“Hey guys,” Ronnie said. “What do you think about Sergeant Major’s nickname?”

“Watch it, Ronnie,” Noe keyed in over the air as we departed the base.

“I’m serious. I don’t think Papa Smurf really does Sergeant Major right. I think we should come up with another nickname.”

“I can still have you thrown off the FOB,” Salinas said.

“You better watch it,” Jon Byrom piped in. “The Sergeant Major knows where you live.” Byrom, a major, was the operations officer for the battalion, an even-keeled, thoughtful leader. He and Salinas had a strained relationship because the CSM had no problem telling majors and captains what to do.

“I’m not scared of him,” Ronnie said on the radio. In the confines of the vehicle, only the driver, gunner, Ronnie, Byrom, and I could hear the discussion. When a person keyed the mic, it broadcast to the entire patrol. We operated on dual frequencies to enable better

communications. It allowed the operations officer a quick switch to the battalion tactical operations center to coordinate fire support or conduct other business. When we passed into a different unit’s area of operations, we checked in on their command network for a

situation report. The sitrep provided an update on any enemy activity, whether or not routes were closed for an emergency, and other vital information. This was routine procedure, part of the discipline we rehearsed to keep each other sharp and adhere to standard procedures. Ronnie keyed the mic and transmitted to the entire patrol. “I think

that maybe Gargamel is more appropriate than Papa Smurf. What do you guys think?”

Raucous laughter erupted in my vehicle.

Gargamel, for those who haven’t seen The Smurfs, was the evil character always out to get the Smurfs. I suspected the other vehicles had similar reactions, maybe with the exception of Command Sergeant Major Salinas’s truck. I imagined a hushed silence in his vehicle, with suppressed laughter as the soldiers’ eyes widened.

“Ronnie,” Salinas threatened. “Not only do I know where you live, but I have your money.” After Ronnie lost his money in the fire that destroyed his quarters, he asked Noe to store his cash in a footlocker.

“He’s got you there,” Specialist Woods said. There was still a lot of laughter and Byrom slapped his thighs thinking about the new nickname.

Ronnie, however, believed he hadn’t pushed the boundaries enough. “Where is Asreal?” Ronnie said over the patrol net. Asreal was the name of Gargamel’s black cat in the Smurf cartoon. This caused new waves of riotous amusement and even the other noncommissioned officers joined the fun.

“Oh snap,” Staff Sergeant Snader called from the trail vehicle. He had been my Bradley gunner as a corporal when I first took over the battalion. A chain-smoking over-achiever, he quickly rose in rank.

“That’s it, Serpico,” Noe said. He’d decided to nickname Ronnie after the 1970’s New York City cop-whistleblower played by Al Pacino. Ronnie kind of resembled Pacino’s character in the movie. “I was only gonna take a ten percent cut as my management fee, now, I don’t remember you giving me any money.”

“He’s got you there, Ronnie,” said Byrom. “Guess you better forget about the good ol’ U.S. of A. You’re gonna be here forever.”

“Ronnie, you’re in for it now,” I said. “Noe is gonna have your ass when we get back.”

“I’m not scared of Gargamel,” Ronnie said. “I’ll just get the other smurfs to gang up on him.”

For the remainder of the patrol, we laughed about Noe’s new nickname. Each time we thought the laughter had subsided, someone, usually Ronnie, would riff off the Gargamel theme and the jokes fired up. Most of the time it happened over the open mic. That ensured all the soldiers joined the fun.

When we arrived at the next base, Noe and Ronnie had words, but it was all in good fun. Noe couldn’t allow the soldiers to believe they could get away with that, so he gave the ruse of coming down hard on Ronnie.

But everyone knew the CSM enjoyed the attention.

The audiobook for Baghdad Underground Railroad is in postproduction. We expect it on Audible in mid-September. We are excited and planning launches in Los Angeles on September 26^th and Washington, D.C. in November, date tbd after Veteran’s Day.

“Hello, this is the Evacuate Our Allies Operations Center,” the operator calmly said.

“I have a family in a safe house in Kabul that needs to get into the airport!” the shepherd blurted on the other end of the line.

“Okay, let’s see what we can do to help you,” the Team Rubicon volunteer replied.

During the Afghanistan withdrawal, I built a team in Los Angeles that became the B2B connector in an ecosystem of hundreds of nonprofits attempting to rescue fleeing Afghans from Taliban violence.

We operated 24/7 with operators picking up distress calls. Many volunteers came from Team Rubicon. Others I had worked with before, two of whom had been staffers at the Pacific Council on International Policy. They were good hearted people who wanted to help shepherds and victims on the other end of the line.

It quickly became apparent, that 9 times out of 10, they would not be able to offer much more than an empathetic ear.

That is soul-crushing for someone who wants to help somebody in duress.

I lined up psychiatric support for the Ops Center team, as we became known.

Then we designed a “Win Wall.” The intent was to emphasize the good we were doing and remind our minds that we helped so many people despite the mass trauma the world witnessed.

Every time someone got manifested on a flight out of Afghanistan – Win Wall!

Every time we got a family into a “safe house” – Win Wall!

The battle captain who was in charge during any given shift would let everyone know, “We got a family moved out of Qatar and onto the U.S.” Then he would add the accomplishment to the Win Wall.

Our minds naturally fixate on failure. In the traumatic aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal, failures were many. However, our insistence of reminding each other that we saved hundreds and thousands with the work we did helped our operators cope.

The pressure of the experience was intense. We received calls from:

• Retired General Officers

• Congressional Offices

• Major media organizations

• Nonprofits

• And many others I have forgotten.

I’m proud of the work the Ops Center did in support of the Evacuate Our Allies coalition and the #AfghanEvac coalition. Together, we helped safeguard thousands of people out of Taliban violence.

Our Win Wall was one of many tools we used to maintain the psychological safety of the team. You don’t need a traumatic experience to practice good leadership. These types of group norms can be created in any context.

Maybe your Win Wall will lift quotes as dramatic.

