True Leaders Unite Us In Confidence; Conquerors Divide Us In Fear And Ignorance.

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .

---

Originally Posted Across Twitter Network: July 24, 2012, 09:50

"True leaders unite us in confidence; conquerors divide us in fear and ignorance." - Douglas E. Castle

In leading people forward to achievement and victory, a true leader demonstrates his courage by being a uniting and inspiring force for those who look up to him. He encourages open collaboration and communication among all of those for whom he is responsible.

A conqueror, afraid of losing his tenuous power, and frightened of divulging his ignorance or inexperience, divides those in his charge, discourages openness and dissent, strives to build walls between groups instead of bridges. He is afraid of truth and transparency, as these would cause the dissipation of his superficial title as "leader."

The difference between a leader and a divider is not unlike the difference between an informed democracy (or a successful organization), and a terrorist organization or regime.

Bullying and bravado will never make up for a lack of true managerial talent. Leaders consistently communicate with and encourage the input of their charges, while hamfisted conquerors put different groups of persons into segregated and isolated compartments.

Ask yourself: "Do I work for great man, or just a frightened child playing "dress up" as a general?"

Douglas E. Castle The Daily Burst Of Brilliance Blog

The Taking Command Blog
Douglas E. Castle's LINKED IN Profile

---------------x
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Tags: conquerors, via ljapp, leadership, unite, divide, bravado, secrecy, organizational culture, rapport, respect, communications, The Twitterlinks Hubspot Blog, Douglas E. Castle

---

---

Related articles

• Mad Marketing Tactics And Strategies - Where Creativity Meets Technology - Douglas E. Castle (madmarketingtactics.blogspot.com)
• RadioDAZZ Returns [With A Bullet] In Several Days - Douglas E, Castle (radiodazz.blogspot.com)
• Daily Burst Of Brilliance - Douglas E. Castle (aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com)
• Internationalism - Pride And Politics versus Collaboration And Efficiency - Douglas E. Castle (theinternationalistpage.blogspot.com)
• Planning and Management Require More Pictures And Fewer Words - Douglas E. Castle (businessandprojectplanning.blogspot.com)
• Braintenance - The Many Types Of Learning - Douglas E. Castle (braintenance.blogspot.com)
• Taking Command: Leadership Requires Shifting Focus - Douglas E. Castle (takingcommand.blogspot.com)
• We're Now 70% More Efficient - To Better Serve You! (twitterlinkshubspot.blogspot.com)
• "If You Are Not A Futurist, You Will Become An Artifact" - Douglas E. Castle (aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com)
• Futurism - Limited Time, Too Many Resources. How Do We Choose? (theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com)
• Three Ways to Look at Leaders ... (strategiclearner.wordpress.com)
• The Epidemic Of Loneliness: The Desperate Need For Re-Connection (aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com)

Disruption Forces Innovation - DISRUPTION THEORY

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .

---

DISRUPTION OFTEN OPENS THE DOOR TO LEADERSHIP

Sometimes the greatest leaders have to make their entrance by smashing some idols or breaking some rules.  Contentedness is the enemy of progress.

These disruptions are events which force 1) the attention of the masses, and 2) a reflection on how things had been done previously.

Disruption Theory is a focused look at the psycho-emotional actions and reactions to seemingly chaotic or revolutionary acts. They create enough of a disturbance...enough of a distraction, to permit a pinhole opening for robotic thinkers, ritualists, zombified management and ardent conventionalists to be receptive to the sound which immediately follows the metaphorical explosion.

Sometimes the greatest leaders must seize their opportunity to grab the stage by introducing a frightful disruption, which they, themselves are prepared to address in the critical moments which follow the cognitive trauma.

Disruption does more than occasionally create innovation -- it often establishes a podium for new command and leadership.

You'll be hearing more about DISRUPTION THEORY.

