Terry Newell is currently director of his own firm, Leadership for a Responsible Society. His work focuses on values-based leadership, ethics, and decision making. A former Air Force officer, Terry also previously served as Director of the Horace Mann Learning Center, the training arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and as Dean of Faculty at the Federal Executive Institute. Terry is co-editor and author of The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work (CQ Press, 2011). He also wrote Statesmanship, Character and Leadership in America (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government (Loftlands Press 2015).
The desire to be in the inner circle of a powerful person or group, to be one of the “chosen,” can lead a person to be morally blind to what they are asked to do.
My wife has been, and remains, the muse for my own efforts to learn how to live. I will never achieve her ability for aging joyfully, but I will always be grateful that she shows me how
Our ability to deliberate about core public issues we face is compromised by poor understanding about our Constitution and history. Too many of us cannot pass a test of basic civic literacy.
The now-ritualized response to politicians discovered to have a racist past consists of condemnation, words of apology, and calls for resignation. Is this ritual helpful, and when is forgiveness appropriate?
We owe our greatest achievements to optimism. But we have suffered some of our worst tragedies from unfounded overconfidence. We need to make sure we don't cross the line that divides them.
Simple pleasures and the ability to add simplicity into one’s thinking provide rich rewards amidst the complexity and confusion in which we live.
We want strong leaders but mistake humility for weakness. Strength is not opposed to humility, it is magnified by it.
When most Americans look at government, they see only a negative picture shaped by those with axes to grind. To many, the government shutdown is thus no big deal. What they see is, sadly, a glass half-empty.
For some, the growth of presidential power is welcome; for others, it is frightening. The Constitution's framers did not want a king, but if the Congress and the courts are not careful, we may get effectively get one.
Sam Newell sold appliances, retail. No government bailout would be there for him. He had to succeed on his own – and did - with five bedrock and ethical principles.
We will never reach agreement on what the Constitution says in some cases, but government officials must protect it against misuse and we have a responsibility to act reasonably.
Texts, tweets, and emails are ubiquitous. But as technology, they are value-neutral. The values they reflect come from us.
We are a social species, needing human connection. Yet loneliness is scarring the American landscape.
As I age, it would be easy to mark my life by its losses. They keep piling up. But I’d prefer to attend to the gifts my life still gives.
Rationalization is comforting, allowing us to live with a version of ourselves we like. Yet, by definition it is self-deluding. It closes us off to our mistakes and can close our hearts
Sacrifices built this nation, and our freedom is the dividend that past sacrifices have earned. Our leaders should demand more from us.
How an issue is framed focuses not only the conversation about a problem but the range of solutions considered. It shapes the problem definition and limits what we see.
Americans yearn for moral leadership. Without it, we will fail to achieve the promises we made in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Whatever political party controls the White House or Congress demands acceptance of their right to govern and acquiescence to their policies. The view that the Constitution gives the majority party a mandate is not quite correct.
Americans are too angry, but living is choosing. As we face life’s pressures and pains, we can decide to savor something in each moment of our lives rather than strike out at others or ourselves.
