve this stress by getting on the "good side" of that individual: commonly known as "brown nosing" or "apple polishing"; this is almost universally not successful. Some allow the boss to provoke them to anger. Neither of these techniques work since they allow the boss to invade your personal space and the boss is rewarded by a false sense of control over you and your activities...in a sense micromanaging your every move...you can never know what is correct or incorrect because the boss doesn't know what is appropriate or not appropriate in particular situations or he/she would not use this bullying technique to lead. A good boss, leader, leads by example and never asks his men or women working with him/her to do anything he/she wouldn't do. That is how you gain the respect of the troops.

If you cannot resolve problems with this type of individual try going through the company's grievance process if they have one. If none exists then try to limit yourself physically and emotionally from this type of individual because you will never win on a one to one basis. Trying to gain the approval of such an individual will never work unless you revert to the status of a slave with no mind, will or morals of your own. "Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you" (Prov. 9:7-8). Stay separate and be true to your code.