Douglas E Castle for The Taking Command Blog and for The Braintenance Blog
 

---

---

Related articles

• Storm Cloud: The Disruptive Force of Cloud Computing (triplepundit.com)
• How to spot Disruptive Innovation Opportunities (letsplayinnovation.wordpress.com)
• At a Texas High School, Saying 'Atheist' Could Disrupt the Learning Process (patheos.com)
• Disrupted Rainy Weekend Reading (Or Viewing): IBM On Disruptive Innovation (forbes.com)
• Disruptive Innovation or Paradigm Shift (hethoughts.wordpress.com)
• Disruptive Innovation Explained (blogs.hbr.org)
• It's Not Creative if it's Disruptive (quinncreative.wordpress.com)
• What is 'Disruptive Innovation' and is it a Path to Political De-Polarization? (johnmalcolm.me)
• How Geniuses Think (moocblogcalendar.wordpress.com)
• The List of Anti-Social Geniuses in Anime and Manga (organizationasg.com)
• Scientists Find Truth in "Mad Scientist" Stereotype: There Is a Link between Genius and Insanity - Medical Daily (mbcalyn.com)
• Indian boy solves 350-year-old Math problem (ibnlive.in.com)
• Your Take / My Take: What Does Our Future Hold for the Mind? (2voices1song.wordpress.com)
• How Geniuses Think (creativitypost.com)
• Why Are Genius and Madness Connected? (pakalertpress.com)
• Temporal video filtering makes CSI-style enhancement possible (dvice.com)
• Why geniuses don't have jobs (cbsnews.com)
• Genius Ignorance (macdrifter.com)
• The Profundity of Me . . . and You, dear Talented Writer (moniquerockliffe.wordpress.com)
• Is The Internet Empowering Or Disrupting? (educationstormfront.wordpress.com)
• We Break to Disrupt on Twitter (caregiving.com)
• Our top 5 startups from TechCrunch Disrupt (digitaltomorrowtoday.com)
• Why the father of disruption theory is worried about Apple (tech.fortune.cnn.com)

Why Unorganized Movements Don't Work - The "Neverlution"

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .

---

Social expression, whether in the form of approval or protest, is a Human dynamic which is either effective or destructive. If a group of persons (myself among them) want to change the way "Wall Street" (to use that geographical designation as the personification of greed, much as so many Americans regard Washington, DC as the epitome of corruption, and Hollywood as the land of the irresponsible, overindulged botoxed and endlessly de-toxing rich) is conducting matters concerning every aspect of the economy, they have gotten only one thing right -- a vague idea of the otherwise faceless enemy.

The "Occupy Wall Street" (or "Take Back Wall Street") movement and growing protests have only a few things going for them, and a great many more things working against them. This excess of organizational liabilities over organizational assets is why I believe this "Woodstock"-like study in sleep deprivation is doomed to failure.  Some philosophical protesters are actually calling this movement (more like a multi-geographical block party in search of any theme) a "horizontally-organized resistance movement." I cannot help but picture people lying down in the street as tanks march over them...

In brief:

1) The protesters have identified a categorical party -- an adversary with a name, whom they genuinely distrust, dislike and resent with increasing vitriol;

2) They (the masses) are (by loitering, littering and making a great deal of noise without a clear signal) physically out in the open and at the very gates of the felonious fiscal fatheads who have monopolized the money supply, the capital markets, and the unraveling of an economy. Righteous indignation, channeled and expressed properly (which they are not...at least here) funneled into a course of action (rather like a strategic plan with a defined goal in mind, which is conspicuously absent in this Neverlution) can be powerful, if there is an objective (or a threat) and a plan of action understood and supported by its grassroots citizen military.

Yet, the only things that our neverlutionaries would seem to have in common [and again, I don't disagree with their tremendous hurt and outrage] is anger, frustration, a desire for some instant character change (I'm thinking of Ebenezer Scrooge, out of Dickens' novel  or of George Bailey, in "It's a Wonderful Life," Frank Capra's poignant masterpiece), and greater fiduciary responsibility paired with more generosity.

Our protesters are just complaining (except in Florida, where they are whining) and blocking the flow of traffic -- they are failing to recognize the need for movement leadership, a precise goal (or list of demands) to present to the some decisionmaking individuals in the Wall Street inside community who could actually be responsive, and a serious threat of consequences for non-compliance.

The sad truth is that our noble protesters lack a simple goal, a plan, the tools (perhaps threats) to prosecute the war, and a semblance of true organization, command and control. They are like kidnappers who have committed the act, but haven't figured out what they should ask for, how they can arrange to receive it, and what action that they can take in the event that the kidnap victim's loved ones are noncompliant;

3) No matter how great the movement gets in terms of involved protesters and geographical locus, nothing will happen with out a stated, realistic objective, a plan, leadership, and a viable threat.