Regardless, your team will feel the appreciation and remind themselves of the good work they accomplished.

Why host a monthly norm’s meeting? –

• This technique establishes a cadence to iterate on standards of how people treat each other.

• The goal is to create a psychologically safe climate for the entire team.

• Creates a semi-formal means of communicating about leadership and norms

• A mechanism to help establish collaboration as a team

What is a norm’s meeting

1. A periodic pulse check for the team to iterate on agreed upon group norms

2. A chance to update agreed upon norms if a member identifies something missing

3. A chance to celebrate what is working

4. An opportunity to double check on issues or other disturbances that leadership believes have been resolved (if appropriate for public conversation)

What a monthly norm’s meeting is not

1. It is not a time to triage a disturbance in the force.

   1. If personnel issues arise, you should deal with them as soon as possible. Do not allow them to fester. Do not wait for the next norms meeting.

2. If other workplace friction arises, deal with that head on. Do not wait.

3. A substitute for HR practices and policies.

Next we go into how to conduct the meetings. [It’s not just another meeting.]

Read more

Introduction

Treat this document as a list of ideas that may complement principles by which you already operate. However, if you’re relatively new in a leadership role and would like something to start from, feel free to use the entire menu.

While the bulk of my leadership experience comes from military organizations, I also have worked extensively in government, academia, and the nonprofit sector. The principles below will apply inside any organization. While the vignettes may come from military experiences, or academic institutions, or government, the principles of leadership apply equally well within any organization. You can be the leader of a Cub Scout troop, a business unit, a classroom, or a government agency. These principles will place you in good stead with your stakeholders, both external and internal.

Doctrine of no surprises – Bad news doesn’t get better with age. This principle applies to positive information as well as unfortunate events that occur. [link to article]

Rule of 7 – “You must use at least seven different means of communication or someone won’t get the word.” Do leaders literally need to use 7 different means of communication? Probably not, but it depends on how people receive and understand information. The principle implies that you need to work hard at communications. [link to article]

Counsel in private, praise in public – This has been a watch phrase for leaders in every strong organization I have encountered, whether in the military, nonprofit sector, faith community, education, or business world. Have you ever seen the leader who publicly dresses down an employee? Such behavior creates a stifling effect in any organization.

Leadership by wandering around - This is just another way to ensure positive communication throughout the organization, in addition to demonstrating that rank and status don’t dominate the climate. A CEO who is confident enough to ask a frontline employee to teach what they do or discuss issues and opportunities they see will simultaneously learn about the environment while showing employees that their input is valued.

Rehearse what is important – Rehearsals are a special form of communication. They allow key leaders, and possibly the entire team, to come together and cover key elements of a plan before implementation. They allow verification of intent and serve as a gauge for understanding.

There is no substitute for personal reconnaissance – Seeing firsthand an environment helps leaders gather the necessary information to make informed decisions. It applies to almost any decision an individual can make from buying a house to choosing which college to attend after high school. The principle applies to giving a presentation. How many people have gone in cold to an auditorium or place to give a presentation only to find that the computer didn’t have the right connection for the projector or some piece of equipment was missing a power cable?

Key Leaders at key nodes - During complex operations, putting key leaders at critical places allows for agility to overcome normal friction that occurs during human endeavor. Any exercise that involves dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people will require placing key leaders at critical nodes. Those leaders should be empowered to make decisions, marshal resources, and inform other leaders throughout the enterprise of important updates to maintain situational awareness. Organizations do this when planning for major events like fundraisers, races, expositions, or other activities.

Critical mass of talent breaks organizational inertia – This principle involves creating a nucleus of key leaders who understand the mission or vision and are empowered to achieve it. When a new leader arrives in a position, especially in an organization that has been struggling, it is important to realize that assembling a team doesn’t always involve a leader bringing in his or her former colleagues from outside. The talent may already reside within the organization, but those very talented individuals may not have had the opportunity to thrive under the previous leadership. Leaders who invest in their people and create a caring climate of trust will start uncorking the potential of the team.

Fight the fight you are in, not the one you want – This principle would help a lot of people who struggle with organizations in change. People tend to resist change and recall the “good old days,” even if environmental circumstances have changed in significant ways which require organizations to adapt.

Positive vibes – Strong leaders emphasize the positive aspects of a situation and reinforce success. They don’t dwell on past mistakes or continually focus on weaknesses. That doesn’t mean they don’t try to overcome or mitigate weaknesses. However, they emphasize what is working in order to capitalize on success.

You can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time – I heard this principle from a former chief of staff of the U.S. Army and is a great reminder for leaders when they catch themselves worrying during trying times.

40-70% rule for decision making - The gist of this principle revolves around a healthy tolerance for taking risk. Decisions made in the absence of information can be brash, throwing risk management to the wind and becoming a gamble. If a leader is too hesitant, he or she will attempt to gather all available information prior to making a decision, which many times means they will be late to market or miss a window of opportunity altogether. [link to article]

Experience generally outperforms schooling - Most people are experiential learners – they learn by doing. More on this topic in a future article.

He/she who takes charge is in usually charge – Regardless of rank or position and whether a person is appointed to a leadership role, they can many times assume one by taking charge inside of an organization.

Leadership requires intentional delegation; then great cheerleading & guidance (when necessary) - Every time a leader decides to take on a task, they are depriving one of their subordinates the opportunity to grow and develop. They are also depriving themselves of the bandwidth to supervise several, maybe as many as a dozen, other functions within the organization. This is not to say that a leader should never take on a task herself, but she should always be cautious of the high opportunity cost to the organization for doing so.

Take care of yourself first – the airplane analogy stands the test of time. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first. Otherwise, you might not be able to help anyone else.

How a leader responds to failure is more significant than success - Ask anyone about whether they learn more from their mistakes or from their successes, and they will probably focus on the failures. Why is that? Because we get disturbed when we fail. We tend to get deep into introspection to preclude future rounds of failure.

