Category: Leadership Videos

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McGeorge Bundy & Decision Making [Video]

Earlier I reviewed Gordon Goldstein’s excellent book, Lessons in Disaster, on this blog. Goldstein, I said, gave us a riveting portrayal of Kennedy’s National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy and his involvement in the Vietnam War.

It’s a story about crippling ego, blind vision, group-think, and arrogance.

Still, Goldstein paints a fair and balanced portrait of Bundy and attempts to show two sides of Bundy’s character.

In the video below Goldstein continues his conversation about McGeorge Bundy and draws parallels to recent developments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He argues that we can learn from the mistakes that led to the confusion and bloodshed in the Vietnam War if we begin to analyze the fallibility of individual and group decisions.

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Leadership Videos

Top 9 Classic Leadership Movies for the Winter Break

PeckWhen you need leadership inspiration you can always rely on WWII, Charlton Heston, the courageous Gregory Peck, and in a clutch Anthony Quinn as the pope or a Greek insurgent. If all else fails you can escape to the desert with Lawrence or take a winter march with George C. Scott.

Now, I admit that one of the problems we have with leadership is the fantasy world we sometimes put it in and these movies feed every dramaturgical tendency that took me (and everyone) to the movies on Saturdays.

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BLG Leadership Insights Leadership Videos

Churchill: Leadership Into the Storm [Video]

young-winston-churchillWhen you draw a shortlist of “great” leaders, Winston Churchill always appears near the top. When you delve even further and ask people to give examples of historical figures who’ve dealt with crisis Churchill appears shoulder-to-shoulder with Lincoln.

The history of Churchill raises a whole series of leadership questions, especially around the question of contingent leadership. What type of leadership style is appropriate for what particular moment in history? A close examination of Churchill focuses us on such issues as drama and tactics and the skills of mobilization.

If you haven’t seen The Gathering Storm & Into the Storm, you missed two truly insightful depictions on the dynamics and style of an exceptional leader.

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Thanksgiving Lessons From the Four Seasons Lodge [Video]

movie posterThe other night at the Quad on 13th Street in Manhattan, I had a chance to watch Four Seasons Lodge directed by Andrew Jacobs.  It wasn’t my idea.  It was my wife’s.  I ran into the theater, hassled and overwhelmed by the week’s demands.  I was twitching away on my Blackberry, as I was walking into the theater–such was my enthusiasm to see a movie. To tell you the truth, I was up for dinner rather than a movie.

In the first few minutes I realized that this definitely was not the film for me.  Sixty-years olds, like myself, are easily frightened by watching a group of older people in their 70s and 80s struggling with their health and issues of quality of life.  Trust me, the last thing I needed was a documentary about aging in a bungalow colony in the the Catskills.  I vacation in the Catskills, but not a bungalow—a house on the appropriate trout stream with a jacuzzi, a mile away from the tennis courts.

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Leadership Book Corner: 4-Hour Workweek [Video]

4hr-workweek-coverJumping into Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Workweek, is like taking a cold shower. It’s jarring, but ultimately refreshing. Mr. Ferriss argues that you can work 4 hours a week and still live a rich life filled with travels, adventures, and fun. If you’re like me you might look at this book and have some very big doubts.

Yet they are quickly stowed away as Mr. Ferriss, a self-proclaimed lifestyle designer, begins to tell you his very personal story of how he went from being a 9-to-5 drone, to an 80-hour workweek leader, to a Tango champion with loads of free time.

Mr. Ferriss posits that anyone can follow his footsteps if they exercise the right degree of his unusual time management theories. What’s interesting,  for the purpose of this blog, are his very clear and very powerful thoughts on leadership. Mr. Ferriss, a leader and CEO of  BrainQUICKEN, believes two things are key to strong, able, leadership. First, he states, leaders should be able to delegate clearly and second, leaders should be able to automate their jobs.

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