If this movement fails, or just eventually results in a diffused death by boredom and attrition, or a resignation to impotence and surrender (without the first salvo even having been fired over the bow) it will ultimately encourage the smirking moneymeisters of the capital markets, banking and investment sectors to go even further with their abuses. It will strengthen an adversary's resolve. That would be a sad ending for what was started with the best of intentions.

An acquaintance of mine (a monetary mercenary), said to me, smiling, "Occupy Wall Street? Fine. I'll work from home. I've got my laptop and my phone."

Will one of our protesters put forth an agenda, promulgate it, and (if he or she is worthy and capable) take command? Don't lose this opportunity to achieve something memorable, and long overdue. In a year, don't be the punchline of a bunch of quick-churned jokes amongst Wall Steet's cognoscenti. Take off the tie-dyed shirts and put on the cleats.

Douglas E Castle [http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com]







Tweet

Related articles

• Occupy Wall Street: 5 Cities With Their Own Occupy Movement [PHOTOS] (ibtimes.com)
• Immortal Technique speaks at Occupy Wall Street (rt.com)
• What Occupy Wall Street stands for (oup.com)
• Occupy Wall Street Marches Down 5th Avenue [Photos] (wcbsfm.radio.com)
• Big Soros Money Linked to "Occupy Wall Street" (mb50.wordpress.com)
• Music Review: Christopher Titus - Neverlution! (blogcritics.org)
• Ari Rabin-Havt: "We Need A New System" (huffingtonpost.com)
• Occupy Wall Street most popular with high earners (dailykos.com)
• Herman Cain on Occupy Wall Street: No Defense for His 'Blame Yourself' Comment (ibtimes.com)
• Occupy Wall Street's Bank Account Swells (abcnews.go.com)
• Blunder Loses Occupy Wall St. $144,000 (abcnews.go.com)
• Occupy Wall Street Movement Pushes On (technorati.com)
• Wall Street protesters coalesce; movement spreads nationwide (news.blogs.cnn.com)
• World intrigued by "Occupy Wall Street" movement (losangeles.ibtimes.com)
• Video Shows Protesters Arrested in Boston and Washington (thelede.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Occupy Wall Street and the 2012 elections (finance.fortune.cnn.com)
• How Big Can the 'Occupy Wall Street' Movement Grow? (ibtimes.com)
• Occupy Wall Street protests to topple capitalism? (rt.com)
• Occupy Wall Street Protesters Target JPMorgan Chase Skyscraper (huffingtonpost.com)

Genius And Leadership: James Joyce

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .

---

Leadership and command require skills taken from a variety of disciplines, including acting, advocacy, imagination, creativity, spontaneity, applied psychology and a knowledge of basic science. Following is a brilliant quote from poet and author James Joyce regarding the essence of genius as I believe that it applies directly to leadership -- and demonstrating how important perspective and perception are in explaining things to your charges or audience when you are cast in the role of being a Leader:

"A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery." James Joyce

Some quick observations:

1) Explanations can be every bit as important as actions;

2) How you conduct yourself after the act of doing anything (whether charity or murder) will be observed and interpreted in judging you in relation to the act itself;

3) Trial and error are permissible in a leader, within limits -- but they must be explained as attempts, experiments, monitoring or tests, and never as a lack or loss of direction.

As an aside, it is best to remember that as a leader, you are always being watched, always being judged, and always expected to have an answer which you can serve up without a moment's hesitation. Difficult? No. Impossible! But the "magic" of great leadership is to do, or to appear to do, what no one else could ever do.
---------------

Douglas E Castle (http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com) - For a list of other blogs by this same author.

Taking Command! Blog - http://TakingCommand.blogspot.com

Terms, Tags, Keywords, Categories, Search Terms, Labels And SEO Jive: blogs about leadership, command, Authors, genius, perception, perspective, Douglas E Castle, justification, interpretation, TNNWC Management Consulting Services Group, applied psychology, James Joyce, Taking Command Blog, inspiration, confidence, communications, persuasion, role-playing, advocacy, branding, self-promotion, building the legend, Images By Douglas Castle blog, explanations versus excuses, technullity,