Security (includes safety) is the first priority of work – Leaders should never take safety and the security of their people for granted. While it might be a good assumption most of the time, the first time a serious safety issue arises could spell significant injury and/or death with substantial repercussions.

Like I do in every town, I seek out coffee shops with character. I met Patty who invited me to an open mic night she just started hosting every other Thursday in New Prague, Minnesota. “Okay,” I responded. “Maybe I’ll read a poem.”

That evening at six-o-clock, I walked into a relatively crowded coffee shop lined with kids, moms and grandparents. I sat in the back and second guessed my offer to read a poem.

Most of my poetry is not considered appropriate for children.

I explore edgy topics, dark corners of human nature.

I can’t read any of the poems I have loaded on my phone to this audience.

“Are you going to read a poem?” Nikki, the open mic organizer from the theater next door asked.

“My poems are not exactly kid friendly. I don’t think the audience will appreciate it.”

Then Patty joined in, “please…. read a poem…...”

I caved and agreed.

After a couple of teenagers finished playing guitar and singing, I got up to the microphone. I had read poetry at an open mic before, but this seemed scarier even though there weren’t as many people.

Several musical performers had played, including a teenager who must still be in High School but will be performing her original pieces at the Minnesota State Fair. Impressive!

The songs and mood were upbeat…..

I read Damage, about the impact humans and other species are having on the global environment, mainly humans though. At least there was a caterpillar in this poem. Crows also populate my poetry, mainly as metaphors.

Crows also inspire my poetry…. and follow me….

The audience sat slightly stunned. I apologized for bringing down the mood and stepped away from the mic to polite applause.

Patty has poured her heart into Cedar Press Coffee, not just as a coffee shop. She is curating a community hub, where writers can come, church groups can meet, people can work. She recently started hosting a weekly business networking group, the Proud Professionals.

“You should join us. We meet Tuesday morning at 7:30am for mingling and start at 8.”

I agreed, partly because she recently added a menu item—the Wrangler. It’s a breakfast sandwich that has two eggs, cheese, sausage, bacon and ham all on a croissant. Now all the local wranglers can get a protein packed breakfast to start their day. While I made the special request, I didn’t think it would make the menu. Thank you, Patty!

I walked in and ordered my usual cappuccino.

Cedar Press is the first local place I found near my current horse farm that makes a legitimate, European-style, cappuccino, in a real cup, not a paper, disposable thing. When your kids grow up in Bavaria, you get spoiled by things like good coffee, authentic beer without preservatives, and other first world benefits.

Entering the meeting room, I joined Joe in the back room where the Praha Professionals convene. He led the meeting as the usual leader was away. About ten people gathered to include Patty, and Nikki, who helps organize the open mics and works at a local theater.

Each member introduced themselves, shared a tidbit from recent client interactions and then tuned in for a special presentation from Tracy. She spoke about a nonprofit she supports in the local area that helps fund research for dementia. She described the dementia her aunt suffers from and the personal and profound impact it has on the entire family.

Mark, a media firm owner and publisher of local magazines, made my acquaintance and toured me around town following the meeting. We talked marketing. He was very impressed with the W&W and BUR bookmarks—the fact we had QR codes on them. Bookmarks with QR codes and other forms of “communication” are just creative applications of the Rule of 7. Communicating to your organization (or your audience) is hard. Persistence pays, paired with creativity and offering multiple ways people can connect.

Mark gave me a couple magazine copies, so I could get a sense for the types of stories they publish and encouraged me to submit something. I’ll modify this in some way to better suit his audience and submit for potential publication.

Two weeks after my first open mic, I stepped back up to the microphone, slightly more prepared. I was reading Meine Kleine Schmeterling (My Little Butterfly in English), a poem that describes a father fearing some of the experiences his little girl might face while growing up. A gifted guitarist strummed gently in the background as I recited the poem.

No crows in this one, only a butterfly.

I’ll publish this one early next month.

Cedar Press Coffee and the Praha Professionals represent community leaders working hard to provide connective tissue in New Prague, Minnesota. Going above and beyond, Patty Peterson works hard to make her establishment a Hidden Gem. Join the Wrangling and Writing Community as we discover more good news stories on the 2026 Horse Farm Sabbatical.

I plan to write a Leadership piece on Compartmentalizing Bad News in the coming months and provide the following excerpt from the book as an example.

Excerpt from Chapter 7: Celebratory Gunfire [pages 115-117]

I inhaled Amy’s scent as sweat beaded on my forehead. Her hand rested on my shoulder. It gently imparted her spirit, her energy.

I opened my eyes.

Dog tags hung from a rifle stuck muzzle down in the ground.

A helmet rested on the stock.

On one knee, I bowed my head and reached for the steel tag. The name Palermo was engraved on it. I felt the letters press against my thumb. Two other tags dangled from rifles: Specialist Ryan S. Dallam and Private Damien Lopez Rodriguez. Sobs echoed throughout the chapel. My knees turned to rubber, as if I were back at West Point in plebe boxing in the ring against a mauler. Could I stand up?

Somewhere deep down, I reached for the mask of command, the mask that allowed a human to perform in public, on stage, as a commander in the community.

I rose and reached for Amy’s hand.

I avoided the tears in her eyes as we departed the chapel.

Soldiers in fatigues lined the walls. Military family members packed the pews. Emotion spilled out of the building. Amy peeled off and sat with the widow, Captain Kristy Palermo, eight-and-a-half months pregnant. The same rank as her deceased husband, a status that didn’t shield her from gut-wrenching grief. Kristy’s mother, in town for the birth, held her daughter. My wife embraced the expectant mother and new widow.

I stepped into the cool spring air of Schweinfurt, Germany. I thanked the soldiers in the firing squad and the first sergeant who had the unenviable task of calling the final roll call. After the eulogies and final chaplain remarks, the first sergeant stood in the back of the chapel.

“Captain Palermo.” He shouted, then paused.

“Captain Anthony Palermo.” The second pause filled the chapel with muffled sobbing. One more time, “Captain Anthony Palermo, Jr.”

