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).
If you’ve been reluctant to dance, give it a try. It will improve your brain and your relationship with someone you choose as your partner.
Ukraine faces a winter without heat and water due to Russian bombing. The West faces the challenge of whether they will step up to protect democracy - and not just in Ukraine.
Dissatisfaction among Americans have led some to want a very powerful leader - a strongman - who can correct our ills. That’s a dangerous path.
Our fascination with whether a president is up or down in polls leads to short-term thinking - and thinking biases - that may harm the nation’s long-term needs.
Risking his life as an African American passing as white, Walter White spurred efforts to investigate and end lynching in America.
I could never catch a fly ball. It took me years to understand why.
The Constitution promises to “insure domestic Tranquility,” yet America is an increasingly untranquil society..
The United States is a government of laws, not men - but only if we understand why this matters and honor it in our behavior.
In our time, the Preamble to the Constitution gets scant attention. It wasn’t always that way - nor should it be now.
A leader of the opposition to ratification of the U.S. Constitution risks political ostracism by changing his mind and recommending adoption.
Travel, for many people who’ve caught that bug, is thrilling. For me, and I’m not alone, travel is another thing entirely. .
In 2010, Umpire Jim Joyce made a wrong call and cast Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. What they both did next displayed exceptional character.
Using an analogy to make or defend a decision is an attractive device but risks several pitfalls in thinking.
American democracy is threatened not by some foreign power but by our inability to grapple with internal threats.
Growing up poor in the Jim Crow South, Mary McLeod Bethune was determined to learn and advance the education of her race. Education for her and millions she helped became a path to realizing America’s promise..
Our fathers have stories of their lives they may never share. If we ask them to do so, we may appreciate them even more - and get to thank them for the example they set.
We crave social connection. It’s good for our mental and physical health. Its absence produces loneliness and disease.
The way we think about stopping mass shootings isn’t working. Seven common thinking traps must be overcome.
Pete Seeger showed the power of personal example and song to support change in America.
