Computer World had an interesting article discussing the CIA’s use of Intellipedia—a Wikipedia-like project for its analysts–a while back. As a former naval intelligence officer, I think it's a fantastic idea but—perhaps not unsurprisingly—the idea has been met with some resistance from within the intelligence community. According to the article, in fact, the founders of [...]
Unlearn or Die
September 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment
In 1601, James Lancaster, an English sea captain, set sail from England to India. Overseeing a crew of 278 sailors on four separate ships, Lancaster conducted an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment to prevent scurvy. He administered three tablespoons of lemon juice to the members of his ship and left the crews [...]
Clothes Might Matter More Than You Think
October 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment
It has been said that "the clothes make the man." And with all the hullabaloo surrounding Sarah Palin's $150,000 campaign wardrobe, it is clear that clothes can also make — or, perhaps, in Palin's case — unmake the woman. Regardless of what one thinks of the first quote or Palin's attire, clothes do matter and, [...]
Unlearning the Nature of War
August 18, 2008 By 1 Comment
In 2005, I wrote a book on General George C. Marshall entitled "Soldier, Statesman, Peacemaker: Leadership Lessons from George C. Marshall." One of my favorite quotes of Marshall’s is the advice he pounded into the heads of his junior officers: "Study the first six months of the next war." It was great advice in the [...]
Unlearn or Die Even More Unneccesarily
June 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment
A few weeks back I had a posting entitled "Change or Die … Unnecessarily” in which I provided a few examples of how our inability to unlearn could, quite literally, cost some people their lives. Well, the other day, one of my favorite thinkers, Josh Wolfe, sent me a copy his weekly newsletter, The Forbes/Wolfe [...]
Top-Secret Unlearning
June 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Computer World has an interesting article discussing the CIA’s use of Intellipedia — a Wikipedia-like project for its analysts. As a former naval intelligence officer, I think this is a fantastic idea but — perhaps not unsurprisingly — the idea has been met with some resistance from within the intelligence community. According to the article, [...]