Three rifle volleys fired. A bugler performed the lonely strain of “Taps,” a tune engraved in the psyches of all servicemembers.

Tears flowed.

These soldiers had a tougher mission than I. Many of them were injured from combat or unable to deploy due to other medical reasons. The rear detachment, as the Army called it, provided invaluable service to our families, the wounded, and local authorities.

They performed casualty notification when soldiers fell, wounded or dead.

They provided as much information as they could to anxious family members.

They interfaced with local agencies, schools, and the German authorities.

They honored the fallen during memorial services.

No, they didn’t face the dangers that soldiers in Baghdad confronted, but I wouldn’t trade positions with them.

In combat I checked my emotions at the gate as we headed on patrol, no matter how many memorials we attended.

In combat, we packed our emotions in a footlocker and threw them in the trunks of our

armored vehicles. We rarely let those demons surface.

In Schweinfurt, with widows and wounded, people wore anxiety, dread, and fear like everyday clothing. The uncertainty created an astounding tension.

In the garrison, there was time to ask questions such as, “Why him?”

In Baghdad, leaders had no time for that. Too many soldiers depended on solid leadership and sound minds focused on the problems that stared back at us, right then and there. Problems that could not be avoided. If I let my mind wander, more soldiers would have ended up in body bags.

I had to get back to FOB Justice.

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I hope you enjoyed reading this excerpt from Baghdad Underground Railroad, published in December, 2025 (audiobook coming soon.) Proceeds from the book support the U.S. Veterans’ Artists Alliance, a veteran nonprofit that helps aspiring veteran artists pursue their dreams.

40-70% rule for decision making - The gist of this principle revolves around a healthy tolerance for taking risk.

• Decisions made in the absence of information can be brash, throwing risk management to the wind and becoming a gamble.

• If a leader is too hesitant, he or she will attempt to gather all available information prior to making a decision, which many times means they will be late to market or miss a window of opportunity altogether.

• Either too fast or too slow can have significant consequences to the organization.

• How does a leader go about refining their ability to make decision in the sweet spot?

  • Experience

  • Trial and error

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Up until this point in the article, we have been discussing the leader’s risk tolerance. However, the principle applies more broadly to the team. If a team has been inspired to accept risk and has a culture of accountability without toxic leadership, the entire team can practice the 40-70% rule (in aggregate.) [Read about Curating a Team Climate.] Of course, each teammate will have different degrees of risk acceptance.

• However, the leader can adjust his/her style to best suit the team. For example, if the team is generally reluctant to accept risk, and there could be very good reasons for that, the leader may need to lean toward the 40% clarity side of the spectrum to counterbalance the overall team risk aversion.

• If the team contains a high composition of risk takers, the leader may need to balance that and act as a governor (as in on an engine), to prevent the team from moving brashly or at least ensure everyone is heard. [Read the Doctrine of No Surprises to learn more about inspiring a climate where everyone shares their concerns.]

• There are other degrees of risk tolerance that can indicate how the leader needs to adjust their style to provide the team the leadership they need. If you’re in an industry of engineers and analysts who are technical specialists, you may need to adapt your leadership style to be more aggressive from a program/project management perspective.

• This thought exercise gets into another topic on team composition. Let’s bookmark that for another article. That said: I’ll tip my preference. I try to cultivate a team that has at least one third to one half risktakers. I would much rather lead people I have to reign in because they just want to gallop. In my perspective, having to reign someone in is a much better problem than having to encourage them to take action. More on that subject in future writing, and maybe and I will discuss in a future Talkin’ Leadership convo. [If you missed the last episode, you can listen here.]

To sum up: if a decision is made too early, the initiative could have little chance of success. A lack of a clear picture makes for very difficult decision-making circumstances.

When decisions are made too late, an organization may miss a critical window of opportunity. The quest for perfect information or more assurance can lead to institutional paralysis. Leaders should encourage risk taking in decisions within their organizations.

Looking for more from Wrangling and Writing on leadership?

Explore the Leadership Library.

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We started with the Doctrine of No Surprises and progressed from there in this video. If you enjoyed the article, we get deeper into how to think about it and apply it, regardless of the organization you serve: nonprofit, military, business or other.

Want more leadership topics. Here is the Wrangling and Writing Leadership Library.

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Three thoroughbreds had been whinnying, racing back and forth, and generally carrying on in their runs outside my window.

And one of them was blind!

The wind had kicked up, but I had never witnessed them react in such a crazy manner.

They were wild. [Right then and there my leadership instincts should have kicked in. They probably would have had I been back in Baghdad. Instead, I had grown complacent, “fat and happy” as we used to say in the Infantry.]

“I think the tech is getting better at weeding out extraneous sounds,” one of my colleagues responded. We were meeting on a typical Tuesday for the Wrangling & Writing weekly sync meeting. The cadence allowed us to synchronize activities from logistics, what horse farm in a different state would be next, any book talks, stories to write, other communications with partners or updates on the Baghdad Underground Railroad audiobook.

We always seemed to have more work than we could get done each week, but it was fun. They are a fun team, and we love our purpose of sharing good news stories at a time when people need a little sunshine in their lives.

“I have never seen them carry on that way,” I offered but really didn’t think much of it as I kept getting distracted back into the details of our meeting. The audiobook project grew into more than anyone had expected. With a team of professionals who agreed that a quality listening experience would be our guiding star, we dove into pre-production, listened to potential risks based on creative options, and planned for the logistics and scheduling studio time and getting talent in the studios to begin recording.

The Wrangling and Writing team kept the agenda rolling, covering potential future horse farms, partners who might want to host a book talk, upcoming writing, and the audiobook production timeline.

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Oh, now I see why the thoroughbreds are carrying on, I thought.

Target, a notorious escape artist, was running around outside the pens.

The other horses were so excited they wanted to join her.

“Hey guys, I have to go,” I declared. “One of the horses is racing around outside the wire which is why everyone else is so exercised.”

Jaclyn, Jaci for short, and a horse owner herself laughed and responded, “Yup, sounds like you better go!”

