Jonathon Flaum

Leaders who are new on the job should get out of their nice offices and go sit with their direct reports. Sit with them in their spaces, over lunch or coffee-anyplace but your space. You want them to be completely comfortable.

In an article for the New York Times, reporter Damien Cave pointed out how few heroes have been publicly recognized by the Administration in the current war. Despite the fact that there have been incredible acts of heroism and gutsy leadership on the ground of this Iraq war, the powers that be, for the most part, are calling no attention to it-at least no prime-time attention. Damien's most damning example came from Major Bruce Norton, a military historian and author of Encyclopedia of American Military Heroes, who recounted how a Marine recently received his Navy Cross, the second-highest military honor-not with ceremony and honor, but in the mail.

Eyes in the Back of Your Head