thedrifter
01-07-05, 06:43 AM
01-04-2005
A Marine’s Bookshelf
By Matthew Dodd
In the first few days of another year, I find myself torn over a basic choice we all have to make. Do I reflect on last year as I look forward to this New Year, or do I reject last year as I look forward to this New Year? For my regular readers, my choice should come as no surprise: I choose to reflect on last year.
I am an avid reader and reviewer of books. I like to take advantage of standing-in-line time, public transportation commute time to read books and write my notes in the margins. In 2004, I managed to finish reading twelve books, and I am about halfway through number thirteen. I am very pleased to say that all the books I read were good reads and I learned and re-learned a lot from each one.
I decided to combine my love of reading books and my choice for end-of-year reflection. Let me share with you the most influential passages from the books I read in 2004 and leave it to you to decide whether these passages will help influence your 2005 in any way.
With 2004 being a national election year, I would have to say that the most influential passages for me came from the John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi book, Unfit For Command:
“Your conduct is such as to raise substantive concerns as to your honesty and your ability to serve, as you currently seek, as Commander-in-Chief of the military services .… Senator Kerry, we were there. We know the truth. We have been silent long enough. The stakes are too great, not only for America in general but, most importantly, for those who have followed us into service in Iraq and Afghanistan. We call upon you to provide a full, accurate accounting of your conduct in Vietnam.” [signed by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, May 4, 2004]
Dr. Mardy Grothe’s Oxymoronica gave me some of the best humorous and thought-provoking quotes in 2004:
“You can’t make anything idiot-proof because idiots are so ingenious (Ron Burns) …. Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better (Sydney J. Harris) …. Their very silence is a loud cry (Cicero) …. Vision is the art of seeing things invisible (Jonathon Swift).”
My favorite quote from Oxymoronica is from the poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). To me, this quote is very personal as the father to a toddler son who has taught me so much already. At the same time, this quote is also very universal as it applies to all fathers and people in leadership and followership positions: “The child is father of the man.”
Robert A. Lutz, former Marine aviator and Chairman of General Motors North America, in his straightforward business leadership book, Guts, included this memorable passage from General George S. Patton, Jr:
“Success in war lurks invisible in that vitalizing spark, intangible, yet as evident as lightning – the warrior’s soul …. It is the cold glitter of the attacker’s eyes, not the point of the questing bayonet, that breaks the line. It is the fierce determination of the driver to close with the enemy, not the mechanical perfection of the tank, that conquers the trench. It is the cataclysmic ecstasy of conflict in the flier, not the perfection of the machine gun, which drops the enemy in flames. Yet volumes are devoted to arms; only pages to inspiration.”
Two brothers, one a successful businessman and the other an experienced Navy SEAL officer, Jeff and Jon Cannon, wrote one of the best military-to-business leadership books, Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals, that contained many excellent points and stories that apply to both the boardroom and the battlefield:
“Do you think you’re spending too much time on planning? Spend some more. Do you think you’re worrying too much about things that may or may not happen? Worry more. Success in the boardroom or on the battlefield does not require everything to go perfectly. It requires you to be ready when things go wrong. You have to be able to make adjustments for the guy who breaks his leg during the parachute jump, or to work around the analyst who up and quits in the middle of the week. How do you prepare for that? By planning ahead.”
A detailed analysis of the thirty management principles of the U.S. Marine Corps was the focus of David H. Freedman’s Corps Business. Besides containing very accurate descriptions of common Marine Corps planning, management, and leadership practices, the book also featured many sound bites from many current and former Marines, including the Corps’ thirty-first Commandant, General Charles C. Krulak:
“Leadership, even within the military, is a social contract in the purest sense of the expression, predicated equally on the leader’s desire to lead and on the consent of those led. It is grounded in the subordinate’s trust in the leader and the institution. The leader, therefore, must clearly demonstrate the true underpinning of his moral authority – his unquestionable character. The subordinate’s faith in the leader’s integrity must not be violated …. I am convinced that leadership is the common currency of the military, industry, government, and academia, and that versatile leaders of character are the linchpin of all successful enterprises.”