Practicing the Doctrine of No Surprises, I quickly dialed the main hand, Jarrod, also a veteran, and let him know the situation. By the time I closed off my call and got outside, he had a lead over his shoulder and some grain in a scoop. Target, a broodmare (meaning pregnant mare), couldn’t prevent her stomach from overcoming her wanderlust and let Jarrod place a harness over her. As he led her back into the stall, we surveyed the wide-open door, drawing the conclusion that our escape artist had nudged it open with her nose after someone failed to secure the latch.

At least I hadn’t been the cause of the this jailbreak. In Texas, I let four horses get away from me in the span of 48 hours on two different farms. Needless to say, I learned some lessons in horsemanship there.

I texted the team to let them know the outcome and went back to writing. Me texting subordinates is also practicing the Doctrine of No Surprises. Good news is equally important to team morale. Just because I’m the leader doesn’t mean I don’t have to let my teammates know about important events. The obligation runs both ways.

*****

The next day, I noticed that Poe Pay was in “time out”……… again.

Poe Pay, a two-year-old stallion, routinely found himself separated from the other horses, sometimes for exercise but also because he tended to have trouble restraining his young stud instincts. I had arrived back in the afternoon, noting him running around in a corral near the Casita. Texting Glen, the owner, I asked if he wanted me to bring him back to his stall in the barn when I fed all the horses.

Nope, came the response. Leave him where he’s at. I giggled. Poor Poe Pay. He just can’t control himself.

I got busy feeding and mucking stalls for the afternoon. In the usual manner, I would pick Chip’s stall first, a gelding who was less likely to be aggressive when he was eating.

Next…… Poe Pay. I crossed over the open barnyard talking to Poe Pay as I approached with a scoop of grain in one hand and rake in the other. Communicating with horses confirms their instinct as they can read your emotional state.

“Always getting yourself put in time out, Poe Pay. One of these days you might learn your lesson. Boss says you’re staying over here though.”

The stallion stared back watching me approach the gate and eyeballing the grain. Opening the gate, I held the grain up to let him get a sniff, assuming the steed would follow me to the feed bucket. As I started toward the trough, Poe Pay noticed the open gate and bolted.

“Hey! …………Hey!”

“Why are you going to do me like that, and why don’t you want your dinner?” I yelled. All I saw was his rump as he raced toward the barn.

Okay, this was absolutely my fault, getting too complacent thinking I understood each horse’s mentality. Obviously, unlike a pregnant broodmare, Poe Pay had instincts other than food driving him.

Returning to the barn, I noted the racket he was causing with the two fillies.

He had briefly raced into his stall, checked for food, and ran out before I could close him in.

I closed the barn doors nearest his stall then circled the barn to trap him inside. Seeing me enter close to him, the jailbreaker bolted down toward his stall, trapped by the closed barn doors. I had dumped the rest of the feed in his trough, but he didn’t know it yet. I held my right arm high and signaled for him to go in the stall with my other arm. He jolted through the door, and I quickly closed it behind him.

That evening, Glen and Wendy came back from Santa Fe. Again practicing the Doctrine of No Surprises, I explained that maybe we had another jailbreak, and it was totally my fault. Glen laughed a bit as I told him how I had caught the rambunctious stallion.

Welcome

Hi and welcome to Wrangling & Writing. If you’re drawn to servant leadership, horses and ranch life, seeking purpose, supporting veterans and wartime partners, exploring America’s hidden gems, or simply becoming part of a thoughtful community, you’ve come to the right place.

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What does Wrangling and Writing help you with?

If you’re here, chances are you’re dealing with one or more of these:

1. How do I live a life of greater purpose? It’s easy to get caught up in what’s urgent and lose sight of what truly matters, whether professionally or personally.

2. What does authentic leadership actually look like? The world offers plenty of opinions, but few are rooted in humility, service, and experience.

3. How do I stay connected to the values that matter most? Whether through military service, ranch life, family or community, it’s not always easy to keep those values at the center of one’s daily life. Dip your cup here and be inspired.

4. How can I continue learning and growing? The best lessons often come from unexpected places, from people whose stories deserve to be told.

That’s exactly what Wrangling & Writing is built to address— one story, one lesson, and one conversation at a time.

What You’ll Find Here:

At Wrangling & Writing, here’s what you can expect:

• Leadership Lessons: Every other week, find essays exploring leadership, purpose, and service through the lens of leadership experience, public service, and everyday life.

• Hidden Gems: Monthly, discover overlooked American communities, meaningful travel, and the people who quietly hold them together.

• Life on the Ranch: Monthly, stories and lessons surrounding horses and life on the ranch.

• Notes From the Journey: Regularly throughout the week, you’ll get shorter reflections on books, writing, leadership, lessons from horse farms, honoring our values and other topics meant to inspire and spark curiosity.

• Monthly, paid subscribers get new featured content like Baghdad Underground Railroad outtakes, poetry pending publication in media organizations, a Q&A session and other perks.

• Quarterly, paid subscribers get private invitations to Around The Campfire, a session led by Steve and the W&W team to provide updates on future content, book talks, in-person launch events, podcast interviews, and other information.

  

About Me

If you’re new here, welcome— I’m Steve Miska, an Army veteran, author, and self-described amateur ranch hand.

I served 25 years in the U.S. Army, including 40 months in combat during the Iraq War, and later led the Department of Veteran Affairs’ implementation of the PACT Act, the largest expansion of veteran healthcare and benefits in over a generation. My book, Baghdad Underground Railroad, has been recognized by Kirkus Reviews, Greg Jaffe from the New York Times, Generals (Retired) Barry McCaffrey and David Petraeus, amongst others, for shedding light on an overlooked chapter of the Iraq War. Ambassador Ryan Crocker wrote the forward and the audiobook will be released in Fall of 2026.

