The Collection
Under His Father’s Name
October 27, 2026
A father carried this New Testament into World War I. His son carried it into World War II.
ReadWriting
Field Notes and The Collection
Each week, one object from the collection and what it taught me about leading by service, plus the occasional field note.
Archive
One object from a collection of more than two hundred, published every week.
20 pieces published so far.
Field NoteYour Calendar Tells the Truth
Field Notes
Your Calendar Tells the Truth
October 22, 2026
You can say your people come first. Your calendar is the one record that cannot argue back, so read last week like game film and see who your hours actually served.
Read
The Collection
Come and Go
October 17, 2026
My grandfather's World War II pass, his prayer book, his bass, and the week Italy changed sides.
Read
The Collection
The Shot Nobody Owns
October 16, 2026
A replica of the pistol tied to Lexington Green, what the plaque gets wrong, and the order nobody followed.
Read
The Collection
Two Plates
October 15, 2026
A dug Union plate, a Confederate plate stamped 1862, and nine things almost every American still wants.
Read
The Collection
The First Long March
October 15, 2026
A Civil War Bowie knife with a thirteen-inch blade, and what the men who carried them learned about the weight of looking tough.
ReadField NoteSay the Hard Thing
Field Notes
Say the Hard Thing
October 13, 2026
Agreement has never been cheaper to come by. Someone who cares enough to tell you the truth you did not want to hear, and stay to help you fix it, is doing the hardest work of leading.
Read
The Collection
Divine Wind
October 9, 2026
A kamikaze armband, a blade from Chōshū, and the admiral who apologized to the young men he sent to die.
Read
The Collection
A Good Courage
October 9, 2026
A Black Watch private's 1915 New Testament, the line printed above his name, and the gas that crossed his battalion's lines three days before he died.
ReadField NoteTeach Them to Replace You
Field Notes
Teach Them to Replace You
October 1, 2026
The deepest knowledge in the trades is retiring faster than it is being handed down. The veterans who give it away instead of guarding it are doing the real work of leadership.
ReadField NoteThe Position Nobody Claps For
Field Notes
The Position Nobody Claps For
September 28, 2026
Offensive line is the one position where the whole job is protecting someone else and the camera never finds you. It taught me the tell for real leadership: what a person does with the credit.
Read
The Collection
After the Parade
September 28, 2026
A machinist from Buffalo, drafted three days after Germany surrendered, and the pocket Testament he carried to basic training at Keesler Field.
ReadField NoteBoth Ends of the Rope
Field Notes
Both Ends of the Rope
September 19, 2026
Everybody wants to be the rope-holder, the one who holds on. Here is the half I did not want to learn: a rope has two ends, and you cannot hold it for anyone else if you have let go of your own.
Read
The Collection
The Dates He Wrote Down
September 15, 2026
A WWI pocket Testament handed to Edred Pennell in 1917, the war record he kept in the front, and the dates he wrote in the margins beside the verses he read.
ReadField NoteLeadership in the AI-era
Field Notes
Leadership in the AI-era
September 14, 2026
The offices are getting quiet and the job sites are getting loud. As AI absorbs the execution, the one edge left is whether people want to follow you.
Read
The Collection
The Ring From Gettysburg
September 13, 2026
A wedding ring pulled from the ground at Gettysburg, no name attached, and the weight the man who wore it carried onto that field.
Read
Field NoteLeadership Is Service
Field Notes
Leadership Is Service
September 5, 2026
Not leadership and service. Service as the definition of the job. Here is what that means, and why it matters more now than it did a year ago.
Read
The Collection
The Heart Shield
August 30, 2026
A steel-covered WWII Bible carried by Joseph Heiney of the U.S. Navy, the message inside from the President, and a bullet that stopped at the second chapter of Mark.
Read
The Collection
The First Bible
August 23, 2026
An 1863 New Testament my brother put in my hands at eighteen, carried by a Union soldier through the Civil War, and the search it started.
ReadThe Collection
One artifact. One story. One lesson. Every week.
The Collection is a weekly email. More than two hundred soldiers' Bibles, a Roman crucifixion nail, a wedding ring from the ground at Gettysburg, and more. One at a time, with what each taught me about leading by service. One email a week, and you can leave whenever you like.