Image via Wikipedia I am naturally skeptical about charismatic leaders, but I have seen its power in action. Just before GEN Petraeus left our college to take command in Iraq he gathered faculty and students in our large auditorium, which seats 2500. He spoke in a very relaxed manner, hardly the tone you might expect […]
Tag: rationality
Reflecting on self-directed leadership in a military college environment (an action research approach)
Image via Wikipedia The purpose of this assignment is reflect upon my learning through this course and to describe what I am doing to provide for the development of leadership capabilities in those who look to me for direction and guidance. My professional work centers on preparing Army organizational leaders for a world of complexity […]
education, leadership, biodiversity and the limits of reason
Image via Wikipedia at the other end of the time scale from the doctoral programs, i think the right model to use is that of bio-diversity. It’s not “survival of the fittest” in the wild, it is extinction of the unfit & toleration of the “good enough” which promotes a broad gene pool. A broad […]
A reflection on leading and managing a complex Participatory Action Research curriculum project
Image via Wikipedia 1. Introduction The purpose of this paper is to examine my current leadership skills. I will describe and reflect upon a recent curriculum project that I was in charge of at the US Army command and Gen. staff College. I will use a lens of the Bolman and Deal four Frameworks to evaluate […]
Haiti and the little red hen
Image by Getty Images via Daylife there are some countries that are complaining about the motives that the impute to the US with respect to the military forces engaged in relief operations in Haiti. Most of those countries are not in a position to provide significant humanitarian relief to the area in that they are […]
Reflection on Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions (part 2)
Thomas Kuhn’s influential book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” ignited a firestorm of debate and controversy in 1962 which continues unabated to this very day. Noted as the most widely cited book in the 20th century, Kuhn’s writing has penetrated the public consciousness to shape our collective language and thinking about science, truth and ethics. […]
A reflection on action research “storytelling”
What follows is a 1st person, stream of consciousness reflection written to my mentor & committee chair. I describe what it was like to record a 10 min video “telling the story” of some preliminary findings emerging from my action research cycles into curriculum and adult learning. The video is hosted at YouTube. It […]
Reflections on myself as an adult learner
Who am I as an adult learner: I am framing the answer within the context of my “Big 5” (Strelecky, 2007). The “Big 5” focus my thoughts about self, purpose, mission and values. In Strelecky’s work, the Big 5 are 5 things you want to accomplish in your life. My “Big 5” are all states […]
Management games for deep insight
Peter Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) describes the use of models to help us frame questions to ask of the world, and which help us become explicit about our world views, assumptions, frames of reference, theories of cause and effect, values, and desired outcomes. Checkland, P. (2006) Learning for action: A short definitive account of […]
A reflection on mixed methods research in adult education
Introduction The Research Problem The purpose of this paper is to offer one vision of developing a methodological theory of mixed methods research co-equal with that of quantitative and qualitative research. I use a case study of the US Army Command & General Staff College engaged in a redesign of its curriculum, its teaching practices […]