#Principles of Leadership

[yosbin]

"we're mortal men. we serve an ideal. we cannot always be ideal."

frame studies from conclave (2024) dir. Edward Berger

[contemplatingoutlander]

Finally, The New York Times Editorial Board says Trump is unfit to hold the Office of the President of the United States!

This is a "gift🎁link" so you can read the entire, HISTORIC editorial by The New York Times Editorial Board stating in no uncertain terms that Donald Trump is unfit for office.

Below are some excerpts from the five subsections of the editorial: I Moral Fitness, II. Principled Leadership, III. Character, IV. A President's Words, and V. Rule of Law

I. MORAL FITNESS MATTERS

Presidents are confronted daily with challenges that require not just strength and conviction but also honesty, humility, selflessness, fortitude and the perspective that comes from sound moral judgment. If Mr. Trump has these qualities, Americans have never seen them in action on behalf of the nation’s interests. His words and actions demonstrate a disregard for basic right and wrong and a clear lack of moral fitness for the responsibilities of the presidency.

He lies blatantly and maliciously, embraces racists, abuses women and has a schoolyard bully’s instinct to target society’s most vulnerable. He has delighted in coarsening and polarizing the town square with ever more divisive and incendiary language. Mr. Trump is a man who craves validation and vindication, so much that he would prefer a hostile leader’s lies to his own intelligence agencies’ truths and would shake down a vulnerable ally for short-term political advantage. His handling of everything from routine affairs to major crises was undermined by his blundering combination of impulsiveness, insecurity and unstudied certainty. [...] The Supreme Court, with its ruling on July 1 granting presidents “absolute immunity” for official acts, has removed an obstacle to Mr. Trump’s worst impulses: the threat of legal consequences. What remains is his own sense of right and wrong. Our country’s future is too precious to rely on such a broken moral compass. [color emphasis added]

Below the cut are excerpts from the other four subsections.

II. PRINCIPLED LEADERSHIP MATTERS

Republican presidents and presidential candidates have used their leadership at critical moments to set a tone for society to live up to. Mr. Reagan faced down totalitarianism in the 1980s.... George H.W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act.... George W. Bush, for all his failures after Sept. 11, did not stoke hate against or demonize Muslims or Islam.

As a candidate during the 2008 race, Mr. McCain spoke out when his fellow conservatives spread lies about his opponent, Barack Obama. Mr. Romney was willing to sacrifice his standing and influence in the party he once represented as a presidential nominee, by boldly calling out Mr. Trump’s failings and voting for his removal from office. These acts of leadership are what it means to put country first, to think beyond oneself. Mr. Trump has demonstrated contempt for these American ideals. He admires autocrats, from Viktor Orban to Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong-un. He believes in the strongman model of power — a leader who makes things happen by demanding it, compelling agreement through force of will or personality. In reality, a strongman rules through fear and the unprincipled use of political might for self-serving ends, imposing poorly conceived policies that smother innovation, entrepreneurship, ideas and hope. During his four years in office, Mr. Trump tried to govern the United States as a strongman would, issuing orders or making decrees on Twitter. He announced sudden changes in policy — on who can serve in the military, on trade policy, on how the United States deals with North Korea or Russia — without consulting experts on his staff about how these changes would affect America. Indeed, nowhere did he put his political or personal interests above the national interest more tragically than during the pandemic, when he faked his way through a crisis by touting conspiracy theories and pseudoscience while ignoring the advice of his own experts and resisting basic safety measures that would have saved lives. [...] A second Trump administration would be different. He intends to fill his administration with sycophants, those who have shown themselves willing to obey Mr. Trump’s demands or those who lack the strength to stand up to him. He wants to remove those who would be obstacles to his agenda, by enacting an order to make it easier to fire civil servants and replace them with those more loyal to him. This means not only that Americans would lose the benefit of their expertise but also that America would be governed in a climate of fear, in which government employees must serve the interests of the president rather than the public.... Another term under Mr. Trump’s leadership would risk doing permanent damage to our government. [color/ emphasis added]

III. CHARACTER MATTERS

Character is the quality that gives a leader credibility, authority and influence. During the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump’s petty attacks on his opponents and their families led many Republicans to conclude that he lacked such character. Other Republicans, including those who supported the former president’s policies in office, say they can no longer in good conscience back him for the presidency. “It’s a job that requires the kind of character he just doesn’t have,” Paul Ryan, a former Republican House speaker, said of Mr. Trump in May.