I finally read a book regarded by many as a leadership classic: Max DePree’s Leadership is an Art. This little book was filled with many good leadership thoughts, ideas, and anecdotes, but something DePree mentioned in his introduction has really taken hold with me:
“As a child, I often watched adults study books and learned one of my first lessons about reading. They wrote in their books. Intent and involved readers often write in the margins and between the lines. (You may end up doing a lot of writing and reading between the lines in this book!) Good readers take possession of what they are learning by underlining and commenting and questioning. In this manner, they “finish” what they read .… You can read this book quickly, but I hope you cannot finish it quickly. It will be worth a lot more to you if finish it, if you have made it truly your own book.”
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl, was my most spiritual and stimulating read of 2004. I first read this book a couple years ago, but found it equally exciting and meaningful reading it a second time. I look forward to reading it again:
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way …. [W]e could say that most men in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners …. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
The most passionate political book of 2004 for me was Sean Hannity’s Let Freedom Ring, which contained many powerful passages for all Americans, regardless of political ideologies:
“Our freedom is dependent on the underlying morality of our people. They didn’t mean that Americans must remain sinless to remain free. After all, the overwhelming majority of them were Christians who believed in man’s fallen condition. No, they meant that as a society we must believe in, and strive to obey, absolute moral standards. We must never lose sight of this moral dimension to our freedoms …. One of the principal drawbacks of freedom is that it is inherently vulnerable to attack. By its very nature it permits, and perhaps even invites, assault from within and without. But freedom is worth fighting and dying for, and Americans have always risen to the challenge. So we must. And so we will.”
Sometimes, I buy books based on my gut instincts. One such book was John G. Miller’s QBQ!: The Question Behind the Question. I sure am glad I listened to my gut instincts and bought this excellent little, character-refinement book for it has helped me focus on personal accountability in my life:
“We need the [Question Behind the Question] QBQ [all QBQs begin with “What” or “How,” contain an “I,” and focus on action – a disciplined way of thinking and making better choices] so our organizations can be places where instead of finger-pointing, procrastinating and “we-theying” ourselves into the ground, we bring out the best in each other, work together the way teams are supposed to and make great things happen. It’s an exciting vision that I hope speaks as loudly to you as it does me, because if more people practiced personal accountability, the world would be a far better place.”
continued.........
A Marine’s Bookshelf
By Matthew Dodd
In the first few days of another year, I find myself torn over a basic choice we all have to make. Do I reflect on last year as I look forward to this New Year, or do I reject last year as I look forward to this New Year? For my regular readers, my choice should come as no surprise: I choose to reflect on last year.
I am an avid reader and reviewer of books. I like to take advantage of standing-in-line time, public transportation commute time to read books and write my notes in the margins. In 2004, I managed to finish reading twelve books, and I am about halfway through number thirteen. I am very pleased to say that all the books I read were good reads and I learned and re-learned a lot from each one.
I decided to combine my love of reading books and my choice for end-of-year reflection. Let me share with you the most influential passages from the books I read in 2004 and leave it to you to decide whether these passages will help influence your 2005 in any way.
With 2004 being a national election year, I would have to say that the most influential passages for me came from the John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi book, Unfit For Command:
“Your conduct is such as to raise substantive concerns as to your honesty and your ability to serve, as you currently seek, as Commander-in-Chief of the military services .… Senator Kerry, we were there. We know the truth. We have been silent long enough. The stakes are too great, not only for America in general but, most importantly, for those who have followed us into service in Iraq and Afghanistan. We call upon you to provide a full, accurate accounting of your conduct in Vietnam.” [signed by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, May 4, 2004]
Dr. Mardy Grothe’s Oxymoronica gave me some of the best humorous and thought-provoking quotes in 2004:
“You can’t make anything idiot-proof because idiots are so ingenious (Ron Burns) …. Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better (Sydney J. Harris) …. Their very silence is a loud cry (Cicero) …. Vision is the art of seeing things invisible (Jonathon Swift).”
My favorite quote from Oxymoronica is from the poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). To me, this quote is very personal as the father to a toddler son who has taught me so much already. At the same time, this quote is also very universal as it applies to all fathers and people in leadership and followership positions: “The child is father of the man.”
