In honor of Presidents’ Day next week, I’m going to share several posts on Abraham Lincoln this week.

1: Following the defeat at Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army retreated toward the refuge of Virginia.

“At that moment Lee was more vulnerable than ever before,” write Raymond Kethledge and Michael Erwin in Lead Yourself First. “Lee’s remaining troops were in enemy country, disoriented by defeat, and … continue reading

In honor of Presidents’ Day next week, I’m going to share several posts on Abraham Lincoln this week.

1: Eleven days after the Union victory at Gettysburg and ten days after General Ulysses S. Grant’s crucial triumph at Vicksburg, Abraham Lincoln suffered what was likely his most gut-wrenching setback as commander-in-chief during the Civil War.

At Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee “had been forced to relinquish the battlefield for the first … continue reading

“What keeps you up at night?” Marine Corps General James Mattis was once asked by a television reporter, Ryan Holiday recounts in Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave.

“I keep people awake at night,” he replied.  

1: That is the answer of every warrior.  Before and since.  “A philosophy of offense.  Of initiative.  Of intimidating the enemy rather than being intimidated, of striking fear—striking, period—rather than being struck by it,” writes Ryan.… continue reading