Those who know Mr. Trump’s character best — the people he appointed to serve in the most important positions of his White House — have expressed grave doubts about his fitness for office.His former chief of staff John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, described Mr. Trump as “a person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution and the rule of law.” Bill Barr, whom Mr. Trump appointed as attorney general, said of him, “He will always put his own interest and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country’s interest.” James Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general who served as defense secretary, said, “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try.” Mike Pence, Mr. Trump’s vice president, has disavowed him. No other vice president in modern American history has done this. “I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States,” Mr. Pence has said. “And anyone who asked someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.” [...] It may be tempting for Americans to believe that a second Trump presidency would be much like the first, with the rest of government steeled to protect the country and resist his worst impulses. But the strongman needs others to be weak, and Mr. Trump is surrounding himself with yes men. The American public has a right to demand more from their president and those who would serve under him. [color/ emphasis added]

IV. A PRESIDENT’S WORDS MATTER

When America saw white nationalists and neo-Nazis march through the streets of Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 and activists were rallying against racism, Mr. Trump spoke of “very fine people on both sides.” When he was pressed about the white supremacist Proud Boys during a 2020 debate, Mr. Trump told them to “stand back and stand by,” a request that, records show, they took literally in deciding to storm Congress. This winter, the former president urged Iowans to vote for him and score a victory over their fellow Americans — “all of the liars, cheaters, thugs, perverts, frauds, crooks, freaks, creeps.” And in a Veterans Day speech in New Hampshire, he used the word “vermin,” a term he has deployed to describe both immigrants and political opponents.

What a president says reflects on the United States and the kind of society we aspire to be. In 2022 this board raised an urgent alarm about the rising threat of political violence in the United States and what Americans could do to stop it. At the time... the Republican Party was in the middle of a fight for control, between Trumpists and those who were ready to move on from his destructive leadership. This struggle within the party has consequences for all Americans. “A healthy democracy requires both political parties to be fully committed to the rule of law and not to entertain or even tacitly encourage violence or violent speech,” we wrote. A large faction of one party in our country fails that test, and that faction, Mr. Trump’s MAGA extremists, now control the party and its levers of power. There are many reasons his conquest of the Republican Party is bad for American democracy, but one of the most significant is that those extremists have often embraced violent speech or the belief in using violence to achieve their political goals. This belief led to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and it has resulted in a rising number of threats against judges, elected officials and prosecutors. This threat cannot be separated from Mr. Trump’s use of language to encourage violence, to dehumanize groups of people and to spread lies. A study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, released in October 2022, came to the conclusion that MAGA Republicans (as opposed to those who identified themselves as traditional Republicans) “are more likely to hold extreme and racist beliefs, to endorse political violence, to see such violence as likely to occur and to predict that they will be armed under circumstances in which they consider political violence to be justified.” The Republican Party had an opportunity to renounce Trumpism; it has submitted to it. Republican leaders have had many opportunities to repudiate his violent discourse and make clear that it should have no place in political life; they failed to. [...] But with his nomination by his party all but assured, Mr. Trump has become even more reckless in employing extreme and violent speech, such as his references to executing generals who raise questions about his actions. He has argued, before the Supreme Court, that he should have the right to assassinate a political rival and face no consequences. [color/ emphasis added]

V. THE RULE OF LAW MATTERS

The danger from these foundational failings — of morals and character, of principled leadership and rhetorical excess — is never clearer than in Mr. Trump’s disregard for rule of law, his willingness to do long-term damage to the integrity of America’s systems for short-term personal gain. As we’ve noted, Mr. Trump’s disregard for democracy was most evident in his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to encourage violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power. What stood in his way were the many patriotic Americans, at every level of government, who rejected his efforts to bully them into complying with his demands to change election results. Instead, they followed the rules and followed the law. This respect for the rule of law, not the rule of men, is what has allowed American democracy to survive for more than 200 years.