Robert A. Lutz, former Marine aviator and Chairman of General Motors North America, in his straightforward business leadership book, Guts, included this memorable passage from General George S. Patton, Jr:
“Success in war lurks invisible in that vitalizing spark, intangible, yet as evident as lightning – the warrior’s soul …. It is the cold glitter of the attacker’s eyes, not the point of the questing bayonet, that breaks the line. It is the fierce determination of the driver to close with the enemy, not the mechanical perfection of the tank, that conquers the trench. It is the cataclysmic ecstasy of conflict in the flier, not the perfection of the machine gun, which drops the enemy in flames. Yet volumes are devoted to arms; only pages to inspiration.”
Two brothers, one a successful businessman and the other an experienced Navy SEAL officer, Jeff and Jon Cannon, wrote one of the best military-to-business leadership books, Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals, that contained many excellent points and stories that apply to both the boardroom and the battlefield:
“Do you think you’re spending too much time on planning? Spend some more. Do you think you’re worrying too much about things that may or may not happen? Worry more. Success in the boardroom or on the battlefield does not require everything to go perfectly. It requires you to be ready when things go wrong. You have to be able to make adjustments for the guy who breaks his leg during the parachute jump, or to work around the analyst who up and quits in the middle of the week. How do you prepare for that? By planning ahead.”
A detailed analysis of the thirty management principles of the U.S. Marine Corps was the focus of David H. Freedman’s Corps Business. Besides containing very accurate descriptions of common Marine Corps planning, management, and leadership practices, the book also featured many sound bites from many current and former Marines, including the Corps’ thirty-first Commandant, General Charles C. Krulak:
“Leadership, even within the military, is a social contract in the purest sense of the expression, predicated equally on the leader’s desire to lead and on the consent of those led. It is grounded in the subordinate’s trust in the leader and the institution. The leader, therefore, must clearly demonstrate the true underpinning of his moral authority – his unquestionable character. The subordinate’s faith in the leader’s integrity must not be violated …. I am convinced that leadership is the common currency of the military, industry, government, and academia, and that versatile leaders of character are the linchpin of all successful enterprises.”
I finally read a book regarded by many as a leadership classic: Max DePree’s Leadership is an Art. This little book was filled with many good leadership thoughts, ideas, and anecdotes, but something DePree mentioned in his introduction has really taken hold with me:
“As a child, I often watched adults study books and learned one of my first lessons about reading. They wrote in their books. Intent and involved readers often write in the margins and between the lines. (You may end up doing a lot of writing and reading between the lines in this book!) Good readers take possession of what they are learning by underlining and commenting and questioning. In this manner, they “finish” what they read .… You can read this book quickly, but I hope you cannot finish it quickly. It will be worth a lot more to you if finish it, if you have made it truly your own book.”
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl, was my most spiritual and stimulating read of 2004. I first read this book a couple years ago, but found it equally exciting and meaningful reading it a second time. I look forward to reading it again:
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way …. [W]e could say that most men in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners …. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
The most passionate political book of 2004 for me was Sean Hannity’s Let Freedom Ring, which contained many powerful passages for all Americans, regardless of political ideologies:
“Our freedom is dependent on the underlying morality of our people. They didn’t mean that Americans must remain sinless to remain free. After all, the overwhelming majority of them were Christians who believed in man’s fallen condition. No, they meant that as a society we must believe in, and strive to obey, absolute moral standards. We must never lose sight of this moral dimension to our freedoms …. One of the principal drawbacks of freedom is that it is inherently vulnerable to attack. By its very nature it permits, and perhaps even invites, assault from within and without. But freedom is worth fighting and dying for, and Americans have always risen to the challenge. So we must. And so we will.”
Sometimes, I buy books based on my gut instincts. One such book was John G. Miller’s QBQ!: The Question Behind the Question. I sure am glad I listened to my gut instincts and bought this excellent little, character-refinement book for it has helped me focus on personal accountability in my life:
“We need the [Question Behind the Question] QBQ [all QBQs begin with “What” or “How,” contain an “I,” and focus on action – a disciplined way of thinking and making better choices] so our organizations can be places where instead of finger-pointing, procrastinating and “we-theying” ourselves into the ground, we bring out the best in each other, work together the way teams are supposed to and make great things happen. It’s an exciting vision that I hope speaks as loudly to you as it does me, because if more people practiced personal accountability, the world would be a far better place.”
continued.........