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Contents 1 Defense and Military 2 Reputation of a Prince 3 Generosity vs. Parsimony 4 Cruelty vs. Mercy 5 Avoiding contempt and hatred 6 Gaining Honors 7 Nobles and Staff 8 Avoiding Flatterers 9 Fortune 10 Share this: The past few weeks my read of choice before bed is The Prince, by Niccolò Machiavelli. While the book speaks volumes to the monarchy of yesteryear, the implications for a “Prince” like myself are astronomical. The book has had a direct impact on my leadership outlook and helped me to better understand roles. Forgot the cheese and focus on a classic. The book is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown on leadership principles for Princes of the post-Roman empire. Machiavelli does a wonderful job showcasing both sides of a coin. For example Machiavelli correctly points out that a leader must strike a balance between cruelty and mercy. A leader cannot be totally loved and respected and likewise cannot be totally hated and respected. This same chapter discusses the implications of the people loving or hating you and assassination. A very inclusive chapter. As with all principles it is important to take them in small doses. A modern day leader can lean upon the ideals portrayed but not engulf them. My teams would certainly be opposed to my hanging them to deal with disgruntled employees. Or maybe I am just a weak modern leader, a good hanging never hurt anyone. ...

Or in other words I am shortsighted. I watched outside the CRJ700 as Tucson appeared. Flying into Tucson I was surprised they had finally finished the renovations of the airport and how I felt. Being the blogging type I figured it a safe bet that I had posted something as I left…sure enough… Sometimes when we leave a place we know it isn’t forever. Yet you still look around with deep breath and soak it in. What is “it” that we need to soak?I had that feeling today as I boarded in Tucson. I knew that I might be back but this time would be the last of this era. This was the last of a time in my life, a period of great testing. I felt this one other time in Shreveport so I know it well. The same yearn for one last look. One last breath. One last freeze frame of all the people in the room. Some people mistake this feeling by associating it with a place. They misunderstand that the place is little more than a collection of people and emotions. The scenery is picture worthy, but it is the person looking at it with you that will cement your love of it. There are many more places for me to go. I look forward to bottling that moment up and placing it on my shelf of life. Take that last deep breath and seal it tightly for this is all you will have of this moment, this place, this time. ...

What is your passion? The collegiate response is that passion is an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. Passion is a word that posses a meaning that extends well above the simple context modern language employs. Love, passion, hate and pain. All these words share the deep meaning of emotional context greater than the letters and breath they are spoken with. Asking someone what they are passionate about, is to me, tearing beyond menial life. Ask someone what they do in life and you get the response that they are married, have a kid, drive a nice car, and work for such-and-such. I yearn to know someone deeper than the exhibit you display for the world. What is it that makes you wake up in the morning? ...

From the wonderful bash.org: DragonflyBlade21: A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you’re a great guy, but I don’t like you in that way. This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we’re not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we’re going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn’t work out, we’ll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired. ...

The cracks are too numerous to skip them as a child would. To attempt would be feeble and your poor mothers back would be broken in half a city block. Oscar and I mind less for the practice and walk along the city streets unhindered by superstition. Passing along the road, the world seems humored by the site of a fuzzy haired young man and his wiener dog going for an evening stroll. The hardest of faces are broken into a slighted smile as Oscar looks up to inspect them. ...