How to fight a war… or conquer the enemy in your life

I read a lot. Maybe too much according to my wife. I have been chronicling the events of March 1945 on my Facebook page “World War 2 in the Pacific https://www.facebook.com/WarInThePacific19411946 Some of the reference materials are amazing in their accuracy for challenges we face today. I truly wish that the powers that be could read […]

Continuous Learning – It’s a Navy Thing

When I am not writing about submarines, I am normally busy with my day job which is helping the companies I work with to better understand continuous improvement or “lean thinking”. While one is solely vocational in nature and the other is purely avocational both share the same basic roots: Continuous Learning. As a young boy, I was […]

With all this new stuff, why is everybody so unhappy?

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the state of the Navy and the other seagoing forces. To be sure, there have been a lot of technological advances in the past twenty years since I hung up my sword (literally). Submarines have reached new levels of sophistication that make them more efficient than ever before. […]

I wonder what they were dreaming of?

I should give you fair warning that this is not a story about submarines. It is a fairly graphic story about recent events that you may just want to pass by. I will be back next week with more tails of the submarine world, but this story is about the world around us today (July […]

The “Georgia Swamp Fox” that Fathered the Two Ocean Navy – Carl Vinson

This is a story published in the Port of Pittsburgh, Official Publication of the Navy League of the United States, Pittsburgh Council Jan-March 2014 Volume 18 No.1 edited by Katherine Kersten, written by Bob MacPherson (aka theleansubmariner) “The most expensive thing in the world is a cheap Army and Navy,” Congressman Carl Vinson On March […]

Random Actions Produce Random Results (No Matter How Big the Halo)

Leadership must be intentional. Okay, I will admit that this statement is rather obvious and won’t sell any books. The sad part though is how many organizations that promote from within expect that a perfectly good employee will magically grow leadership skills by the grace of that promotion. Then, when they fail, everyone wonders what […]

On Wisconsin (bring on the fall!)

Just a short message this week to the Followers of the New Freedom Underground Deep disappointment for the dirty dogs of war… David Ax-man denied In the dying days of democracy dozens of devious democrats demanded debilitating deals while denying the details of its descendant direction. Decadency caused by deleterious debutants disguised as “lawyers” who […]

Okay, I know I scare some people but this guy does a way better job:

Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that “no one knows” if gasoline prices in the United States will reach $9 per gallon, and acknowledged that the possibility is outside his control. Okay seriously, I filled up my tank today and really had to consider if I could afford to keep driving. Or eating. Or […]

3800 of the best and brightest

Yesterday was Pennsylvania’s annual FBLA conference. The three training sessions were great! The young people who attended were very engaged and challenged me on some very good points. The subject was leadership but covered three areas that I feel from my education and experience are important to developing yourself and others. Those three things are […]

A victory… even if it’s only partial

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/hub.1326407570.html McPherson Square is finally being reclaimed by the Park Service. I will only be completely happy when I see the entire square scrubbed of these vermin. http://wtop.com/?nid=109&sid=2734685 But in my mind, it is still only a partial victory since the powers that be have not taken the appropriate stand. From Reuters: “”This is not […]