Related articles

• 'March Backwards Into the Future' - Marshall McLuhan's Century (wired.com)
• Leadership And Mentoring: Dangerous Businesses And Tough Love. (aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com)
• IGNORANCE Often Wears A Mask - TAKING COMMAND! (takingcommand.blogspot.com)
• Self-Promotion: Defining Your Skill Set For Focused Social Media And Business Networking (aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com)
• James Joyce: A Life by Gordon Bowker: review (telegraph.co.uk)
• When in New York, Let Google Maps Help You Do as American Psychos Do [Genius] (gizmodo.com)
• Business And Social Leadership Choices - Team Selection and Teamwork (braintenance.blogspot.com)
• Recommended: Silent Killers: Submarines and Underwater Warfare (scientificamerican.com)
• Charlie Sheen: Psychopath, or Mad Marketing Guru? (madmarketingtactics.blogspot.com)
• Genius, Made in the USA: MPower Escape Case™ (thetnnwcnewsroom.blogspot.com)
• Market Research and Interrogation - Asking Questions and Getting Answers. (takingcommand.blogspot.com)
• 'Harry Potter': Alan Rickman's 'prickly' genius and killer glare (herocomplex.latimes.com)
• A Classical Music DVD Feast - Beethoven and Mozart (technorati.com)
• Be Decisive - Settling Is For Dust, Not For Persons Of Achievement. (humanitasmaximus.blogspot.com)
• Entrepreneurs: A Picture May Be Worth A Thousand Words (expertadviceandinsightsfromtnnwc.blogspot.com)
• Longevity, Life Quality, Passion and Power (lifeextensionquality.blogspot.com)
• LINGOVATION, LINGOVATIONS - Definitions, Examples and Links (aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com)

Entrepreneurial Business Planning - Tactics Versus Strategies - Optimizing The Blend

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .

---

Every Entrepreneur, Project Manager, Leader and Small- to Medium-Sized Business CEO (or other C-Suite dignitary) must understand the difference between tactics and strategies, and learn the way to think about each. Just as importantly, each of us needs to integrate them to achieve real results and to avoid walking a needlessly random path governed by the sway of outside forces. Welcome to Entrepreneurial Business Planning - Tactics Versus Strategies - Optimizing The Blend.

Here's a preliminary explanation of the difference, and an example:

Understand the difference between Tactics and Strategies -- Strategies are the longer- term plans you make for achieving your ultimate goals and objectives, in accordance with your ambitions, desires and inclinations. You have a roadmap or blueprint to either get you there or to create the finished product.

A strategic plan might cover a span of time from several months to an entire lifetime, but its destination is where you ultimately and passionately want to be.

Tactics are short-term initiatives (spontaneous adaptations) for dealing with the impediments, complications and situations which you encounter along the path to achieving your goals and objectives. They often involve palliative measures, adjustments in timing, a slight detour from the map -- but they are merely immediate accommodations, and should never keep your ultimate focus from your goals and objectives.

The simplest analogy is in a situation where you are planning to go to a supermarket, and your ordinary route is blocked off by Police Crime Scene Investigators, a fallen tree, a picket line of anti-government protestors, an oily chemical spill, or an inoperative traffic light; while you will navigate a new route (the tactic), you will still be heading for the supermarket (the strategy to appease your hungry children who are suffering from serious Taco-Bell Gastritis/ Single Dad Syndrome).

Don't ever lose sight of strategy when engaged in a tactical maneuver. Keep your internal compass set on your destination. Occasional rests and positive visualization can be very helpful in getting you safely to your rendezvous without having you fall prey to careless mistakes, or endless, labyrinthine detours.

Blending these two tools is very much like going back and forth, looking into a telescope (strategy, the big picture, a macrocosm), and then looking into a microscope (the incremental steps needed to get there). You must switch back and forth between pragmatic detail and your vision.

Terrible, Gratuitous Metaphor:

If you are climbing a mountain, you must focus on your objective (the peak), while you constantly look down and along side you to avoid tripping on roots or being hit by branches in your path.

This constant refocusing is a necessary leadership skill. It enables you to always know your destination (and how you intend to get there in terms of your mapped path), but to change the incremental steps, as may be necessary to navigate around quicksand, crocodiles, and bandits who may be in the middle of the road.


If you are well-practiced at this, you become a powerfully adept problem-solver -- you will take many a detour, but you'll always wind up back on the main road to your stated objective, and to the successful achievement of your mission. You'll understand, viscerally, that goal attainment requires the ability to shift in and out of perspectives.