I started Wrangling & Writing because I’ve spent a lifetime learning from extraordinary people in unexpected places— Iraqi sheiks, interpreters, American servicemen and women, ranchers, refugees, veterans, writers, and communities across the country. Their stories have shaped how I view service, leadership and purpose. I wanted to create a repository, a well where members could dip in their cup, leaving refreshed to continue serving others.

If those are the kind of stories and conversations you’re looking for, you’re in the right place.

Go Ahead! Dip your cup!

• If this sounds like the kind of community you’ve been looking for, I’d be honored to have you join our posse.

• Subscribe below and I’ll meet you in your inbox with stories, lessons, and conversations worth sharing.

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Bad news doesn’t get better with age. We’ve all been in organizations where people are scared to be the messenger….

They’ve seen someone get blasted by leadership for bearing the bad news. Who wants to take that shotgun in the face?

My take…..leaders not willing to hear bad news are super insecure. They are seeking to assign blame and worried that it might land on their desk. That’s weak leadership, lacking the courage to underwrite teammates.

Good organizations practice the “fail fast” mantra. If someone brings bad news, that just lets the team iterate faster and improve. During PACT Act implementation at VA, I encouraged our team to seek out and identify where the friction was. The sooner we learned which of our colleagues across the enterprise were experiencing challenges or had reservations about a possible course of action, the more quickly we could develop solutions to mitigate risk and overcome the challenges.

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One of my favorite quotes comes form W. Edwards Deming who helped modern day Japan revamp quality controls in manufacturing. “The only thing worse than having a problem is not knowing you have a problem.”

Of course, if you don’t work hard to develop a team or organizational climate that allows people to be vulnerable and share information well, you will struggle with this doctrine. Read this piece on nurturing an organizational climate from my time at VA. Many of my leadership principles are like that. They feed off each other, reinforcing the dynamic that allows teams to become self-synchronizing and high performing.

The Doctrine of No Surprises principle applies to positive information as well as the bad stuff. Many times, organizations will focus on ensuring bad information gets to the top for decision making. However, good leaders want to know about important ocassions in the lives of their employees like weddings, births and other special events. This strengthens relationships and allows other members in the organization to celebrate those occasions. [And they get to know one another better in a personal context outside of work.] It’s not just about the leader. High performing teammates want to celebrate the success of other members too.

• If someone is having a baby, getting married, etc.. leaders should want to know and celebrate or give special allowance.

• The sooner a team identifies a problem or mistake, the sooner they can fix it.

• Some leaders have identified the free flow of information as enabling an organization to self-synchronize. Information doesn’t need to follow traditional hierarchical patterns; horizontal information flow can enable key leaders at lower echelons to resolve problems and capitalize on opportunities before the information rises to the top.

• If the leader in the organization is the only person capable of solving a problem, the team has an automatic governor on their engine. If the easy problems don’t get solved before they get to the leader’s desk, that team is mediocre at best.

Leadership that empowers employees creates an environment of trust that enables the organization to rapidly adapt to changes and respond effectively. In traditional hierarchical firms, information must rise to the senior levels where a decision can be made before anyone takes action. That creates paralysis at lower levels, slowing agility in the marketplace.

High performing teams will work hard at communication (see Rule of 7) and have a climate where problems get solved at the lowest level. Want to learn more? Please subscribe for future free content. If you want to learn how to solve these problems, become a paid subscriber and get a free 1:1 leadership consult. We can explore your needs and determine how I can assist.

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I walked into the café a little later than usual, 8:30-ish.

“What can I help you with today, friend?” the server behind the register exclaimed with excitement.

“Do you sell coffee here?” I inquired, a common icebreaker that longtime friends roll their eyes at. “I might be looking for a breakfast sandwich too.”

She bubbled with energy, “Excellent choice.”

“I guess I’ve come to the right place.” A cappuccino and breakfast sandwich later, because you have to have a breakfast sandwich at a place called Brekky’s, I wandered through the largest coffee shop I’ve ever seen.

Brekky’s doubles as an art gallery. While the front café section had loud almost nightclub style music playing, seemingly, for the young staff and to attract a hip clientele, I found a quiet place in the back of the art gallery to write. It was that big, that I could find a place away from the music!

My thoughts wandered to what @James Fallows would think about this place. He and his wife, Deb, flew around the country in a single engine plane to medium sized cities assessing which ones were resurging after economic downturns. They attributed numerous qualities like having a community college focused on job skills for local businesses or having a brewery downtown to attract the young professionals as factors that seemed to help revitalize cities.

The Fallows titled the book, Our Towns, and it was one of four that I read to inspire me before this yearlong sabbatical. You can read Pioneer Predecessors here.

Sioux City, Nebraska, was my last stop on this leg of the horse farm journey, taking me from Northern New Mexico where I stayed on Story Tree Farm to Elko, Minnesota, where I’ll have seven mares under my charge. I’m looking forward to a bit tamer environment than when I have to manage stallions. They are another level of crazy. Here’s a story about one of those creatures.

Part of the joy that I share when traveling is seeking out hidden gems like Brekky’s. I intentionally avoid the chains and seek out places with character.

I met Ike and Stacy (@therealcoffeequeen), the owners, and let them know how much I enjoyed their space. They own several businesses each, between the two of them in Sioux City on the Iowa side. Ike does leadership and business consulting and also serves on the city council. He is also a veteran. I thanked him for his service, not so much for serving in the Army Reserves, but for his willingness to serve on the Sioux City Council. We swapped stories about leadership, and I shared about crafting a strategic offsite and how important but how hard communication can be within an organization. Here is a piece I wrote recently, The Rule of 7, that gets to that point.

As I was trying to write this article, Ike, Stacy and I kept striking up one conversation after another. I left with an awesome coffee cup from Brekky’s after sampling some decadent mini-Belgian waffles with strawberry cream drizzled over the top. I’m glad I was able to extend my parking twice, remaining long enough to meet committed businesspeople and pen another hidden gem story.

\[Photo by author: art permeates everything at Brekky’s, even the upstairs bathroom surrounded by galleries of artists practices different crafts and disciplines.]