In the four years since losing the election, Mr. Trump has become only more determined to subvert the rule of law, because his whole theory of Trumpism boils down to doing whatever he wants without consequence. Americans are seeing this unfold as Mr. Trump attempts to fight off numerous criminal charges. Not content to work within the law to defend himself, he is instead turning to sympathetic judges — including two Supreme Court justices with apparent conflicts over the 2020 election and Jan. 6-related litigation. The playbook: delay federal prosecution until he can win election and end those legal cases. His vision of government is one that does what he wants, rather than a government that operates according to the rule of law as prescribed by the Constitution, the courts and Congress. [...] So much in the past two decades has tested these norms in our society.... We need a recommitment to the rule of law and the values of fair play. This election is a moment for Americans to decide whether we will keep striving for those ideals. Mr. Trump rejects them. If he is re-elected, America will face a new and precarious future, one that it may not be prepared for. It is a future in which intelligence agencies would be judged not according to whether they preserved national security but by whether they served Mr. Trump’s political agenda. It means that prosecutors and law enforcement officials would be judged not according to whether they follow the law to keep Americans safe but by whether they obey his demands to “go after” political enemies. It means that public servants would be judged not according to their dedication or skill but by whether they show sufficient loyalty to him and his MAGA agenda. Even if Mr. Trump’s vague policy agenda would not be fulfilled, he could rule by fear. The lesson of other countries shows that when a bureaucracy is politicized or pressured, the best public servants will run for the exits. This is what has already happened in Mr. Trump’s Republican Party, with principled leaders and officials retiring, quitting or facing ouster. In a second term, he intends to do that to the whole of government. [color/ emphasis added]

[thepersonalwords]

Character is what the world needs - character that will empower the mind with such an unimaginable strength that one would meet death face to face and say “some other time, pal!

Abhijit Naskar, Principia Humanitas

[scuderiaseb]

It’s really silly season, huh?

[gothicprep]

"criticisms of israel are antisemitic" is almost always a defensive derailment of practical policy discussions or criticism of how bibi and his new friends want what's worst for everyone. that said, since the israel-gaza war broke out, i've been seeing a lot of commentary that does legitimately seem antisemitic and it's knotted my stomach a bit.

i wish i could find the tweet again that i'd saw a few days ago, but the initial one was, "pay attention to media bias during this conflict!" with an attached screenshot that said "x number israelis killed, x number gazan palestinians dead". and i see this and i think, fair, fair to pay attention.

he replies to his own tweet with "here's a substack thing i wrote about how israel and hollywood work together to spread pro-israel propaganda" with this very ~graphic design is my passion~ ass art that's the hollywood sign and the israel flag.

look, i watch a lot of movies. some may call it a hobby. but i can't remember the last time i saw a new release that so much as mentioned israel. i know all nations propagandize but this felt really... off.

[commsroom]

Do you think Eiffel has leadership skills? If yes would he like it better than his canon job?

does he have leadership skills? ... maybe? i don't think he thinks he does; eiffel considers himself neither a leader nor a follower. he thinks he's a team player, and ideologically that's true, but whether other people agree might also really depend on circumstances. but i would say he's good at bringing people together, and even pretty good at mobilizing a group if the situation calls for it - and he's often the guy with a plan. he just doesn't want the pressure of being in charge.

so, would he like it better? absolutely not. no way. eiffel would hate any job because it's a job and he has to work there, but i think being put in a leadership position - and therefore responsible for a bunch of other people's jobs too - might actually be his personal hell. he got put in a middle management position once and needed an emergency blanket for it (not even an exaggeration - when he's telling lovelace about his "terrifying bureaucratic nightmare" near the end of controlled demolition, the script notes say "eiffel, now wrapped up in a blanket, is next to lovelace. he is still very clearly shaken.")

[tmarshconnors]

"It's better to endure the discomfort of the truth now than to suffer the discomfort of the lie later."

Simon Oliver Sinek is an English-born American author and inspirational speaker on business leadership. His books include Start with Why and The Infinite Game.

Author of Bestsellers: Simon Sinek is the author of several influential books on leadership and business, including the bestsellers "Start with Why," "Leaders Eat Last," and "The Infinite Game." His books focus on inspiring leaders and organizations to think differently.

Golden Circle Concept: Sinek is well-known for his "Golden Circle" concept, introduced in his book "Start with Why." The idea emphasizes the importance of understanding "Why" an organization exists, followed by "How" it operates, and "What" it does. This concept has become a foundational principle in leadership and marketing.

Inspirational Speaker: As an inspirational speaker, Sinek has delivered numerous talks and presentations on leadership, motivation, and organizational behavior. His TED Talk, "How Great Leaders Inspire Action," is one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time, with millions of views.

Background in Anthropology: Sinek's educational background includes a degree in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University. His understanding of human behavior and culture informs much of his work on leadership and organizational dynamics.

