The sequester; Republicans blame the president; the president blames them back; the Catholic sex abuse scandal, same sex marriage, voting rights, gun control, Martha Stewart vs. Macy’s… AND the Pope says, “I’m Outta here!” Obstruction, power, intolerance, hubris – The Four Horsemen ride again. After my commentary on Downton Abbey, one reader wrote, “I am distressed by almost everything going on right now in...

Our greatest influences come from those closest to us. Here is a story that speaks, not only of the influence a parent can have on a child, but to a community as well. “In my thirty-three years of life, I can say that I have always had this one constant in my life leading me in the right direction and...

Of all the films whose central character demonstrates a highly developed moral compass, High Noon tops my list. Why does High Noon still matter? Never has one film captured the essence of an ethical dilemma along with the variety of rationalizations against doing the right thing as this 1952 western does. Written by Carl Foreman (who was facing his own dilemma with McCarthyism...

There was a moment, listening to Dennis Haines’s story, that shook me. It began one life-changing night in December, 1968 in Viet Nam as first told by his buddy John Miller. “Our mission was to encircle a village. We called it a cordon. Our squad, moved farther down the road to a point where there was a pathway that led...

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...

James Burke, the Johnson & Johnson CEO whose leadership during the early 80s Tylenol scare elevated ethics over profit, died last week. In giving a talk to a group in Boston, I emphasized his story as an example in ethical leadership that we need to see more of today. In 1982, when several poisonings had been linked to Tylenolcapsules, Johnson &  » Read more about: Integrity Matters...

So, I had this whole follow-up to the Better Angels piece underway to my July 30th question using my own thoughts, as well as additional wisdom from Steven Pinker’s 2011 book,The Better Angels of Our Nature. On August 8, I received a message that Matt Sanchez, former gang leader, and good friend – who not only turned his own life around,  » Read more...

Washington and Lincoln could not have come from more different backgrounds. And yet, in spite of vast differences, both men not only attained the highest office in the land, but the admiration and respect of generations. Both consistently rank as the top two presidents by most scholars. While Lincoln was born dirt poor in Kentucky, Washington was born to a...

Of all the stories concerning the attack on America September 11, 2001, I’m always drawn to stories of firefighters. 343 firefighters died in the World Trade Center towers 10 years ago; many after charging up 110 flights of stairs. 60 police and 8 paramedics died, as well. Cary Sheih was working in the towers on a project for the Port...