Business is inherently the solution of problems. Business is, by its nature, an obstacle course, with a prize at the end. Problems are not aberrations -- they are absolutely to be expected, remedied or circumvented, and then, if you have solved or side-stepped each and every one of them, if you've managed to maintain your most important sense of direction, you'll find yourself at the mountaintop.

Douglas E Castle
Chairman
TNNWC Group, LLC - Management Consultants to Emerging Enterprises 

Tags, Labels, Keywords, Categories and Search Terms For This Article:Business plan, Entrepreneur, Strategy, Project Manager, tactics as detours, staying on track, Douglas E Castle, TNNWC Management Consulting, blogs about leadership, visualization, problem-solving, navigation, negotiation, command, control, communications, alternating perspectives, tenancity, passion in pursuit, formula for achievement, eyes on the prize, macroscopic vision, microscopic vision, achievement by increments, flexibility and innovation

NOTE: This Article Was Published in its Original Form by Douglas E Castle in TAKING COMMAND!. You can find this blog at http://TakingCommand.blogspot.com.

---------------
NOTICE: This article is Copyright © 2011 by author Douglas E Castle with all rights reserved. It may be republished without permission provided that it is published in full, with all hyperlinks and exhibits left intact, and with full attribution given the author. This article does not contain or constitute medical, health, psychological, legal, regulatory, investment, securities, financial, tax, or any other form of professional advice -- the reader acknowledges and accepts this disclaimer. Further, the reader indemnifies and holds harmless both the author and all publications in which this article appears of any damages, claims, loss, responsibility or liability emerging from the reader’s utilization of any information contained herein.

About This Author: Further information regarding this author’s professional experience, expertise and service offerings can be found at ABOUT DOUGLAS E CASTLE

Other Blogs And RSS Feeds By This Author: A comprehensive list of blogs and RSS feeds on various subjects written or moderated by Douglas E Castle may be found by clicking on the orange icon below.

This Blog Is Powered By TNNWC Group, LLC ™

Contact This Author Directly: Click HERE for an instant pop-up form.

You may follow Douglas E Castle on TWITTER 

The author highly recommends that each of his respected readers becomes Pinglerized (a Lingovation™) in order to maximize SEO, search engine ranking, and to exponentially increase both unique visitors and recurring traffic to your website or blog. Leverage this wonderful technology.



The author wishes to thank the following resource providers:

Feedburner, CoolText Graphics, JavaScript Free Code, Zemanta, Google, WordPress, Widgetbox, and Wikipedia
---------------

Related articles

• What is a Tactical Business Plan? (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
• Minority-Owned Businesses Discover New Strategies, Sources for Funding (thetnnwcnewsroom.blogspot.com)
• Tactical Planning in Business (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
• Goals for a Strategic Business Plan (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
• Entrepreneurial Leadership: Self-Growth, Professional Growth and Corporate Growth. (douglascastleiep.blogspot.com)
• 5 Essential Elements You Need to be a Complete Success in Business (chrisg.com)
• Entrepreneurs: Catalysts Creating Business And Social Value. (entrepreneurialadviceandinsights.wordpress.com)
• Entrepreneurial Trend-Spotting Strategy: Alternate Between The Microscope And The Telescope. (thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com)
• AP Union Tells Members To Stop Tweeting (mashable.com)
• Associated Press Brings On Amex's Cluney As Director, U.S. Marketing (paidcontent.org)
• Obama's 2012 Campaign: What's the Strategy? (thedailybeast.com)
• Intentionality, Strategy and Social Media Tactics (colleensharen.wordpress.com)
• Solutions are Strategic. Technology is Tactical. (devcentral.f5.com)
• Ernan Roman: Powerful Strategies for Customer Retention and Engagement (huffingtonpost.com)
• Strategic Business and Personal Planning - Global Companies, Investments and Currencies (theglobalfuturist.blogspot.com)
• Will PlayBook play nice in the cloud? (smartblogs.com)
• Interview with Guy Kawasaki on Marketing and Building a Brand (hubspot.com)

BURYING MISTAKES

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .

---

BURYING MISTAKES

The notion of "Justice," albeit subjective, elusive and ephemeral, haunts me. It somehow hurts the child in me when the guilty are rewarded and the innocent are made to suffer. Or when the supposedly righteous stand idly by and permit it to continue...even if there is a possible solution within reach. I believe that we, as Human Beings, should strive to improve ourselves, and that an integral part of this process involves admitting and correcting mistakes and avoiding making these same mistakes in the future.