Business Consultant: In addition to his writing and speaking engagements, Sinek works as a business consultant, helping organizations develop leadership strategies and cultivate inspiring workplace cultures. He has worked with a variety of companies, including large corporations and non-profits, to implement his leadership principles.

[martyndetours]

Good Leader/Bad Leader: The difference and why it matters https://goodstrat.com/2025/04/09/good-leader-bad-leader-the-difference-and-why-it-matters/

Good Leader/Bad Leader: The difference and why it matters

#bible, #christianity, #faith, #god, #honesty, #honour, #integrity, #jesus, #judaism, #leadership, #principles, #talmud, #values

[quartzskies]

thinking abt the fact that i literally need a charity org and a notarized document in order to withdraw from the church i grew up in and “willingly baptized into” when i was 8

[screenshot-thoughts]

In a Nutshell

BE A LEADER

A leader's job often includes changing your peopl's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

PRINCIPLE 1

Begin with praise and honest appreciation.

PRINCIPLE 2

Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.

PRINCIPLE 3

Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.

PRINCIPLE 4

Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.

PRINCIPLE 5

Let the other person save face.

PRINCIPLE 6

Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "h in y in paiseprobation and

PRINCIPLE 7

Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.

PRINCIPLE 8

Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.

PRINCIPLE 9

Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

[thepersonalwords]

Noble leaders choose: wisdom over wealth, knowledge over fame, understanding over honor, virtue over titles, and people over power.

Matshona Dhliwayo

[jamelalatise]

1. If we were meeting three years from today, what has to have happened during that three-year period for you to feel happy about your progress?

2. What are the biggest dangers you’ll have to face and deal with in order to achieve that progress?

3. What are the biggest opportunities that you have that you would need to focus on and capture to achieve those things?

4. What strengths will you need to reinforce and maximise, and what skills and resources will you need to develop that you don’t currently have in order to capture those opportunities?

[courageousleadership]

Rooted in Values: Explore the Tree of Leadership Model

The Tree of Leadership by Courageous Leadership offers a powerful visual model to understand leadership development. Explore how values form the roots, behaviors shape the trunk, and courageous actions branch out to inspire others and create lasting impact.

[unitedstatesrei]

Mattias Clymer is Silently Leading a $70M Movement That’s Changing Agent Lives

The Powerful Hidden Restlessness No One Saw Coming Before anyone knew his name in the real estate world, Mattias Clymer was showing up to work each day in the city school system. On paper, he was helping kids as a behavior specialist, using his psychology degree from Eastern Mennonite University to guide students through their challenges. It was noble work. It was steady work. But deep inside, Mattias was restless. He wasn’t chasing luxury or status. What he wanted was something few people talk about when they’re stuck in jobs that don’t light them up. He wanted ownership. Ownership of his time. Ownership of his income. And ownership of his future. The truth was, no amount of good intentions could fill the growing gap between what he was doing and what he knew he was capable of building. Every day he walked into those schools, a small voice whispered that life could look different. He just didn’t know how to begin. Not yet. One Risky Leap of Faith Changed Everything When Mattias made the decision to leave his job and become a REALTOR, it wasn’t a smooth transition wrapped in confidence. It was a leap fueled by quiet desperation and a vision he couldn’t quite explain. He didn’t have a safety net or a guaranteed path. What he had was a hunger to stop trading time for a paycheck and start building something that would last. In 2014, with zero deals under his belt and no name in the industry, he stepped into the world of real estate. The learning curve was brutal. Rejection came fast. Confidence came slow. But every conversation, every showing, every lost lead was fuel. Mattias didn’t just want to sell homes. He wanted to understand the game, master it, and eventually rewrite it for people who felt just like he once did. Learning the Hard Way, Winning the Smart Way Mattias didn’t hit success overnight. The early years were filled with missteps, empty open houses, and deals that fell through at the last second. But instead of quitting, he got smarter. He started blogging through his platform, the Harrisonburg Homeowner, not to sell himself, but to teach. He understood that if people trusted him with their learning, they’d eventually trust him with their listings. In 2017, he took things further by creating an investment club. He wanted to surround himself with people who were doing the kinds of deals he wanted to do. The club wasn’t about showing off. It was about sharing what worked and what didn’t. He saw too many people making the same mistakes he had made early on, and he wasn’t interested in gatekeeping success. For Mattias, every stumble became a building block. And every lesson made him a better investor, agent, and leader. Breaking $70 Million by Breaking the Rules As Mattias grew more confident, he stopped playing by the traditional rules of real estate. He wasn’t just listing homes and chasing commissions. He was analyzing deals, studying market trends, and flipping properties that most agents never would have touched. He didn’t see houses as transactions. He saw them as tools for freedom. Over time, Mattias built a personal portfolio worth over $3 million, including single-family rentals and mobile homes. He and Erica didn’t outsource the work. They self-managed every property, learning through real problems and real consequences. He flipped multiple properties, each one sharpening his instincts and increasing his control over the outcome. But the numbers weren’t the win. The win was the shift. He was no longer just working for clients. He was building a future for his family, piece by piece. The $70 million in sales didn’t come from following a script. It came from rewriting one. The Partnership That Fueled the Vision Behind every smart deal and strategic decision was something even more powerful—partnership. Erica Clymer wasn’t just Mattias’s wife. She was his anchor, his sounding board, and eventually, his co-creator. With her background in therapy and holistic wellness, she brought a perspective that grounded their business in something deeper than profits.

