Category Archives: Failures in leadership

Inadvertence may explain but it doesn’t cure

By Jim Pirner | May 29, 2009

When the senior VP was about to retire the “word” went out that the company desired there be a “large appreciative crowd” that would fill the company’s auditorium for the farewell ceremony that would honor the officer’s long service.  The “request/order” to have all departments strongly represented cascaded through the email forwards for several days. [...]

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A cattle dog never says “That’s not my job!”

By Jim Pirner | January 10, 2009

A family here has an Australian Cattle Dog.  You know the breed–diligent hard-working energetic herders who must always “have a job.”  Doggie lore says one cattle dog lived to be more than 29(!) years and spent 20 of them working. Over the recent holiday the visitors included four cats and the CATtle dog quickly realized [...]

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“Dear John Doe” — An Outrageous Lapse in Leadership

By Steve Pirner | January 7, 2009

You may have seen on CNN today a story talking about how the Army is “sorry” for sending thousands of “Dear John Doe” letters to families of Army personnel who lost their lives fighting for our country in Iraq or in Afghanistan.  Not only did each begin with “Dear John Doe,” they also contained the [...]

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