I believe in the sanctity of the rights of the individual. I believe, as my late father once quoted to me, that "It is better if a hundred guilty men shall be allowed to go free than if one innocent man shall be unjustly punished." Of note: Out of all of the industrialized nations of the entire world, the United States has the greatest percentage of its population incarcerated. And that percentage continues to grow.

Incarceration, like war, is a very big, very profitable business. To keep the wheels turning and the cash register full, those in power in the United States have an historically demonstrated penchant for getting involved in wars (for example, the"Vietnam Conflict," or "Operation Desert Storm" to "liberate" Iraq). I suppose it is only logical that such fiascos as the "War on Drugs" must be prosecuted and prolonged in order to ensure that the prisons are filled to overflowing with those convicted.

Not only does this ensure that those dedicated and skilled individuals who operate and service the growing number of prisons will have respectable ongoing employment, but it also provides our military with a source of very inexpensive production, in that minimum wage laws do not apply to convicted felons (they can be paid as little as twelve cents an hour), and they are used in prison shops to manufacture military and industrial goods. Why these folks are an even cheaper labor source than illegal immigrants!

Whenever I read about some convicted murderer or rapist, locked away for 20 years or more (or perhaps sitting on death row), who is exonerated based upon DNA evidence which proves, conclusively, that he could not possibly have committed the crime for which he was originally convicted, it causes me outrage. To think that a person who is convicted and jailed as a result of a prosecutorial or judicial error might one day be found not guilty is frightening. How do you give back, or make appropriate recompense for a life destroyed? A reputation decimated? A family torn apart? I do not know. How do you "fix" the wrong done to a person who was wrongly imprisoned? I don't know.

The U.S. Supreme Court has found that there is no constitutional right applicable to convicted felons which entitles them to obtain or demand DNA tests in order to exonerate themselves. The Court seems to feel that the only time when this evidence would be available or applicable is during the actual trial process, and not afterwards, once the party found guilty has been imprisoned. This poses a Catch-22 situation for any person wrongfully convicted who wishes to have his sentence reversed or vacated.

It also means that the Court is interested (or perhaps, invested) in supporting the guilty decisions of the criminal courts, and of the prosecutorial process. After all, it is an embarrassing and expensive mess when a convicted person is found to be not guilty after the fact. It could even mean that the actual guilty party is still at large. Or that the prosecution violated the rules of evidence when pursuing the conviction. Or that the judge made (gasp!) an error.

By its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court went along with a time-honored tradition of supporting the rich and powerful in this country -- the tradition of burying mistakes.

I believe that the blood of buried mistakes cries up from the ground. If you listen for it, it is always there.

Read more about this court decision in The New York Times at Justices Rule Inmates Don’t Have Right to DNA Tests By DAVID STOUT Convicts do not have a right under the Constitution to obtain DNA testing to try to prove their innocence long after being found guilty, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

*Follow DOUGLAS CASTLE on TWITTER - http://twitter.com/douglascastle
*Follow DOUGLAS CASTLE on THE NATIONAL NETWORKER - http://twitter.com/TNNW_BUZZWORKS

BEING DECISIVE

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .

---

Dear Friends:

I am opposed to unnecessary violence. My primary strategy, and the strategy of all wise commanders is to utilize behavioral psychology and attempt to negotiate for the most advantageous outcome. There are times when this fails, either because the other side refuses to negotiate, or because the demands made by the other side are completely impossible or untenable. My compliments to the U.S. Navy Seals for their judgment and skills in saving an innocent hostage's life. The article which follows appears courtest of Yahoo! News. It is worth reading, not only for its value as news, but for the insights it offers in terms of being decisive and taking command.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

####
US ship captain is freed when snipers kill pirates
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy And Lara Jakes, Associated Press Writers 1 hr 2 mins ago