Together, they managed their investments, raised their three children, and made time for movie nights and travel, even while growing their empire. Erica helped make sure the life they were building didn’t just look good on paper but felt good in real time. Their shared values shaped how they approached everything from managing tenants to planning the future. It wasn’t always easy. There were seasons of stress, of juggling too much, of wondering if the sacrifice was worth it. But they kept showing up—for the business, for their kids, and for each other. That commitment became the foundation of a life most people only imagine. From Agent to Mentor: The Birth of The REI Agent Podcast As the wins piled up, Mattias felt a shift again. Selling houses and closing flips was no longer enough. He had figured out how to turn a career into a calling—but most agents were still stuck in survival mode, burning out while chasing leads and never building anything of their own. He knew that had to change. That’s when The REI Agent Podcast was born. Co-hosted with Erica, the show wasn’t just about real estate. It was about the life real estate could create. Each episode became a space to share hard-earned lessons, feature agents and investors who were doing it differently, and give listeners permission to want more. Mattias wasn’t trying to be a guru. He was trying to be real. He wanted every agent listening to know they didn’t have to stay stuck. They could invest. They could grow. And they could build a business that gave more than it took. You Don’t Need Permission to Build the Life You Want Mattias Clymer didn’t wait for someone to hand him an opportunity. He created one. He walked away from security and stepped into uncertainty with nothing but a vision and a willingness to learn. Through every challenge—every lost deal, every tough tenant, every late night managing spreadsheets—he kept going. Today, his life is proof that financial success and personal peace can exist in the same story. He didn’t have a perfect roadmap. He just kept moving forward, fueled by purpose, guided by values, and supported by a partner who believed in the same vision. For any agent staring at the ceiling wondering if this career will ever lead to freedom, Mattias’s journey is the answer. You don’t need a bigger following, a better market, or someone to choose you. You just need to start. You need to bet on yourself—and keep showing up. That’s how you build a life worth living. The Blueprint Was Never Meant to Be Someone Else’s It always starts the same way. Quiet dissatisfaction. A sense that your time is worth more than what you’re being paid. A knowing deep in your gut that the life you’re living is smaller than the one you’re meant to build. So you look around. You study. You question. You wonder if it’s too late to start. Too risky to leap. Too much to dream. But then, something clicks. You stop waiting for permission. You decide that safety isn’t security if it costs you your soul. And with that choice, the path opens. It’s not smooth. It’s not easy. But it is yours. Every mistake teaches. Every small win compounds. And before you know it, you’re no longer just working in a system. You’re designing your own. Along the way, you discover that wealth isn’t just a number. It’s peace. It’s ownership. It’s the freedom to pick up your kids, take the trip, close your laptop, and know that your life is fully yours. The blueprint was never meant to be someone else’s. It was meant to be written by you. You don’t need more credentials or capital. You need courage, consistency, and the decision to start. That’s the beginning of every true transformation. And it’s waiting for you right now.

[tmarshconnors]

"You could die right now. Let this fact guide the rest of your life."

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. 

[kamalkafir-blog]

Six Leadership Principles That Boost Employee Morale And Transform Workplace Culture

[TECH AND FINANCIAL] Working under positive leadership can make a big difference in how employees feel and perform. getty There are many forms of leadership. A customer-focused organization requires a leader who understands the importance of customer experience and, just as important, if not more so, the importance of employee experience. If you’ve ever stayed in a hotel where the experience was…