Historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin knows presidents. The Pulitzer Prize winning biographer has written on the Kennedys, Johnson, Franklin Roosevelt and her book on Lincoln, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln was the source material for Steven Spielberg’s latest film. Washington Post writer Lillian Cunningham recently asked Goodwin for her thoughts on presidential leadership. W.P.: “You’ve done several interviews lately about...

“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” – Lincoln, April 1864 What stands out in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is how different this man is from everything we think we know about him. He has doubts. He fights with his oldest son as well as his troubled wife. He battles his own cabinet to get what he wants, and he’s willing to...

Here’s one symptom of a growing problem: “Jeff Rothschild’s machines at Facebook had a problem he knew he had to solve immediately. They were about to melt. “The company had been packing a 40-by-60-foot rental space here with racks of computer servers that were needed to store and process information from members’ accounts. The electricity pouring into the computers was...

I realized that in today’s fast-paced, scandal-driven, ADD-addicted, multi-platform media age, everybody offers awards but me! No longer. Owing to the ‘true’ American spirit of our fast-paced, yada, yada, yada age, I hereby offer The (First Annual?) Ethics Stupid Turkey Awards. Honorable mention: * Rudy the Parrot. C’mon folks, are we really that desperate to “Find out what’s happening,  » Read more about: The Turkeys are Here!...

At five years of age, Kikuko Otake, along with her two brothers and young mother, survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan living just a little more than one mile from the hypocenter. In the first half of her book, Masako’s Story, she shares her mother’s account. “The rain soaked us to the skin. You began to shake, And grew pale....

I have never read a first person account so painful and powerful, yet so important to our future about an issue that hangs over all of us to this day. From the first words of prose-poetry (the book’s entire narrative is written in free-verse), I could not stop reading. It was shortly before 8:15 a.m., Monday, August 6, 1945 in...

Spoiler Alert: The following commentary contains absolutely NO shameful or shocking ethics scandals! Every day, we open newspapers, (on iPads, Kindles, etc.) to read, principally, bad news. Cable channels assault us with every angle on all manner of fraud, corruption, deceit, bribery, and the old reliable, sex scandal. But good news is out there. The Ethisphere Institute is an international think-tank based in New York whose...

Every year since 1984, “The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation” has held its annual “Evening of Peace” dinner where they honor an individual with “The Distinguished Peace Leadership,” and/or “World Citizenship” award. For four out of the last five years, I have been fortunate to be invited to an event that continues to open my eyes to issues and individuals who...

The “better angels of our nature” are not always present during times of disaster. Among the hero stories throughout Hurricane Sandy, one account stands in stark contrast. During the height of the storm, with water rushing into her home on New York’s Staten Island, Glenda Moore gathered her two sons, 4-year-old Connor and 2-year-old Brendan, strapped them into the backseat...

The fall of a leader is always tragic, and in David Petraeus’ case, much unexpected. In the immediacy of the moment, there is an understandable shock, and, within the ranks, it is not uncommon for those closest to him to feel a sense of betrayal. I was in the process of writing-up General Petraeus’ 12 Rules of Leadership when it was announced...