MOMBASA, Kenya – U.S. Navy snipers opened fire and killed three pirates holding an American captain at gunpoint in a lifeboat, delivering the skipper unharmed and ending a five-day high-seas hostage drama on Easter Sunday.
The pirates were pointing AK-47s at Capt. Richard Phillips and he was in "imminent danger" of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.
Phillips' crew, who said they had escaped the pirates after he offered himself as a hostage, erupted in cheers aboard their ship in Mombasa, Kenya. Some waved an American flag and fired flares in celebration. A lawn sign in the captain's hometown of Underhill, Vermont that read "Pray for Captain Phillips' release and safe return home" was changed to read, "Capt. Phillips rescued and safe."
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said Phillips, 53, was resting comfortably after a medical exam on the San Diego-based USS Boxer in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. Gortney said the captain had been "tied up inside the lifeboat" over much of the ordeal.
"I'm just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who have brought me home," Phillips said by phone to Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart, the company head told reporters. A photo released by the Navy showed Phillips unharmed and shaking hands with the commanding officer of the USS Bainbridge.
Gortney said a fourth pirate had been aboard the Bainbridge and negotiating with the Americans immediately before the rescue. The pirate was in military custody and U.S. officials said no decision had been made about how to charge him or where he could stand trial.
The rescue was a dramatic blow to the pirates who have preyed on international shipping and hold more than a dozen ships with about 230 sailors from a variety of nations. But it also risked provoking retaliatory attacks.
"This could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it," said Gortney, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.
Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old self-proclaimed pirate, told The Associated Press from one of Somalia's piracy hubs, Eyl, that, "our friends should have done more to kill the captain before they were killed. This will be a good lesson for us."
"From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages)," he said. France and India have both taken deadly military action against pirates in recent months and seen no significant retaliation, however.
The Defense Department twice asked President Barack Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Phillips, most recently late Friday evening, U.S. officials said. On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagon's request, as he had a day earlier, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
"I share the country's admiration for the bravery of Capt. Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew," Obama said in his first comments on the situation. "His courage is a model for all Americans."
He added that the United States needs help from other countries to deal with the threat of piracy and to hold pirates accountable.
A spokeswoman for the Phillips family, Alison McColl, said Phillips and his wife, Andrea, spoke by phone shortly after he was freed.
"They're all just so happy and relieved," McColl said outside of the Phillips home in Underhill. "Andrea wanted me to tell the nation that all of your prayers and good wishes have paid off because Capt. Phillips is safe."
The Navy said Phillips was freed at 7:19 p.m. local time.
When Phillips' crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the Maersk Alabama and whistled and pumped their fists in the air. Crew fired two bright red flares into the sky from the ship.
"We made it!" said crewman ATM Reza, pumping his fist in the air.
Crew members said their ordeal had begun Wednesday with the Somali pirates hauling themselves up from a small boat bobbing on the surface of the Indian Ocean far below.
As the pirates shot in the air, Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said.
Phillips was then held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat that was closely watched by U.S. warships and a helicopter in an increasingly tense standoff.
Capt. Joseph Murphy, the father of second-in-command Shane Murphy, thanked Phillips for his bravery.
"Our prayers have been answered on this Easter Sunday," Murphy said. "If not for his incredible personal sacrifice, this kidnapping and act of terror could have turned out much worse."
Talks to free Phillips began Thursday with the captain of the Bainbridge talking to the pirates under instruction from FBI hostage negotiators on board the U.S. destroyer.
The U.S. Navy assumed the pirates would try to get their hostage to shore, where they could have hidden him on Somalia's lawless soil and been in a stronger position to negotiate a ransom. The pirates had threatened to kill Phillips if attacked.
Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat Friday and tried to swim for his freedom but was recaptured when a pirate fired an automatic weapon at or near him, according to U.S. Defense Department officials.
Elsewhere off the Somali coast Friday, the French navy freed a sailboat seized off Somalia by other pirates, but one of the five hostages was killed.
Early Saturday three U.S. warships were within easy reach of the lifeboat and the pirates holding Phillips fired a few shots at a small U.S. Navy vessel that had approached, a U.S. military official said.
The official said the U.S. sailors did not return fire, the Navy vessel turned away and no one was hurt. He said the vessel had not been attempting a rescue.
The district commissioner of Somalia's central Mudug region said talks on freeing Phillips had gone on all day Saturday, with clan elders from his area talking by satellite telephone and through a translator with Americans, but collapsed Saturday night.
About the same time, Phillips' crew of 19 American sailors reached safe harbor in Kenya's northeast port of Mombasa under guard of U.S. Navy Seals.
"The Somali government wanted the drama to end in a peaceful way, but any one who is involved in this latest case had the choice to use violence or other means," Abdulkhadir Walayo, the prime minister's spokesman, told the AP. "Any way, we see it will be a good lesson for the pirates or any one else involved in this dirty business."
Residents of Harardhere, another port and pirate stronghold, were gathering in the streets after news of the captain's release, saying they fear pirates may now retaliate against some of the 200 hostages they still hold.
"We fear more that any revenge taken by the pirates against foreign nationals could bring more attacks from the foreign navies, perhaps on our villages," Abdullahi Haji Jama, who owns a clothes store in Harardhere, told the AP by telephone.
Pirates are holding about a dozen ships with more than 200 crew members, according to the Malaysia-based piracy watchdog International Maritime Bureau. Hostages are from Bulgaria, China, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Tuvalu and Ukraine, among other countries.
A spokesman for the German anti-piracy operation told the AP that the U.S. did not give any clue as to its plans in regard to the ship captain.
He had no details on the fate of the German freighter Hansa Stavanger, which was captured earlier this month or on the fate of its 24 crew of five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 Tuvalu residents.
___
Jakes reported from Washington. Associated Press writers who contributed to this report include Mohamed Olad Hassan and Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu, Somalia; Michelle Faul and Tom Maliti in Nairobi, Kenya; Matt Apuzzo in Washington, John Curran in Underhill, Vermont, Matt Moore in Berlin and Dena Potter in Norfolk, Virginia.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