An egg hatches on milkweed, metastasizing a tiny creature that devours the leaf, and others.....
crows desecrate areas both manmade and natural.
the anteater destroys tiny, curated caverns of other species, 
and bark, itself destroyed by villains of the insect world.
	
the struggle for survival pits defilers against other polluters.
“enlightened” combatants flood the environs with plastics, minuscule particles and grander skins, shedding profligacy into the seas, ultimately, back on themselves.
fissile waste accumulates, planless, the future can bother with it.

some crows recognize the peril, heckling mates to be better, 
warning of spoiled prospects for offspring.
comrades jeer back, urging self-centeredness, “Mine, mine, mine!”
Caw, caw, caw! The cacophony blares like a tv polluting a VA hospital waiting room,
obnoxious, loud, intrusive, like a dump teeming with consumerist waste,
mindless chatter, buzzing, swarming, twisting neuropathways like junk food

Read more

“You must use at least seven different means of communication or someone won’t get the word,” Professor Jan Suwinski declared when I was a grad student in business school at Cornell. He had been an executive with Corning for over 30 years and preached that communication was hard, no matter how successful the organization. What the hell is he talking about? was the first thought to come to mind. Then my brain started scrolling, a mental rolodex of all the times something got screwed up when I was a company commander in the 82^nd Airborne Division.

· A chaplain missed showing up for an important counseling session

· A squad leader didn’t put out the word about a four-day pass for the weekend

· A team leader misunderstood the intent for assaulting an objective

· A platoon leader called for indirect fire using the wrong grid coordinates!

· A company commander pushed send on an email and wondered why nobody was tracking the message

You get the point – bad things happen when people don’t get the word or misunderstand the intent behind it. I realized that Jan was passing on hard-won wisdom to a new generation. The Rule of 7 is an interesting concept that leaders usually learn the hard way.

Here are some creative examples of leaders working hard to communicate:

· Hanging a banner across a hallway or in a doorway (at head height!) to cause people to wonder why it’s there and read it. (Instead of the old technique of tacking it to the bulletin board that people walk by without reading.)

· When I became the mission chair at Vale United Methodist Church near Oakton, Virginia, I quickly realized the need to synchronize communications. We had over two dozen active missions in a relatively small church. However, on Sundays many leaders never knew what might be announced with respect to missions, including me as the chair. I recall several instances where a member of the church would stand up and make an announcement, about missions!, to the congregation or put material in the church bulletin without me having any knowledge of it. On some Sundays the church would receive anywhere from three to five new requests for donations to different causes. Church leadership continued to receive feedback that there might be donor fatigue, and many people never quite knew where the priorities lay. We began working on instilling some discipline in our communication processes to more effectively synchronize day to day messaging to align with our strategic vision for outreach. Even after three years of a concerted effort by leaders, this remained a challenge. It had gotten much better, but leaders could never take their role in communicating for granted. It requires continuous attention.

· Learning from Secretary McDonough at the Department of Veterans Affairs, I watched him stick to a simple consistent message focused on positive veteran outcomes. He traveled relentlessly to the field and engaged frontline leaders (leadership by walking around – another post in the future) to gauge whether they understood the intent and to learn where they might be experiencing friction.

Does a leader literally need to use 7 different means of communication every time he or she puts a message out? That depends on the organization, but the principle should cause you to think about how many channels you need based upon the level of importance of the information. If you have a message that absolutely everyone in the organization should get, to include the janitors and anyone else who enters your corporate headquarters, you better work hard at getting that out.

I have been publishing on Substack Notes for several months now, and would love for you to join me there! What does that mean? About three times per day, I push a note out that has to do with leadership, Baghdad Underground Railroad and upcoming content or events, and the equine communities around the country.

Here’s a recent one I published.

Notes is a relatively new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like work-in-progress or quick questions.

Go to Notes

How to join

Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Wrangling and Writing, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!

You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of Wrangling and Writing can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.

Why Substack Notes

Fellow writers and readers are spending time in Notes for a variety of reasons.

Ted Gioia sees Notes as a forum for dialogue.

The idea behind Notes is simple. Millions of people now participate in Substack as writers and readers—but much of this is built on long articles and essays. We now have a forum for dialoguing and sharing shorter posts.

Chris Ryan is drawn to Substack as an alternative for legacy social media.

One of my main reasons for joining Substack was to wean myself off exploitative social media platforms. I’m hoping this is going to help move us along on that journey!

Sherman Alexie wants to create a kind and creative new space in Notes.

I’m going to focus on being positive, with my own thoughts and photos and by linking to songs, stories, poems from around the web and from other Substacks.

If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Go to Notes

I know not whether I am in the cave or the sunlight
I know not distinction or awareness of the cave
It is my existence, as I float through cityscape and desert
Flames flicker, projecting shadows on grotto wall
Flames flicker inside, sparking verse and rhyme on mind’s papyrus

Our chariot has no walls, exposing eyes, skin to unforgiving milieu
We incessantly preach our gospel, cajoling sheik, politician, any who listen
We corner our kill, asserting authority, our virtue
Shadows dance along the grotto walls, fixating eyes, minds
Unshielded, I do not worry, except when we are stupid

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“What is this meeting about?” Alison asked Shazra.

“We get together monthly to discuss team norms and values. Steve wants to make sure everyone feels comfortable with how the team operates, how they’re being treated and how we communicate with each other and our stakeholders, in and out of VA.”

Shazra was one half of a powerful project management engine that had synchronized PACT Act implementation across the Department. She was the contractor counterpart to Anne, the federal employee I had hired away from the Department of Transportation. Between the two of them, they kept all six implementation lines of effort on track and on time. We had approximately 25-30 teammates at any given time, some who only joined the second largest department in government because I asked them.

Two thirds were contractors. I treated them like any other human being, which seemed to be an unusual practice in government. Apparently, many leaders hold federal employees on a pedestal and treat government contractors as second class citizens. I didn’t operate that way, in combat or in peacetime. (But this is a topic for another post, especially as it pertains to the civil-military divide and how veterans and servicemembers are treated.)

