Leadership Lessons From the Allied Invasion of Normandy

Buy the book Desmond Doss Conscientious Objector: The Story of an Unlikely Hero through this affiliate link with AmazonThe book Agility: How to Navigate the Unknown and Seize Opportunity in a World of Disruption by Leo M. Tilman and Charles Jacoby (Missionday, 2019) includes a chapter examining what the World War II Allied D-Day invasion of Normandy demonstrates about the power and utility of organizational agility (and by extension, SemperVerus living). The authors define agility as “the organizational capacity to effectively detect, assess, and respond to environmental changes in ways that are purposeful, decisive, and grounded in the will to win.” Agile organizations possess both strategic and tactical strengths. The authors identify the three essential competencies that constitute the pillars of agility as

  • risk intelligence
  • decisiveness
  • execution dexterity.

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Stranded in Your Car This Winter? Here’s How to Survive

On the USCCA blog, Frank Jastrzembski writes: The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration reported that more than 70% of the nation’s roads are located in snowy regions, which receive more than 5 inches of snowfall on average annually. Nearly 70% of the US population lives in this area.

Having a winter survival kit in your vehicle is an essential part of winter travel. Your kit should include the following items:

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Situational Awareness: Passive or Active?

Criminal investigations & intelligence unit supervisor Lou Hayes Jr. says: “When I talk with most folks about Situational Awareness, they mention phrases like:

  • being aware of your surroundings;
  • know what’s happening around you;
  • observing things that stick out.

These behaviors or characteristics aren’t wrong. However, they do bring out a certain flavor of passivity. It’s as if the person is passively monitoring their environment as a receptor of stimuli. It’s, in a way, a defensive way of opening oneself up to receive information, whenever that information decides to reveal itself. In short, information comes to you.

What if we looked at a different posture of situational awareness?

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Important US Dates to Commemorate

January 14th:  Ratification Day
Annually recognizes the ratification of the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784, at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland by the Confederation Congress that officially ended the American Revolution and established the United States as a sovereign entity.

January 16th:  National Religious Freedom Day
Since 1993, the President of the United States has proclaimed January 16 as National Religious Freedom Day, commemorating the Virginia General Assembly’s adoption of Thomas Jefferson‘s landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom on January 16, 1786.

February 1st:  National Freedom Day
Celebrates freedom from slavery and recognizes that America is a symbol of liberty. The day honors the signing by Abraham Lincoln on February 1, 1865 of a joint House and Senate resolution that later became the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution.

March 3rd:  National Anthem Day
Commemorates the day in 1931 the United States adopted The Star Spangled Banner (written September 14, 1814 by Francis Scott Key) as its National Anthem.

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