EVERY WORD IS A TOOL

Share this ARTICLE with your colleagues on LinkedIn .

---

Dear Friends:

Every word that you utter is a tool. It may be a seductive encouragement, it may be an inspiration, it might be a signified agreement, it might be a threat, or it might be a command -- but in every case, every word is a tool. Choose your words carefully. And use them sparingly, depending upon your audience's level of interest and attention span.

Words do not simply get blurted into a vaccuum -- they are shaped by certain other factors. Some of these factors can mean the difference between whether the recipient of your words is complimented by your admiration, or insulted by your sarcasm.

These factors include:

• your facial expression and body language


• eye contact


• your stance


• the cadence of your words


• your tone


• your temporal spacing of the words


• the words said previous and the words said afterward


• the pitch of your voice


• the mindset and personality of the recipient

These are things worth thinking about...especially before your begin speaking.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. Please go to THE NATIONAL NETWOKER and subscribe for your free newletter today.

Miasma: Grouply, Yahoo, Google, MSN, command, control, leadership, decisionmaking, The National Networker, Internal Energy Plus, Humanitas Maximus, The Internal Energy Plus Forum, control, public service, inspiration, survival, uniting, dividing, conquest, growth, personal growth, self-improvement, personal development, networking, Mixx, Zimbio, Digg, Delicious, Technorati, Associated Press, LA Times, Fox News, Reuters, alpha, beta, theta, education, leadership crisis, personal power, humanitarianism, The Global Futurist, The Internationalist Page, Braintenance, Current Events, blogs, bloggers, news, news releases, Douglas Castle, intelligence, cognitive enhancement, advice, help, psychology, focus, technology, seduction, manipulation, debate, education, hypnosis, NLP, RET, articles, Linked In, Microsoft, SEO, fitness, longevity, creativity, meditation, media, YouTube, organizational engineering, winning, success, telepathy, trends, predictions, commentary, blogosphere, relationships, torture, victory, health, fitness, independence, mind, brain, thought, entrainment, Facebook, Naymz, downloads, CDs, tapes, instruction, competition, martial arts, politics, management, widget, blidget, social networking, nanotechnology, fitness, social Darwinism, humor, alternative energy, philanthropy, not-for-profit organizations, volunteering, interrogation, trade, commerce, personal dynamics, personal coaching, networking, leadership training, mind-body connection, nootropics, longevity, social groups, business groups, marketing, ecommerce, Feedburner, RSS, newsletters, writers, co-operative advertising, leverage, survivalism, viral marketing, public relations, advertising, promotion, image-development, videos, gaming, AI, social awareness, persuasion, theology, logic, alliances, reputation, ratings, polls, standing, positioning, self-help, metrics, design, interactivity, campaign, Wikis, chat rooms, interactive forums, mentoring, modeling, mind expansion, brainwaves, motivation, current events, press releases, keywords, adwords, economics, Wikipedia, Widgetbox, geopolitical economics, conflict resolution, activism, achievement, subconscious, collective mind, webinars, business services, self-growth, control, winning, fail-safe strategies, combat, strength, Internal Energy Plus, self-defense, winning strategies and tactics, improvisation, anti-terrorism, courage, victory, fear, psychological programming,...