Monthly Archives: March 2016

March 31, 2016

Tidbits from History – On Failures

And once again, Bernardo de Gálvez offers us insights on learning from past mistakes. One wishes our current would-be-leaders might learn to do the same. Yesterday, we talked about Bernardo’s victories over the Apache and the British. He had also had numerous defeats. He had learned about the terrible feeling of a crushing rout during […]

General
March 30, 2016

Tidbits from History – On Gálvez’ Leadership

  Only success in adversity makes a real leader. In September of 1770, Bernardo de Gálvez stood on the banks of the Pecos River with 125 of his soldiers. Low on food, almost out of supplies, they staggered with exhaustion. Even their horses, the ones they rode, heavy laden with armor and spears, and the […]

General
March 29, 2016

Tidbits from History – On the Bourbon Reforms

               Change is always difficult for a society. As we look forward to the upcoming Presidential elections, we all wonder what the future will bring. The only thing we know for sure is that there will be change. Are people’s attitudes and opinions going to change with the arrival […]

General
March 28, 2016

Tidbits of History – A Comparison of two Leaders

My friend Eduardo has inspired me again, this time to compare two leaders—Hernán Cortéz and George Washington, perhaps an unlikely pairing. Eduardo is currently reading Bernal Díaz del Castillo’s history of the conquest of Mexico. Titled Historia Verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (The True History of the Conquest of New Spain), this […]

General
March 27, 2016

Tidbits from History – On Leadership 2

Leadership, as we can learn from history–and business, and politics, and committees–is about others, not about oneself. As my friend Denton Florian beautifully commented on my post from yesterday, leadership is about building, not about personalities. Without followers, there would be no leaders. Without the support and efforts of those who are led, no leader […]

General
March 26, 2016

Tidbits from History – On Leadership

  What creates a great leader? Or even a not so great leader? In our current political quagmire, leadership is needed—desperately. We look back to men like General Patton or President Lincoln, or even American Revolutionary War General and Louisiana Governor Bernardo de Gálvez.  What did these men have in common?  What made them great […]

General