The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, or PACT Act for short, recognized the sacrifice of servicemembers who suffered and died (in too many cases) due to toxic exposure from their time in service. They did what they were asked to do by our nation’s political leadership and paid with their lives as a result.

By the time my team was dismissed by the current administration, we had screened over 6 million veterans (approximately 1/3 of the entire veteran population in the U.S.), approved over 1.4 million claims for veterans and survivors (they are also eligible for PACT Act benefits), and enrolled over 790,000 new veterans in VA healthcare. The CMS routinely rates VA hospitals higher than private sector alternatives. Nobody understands the complexity of veteran health issues better than VA.

“Does anyone know if we have everyone?” Shazra asked. Leaders responded about who was present and who would not make it because of extenuating circumstances. We prioritized attendance at this meeting. As far as I was concerned, all other meetings were optional. If you were running a meeting, you probably should show up. If you didn’t get much value out of a meeting, you should make a difference to change it….. or not waste your time attending. We had a lot of work to get done to help veterans and survivors.

“I’ve never been on a team that did this,” Ali said.

We had heard that before. Many times.

As a leader in the military, in academia, in church, in the nonprofit space, and elsewhere, I felt strongly that the most important thing a leader could do was to establish a climate of respect coupled with high standards for excellence focused on outcomes. Respect flowed in all directions, up and down, laterally with peers within the department, to our colleagues on Capitol Hill, in the media, and veteran service organizations. People could challenge any idea in a meeting, hopefully in a graceful manner. The climate I attempted to nurture meant that people felt safe being vulnerable. Vulnerability cut both ways. Leaders had to have the courage to display their own insecurities before people felt okay voicing theirs.

Feeling safe enough to be vulnerable didn’t mean we were going to sing kumbaya. We operated more along the Brené Brown model of clear communication. Face to face was preferred. On camera next. Phone calls could do in a pinch. Texts were good for quick hits but never to convey nuance or an important conversation.

Email was the least preferred method.

Too much lost in translation.

Too much could be misinterpreted.

Email was a good way to transmit a lot of data or follow up after a phone call to remind the person what you just spoke about.

Want a step-by-step guide to run a norm’s meeting for your organization? Click on the template below. I’ll give you the why, what and a step-by-step guide.

Class of ‘90,

If life is a series of dream sequences, I stick with the hand dealt. I hope you will too.

Do you remember Independence Day in 1986, marching to Trophy Point to hear the performance and witness a first-class fireworks display? I don’t know about you, but I had no idea what was happening. I had graduated from high school only a few days prior on June 29th.

Read more

The rat patrol idles outside a tent, awaiting
A first verification, more to come
Despite the Despised’s detention earlier this year, Tikrit remains hostile
We wield kinetic magic, mixed with monies
Unbelievers, ungratefully, accept floos, and sometimes ordnance

My perch, a footlocker, allows me to see through dark lenses
My gaze peers over the front windshield
My weapons, a handmic in each ear, one to the gods and one to our fellowship
Our party banters, a stress reaction to ensure we stay alert
The gods wait, loitering, perhaps patiently

Read more

Ken Salazar worked at the Saints and Sinners liquor store and bar in 1998. A woman smoking a cigarette down close to the butt pulled up to the drive-thru window. Ken walked over and explained, “Ma’am, I’m sorry but the new state law makes it illegal for me to sell drive-thru liquor anymore.”

“You’re not gonna serve me,” the woman exclaimed.

“No, ma’am. I’m sorry. It’s against the law now. We would love to be able to keep selling with our drive-thru.”

The woman flicked her cigarette at him and drove off.

Ken’s dad, Dennis, established Saints & Sinners as he did many things in Española, like helping found the Española campus of Northern New Mexico College. Ken learned his work ethic from his dad. One night in 2015 Ken was restocking shelves when his dad away from the counter to assist a customer. Everyone in the joint heard screeching outside. Before they knew what happened, a pickup truck came careening through the drive-thru side of the building, right near the cash register where Ken’s dad had stood only a minute earlier.

The wall exploded. In the aftermath shattered bottles of liquor littered the place. They closed for four months of renovation, much of it performed by family members.

One night Julia Roberts walked in, wearing a full-length down coat with a hoodie. Ken recognized her anyway. Her partner accompanied. They wanted to buy a good deal of liquor, but Ken explained that they didn’t yet accept credit cards; Saints and Sinners was still a cash-based business. She sent her man out to find an ATM.

I found the establishment while looking for a decent local craft beer that has a high IBU rating. International bitterness units is a measure that indicates how bitter, and many times hoppy in the case of IPA’s, a beer will taste.

“Welcome,” Ken offered as I came in the door. I explained what I was looking for.

“You know we’re a bar too,” he mentioned coming from behind the cashier’s counter and setting a high-top table for me. “Do you want to sample one? Do you want a glass?”

“Sure,” I responded, intrigued by this pleasant hospitality in what came off as a dive bar-like liquor store. As we got to know one another, other people kept entering the establishment. They all seemed to be related to a Salazar in some way. Many of them would walk into the darkness in the back room and come out with a shot of tequila, alternating between beer and tequila.

Ken introduced me to his son, Lucas. He wanted me to ask him questions when Lucas was there. Lucas didn’t answer any of the queries. He simply listened as his dad told stories about Saints and Sinners, the family, the community and the many personalities who found their way here. After one such session, Lucas mentioned to me in the parking lot that he never heard his dad open up that way.

I reflected on the friction that caused me to locate another hidden gem. recently wrote a piece on travel friction that inspired me to think in this way. Had it been more convenient to find a strongly hopped, local IPA, I would have never entered Saints and Sinners. It kept popping up when I googled other locations in the area, and I even drove by one time thinking it looked edgier than most of the places I tended to frequent. Given that things don’t seem to be as expedient in the Española area, I’m glad I found it. The Salazar Family welcomed me the several times I visited, making room around a high top and engaging in conversation about horses, writing or the local color.