By Thom Little, Ph.D. More than two centuries ago, fifty-five men from across thirteen American colonies established a government like none other before, a government where power was bestowed not by birth right or by armed might, but by consent. A democracy. The governed had, by the power of their voice and their vote, the [...]
By: Thom Little, Ph.D. For more than seventy years, the descendants of James H. and Virginia Howell Colson have gathered in Norwood, North Carolina on the first Sunday of June for the Colson Family Reunion. As one of those descendants, I have probably attended about half of the reunions, including the 2018 edition. When I [...]
By: Stephen G. Lakis, President, SLLF Just last year SLLF signed up with Bridge Alliance, a new organization whose stated goal is to restore civility to our national discourse. We believe the Bridge Alliance is onto something, not just because they speak truth when they point out how damaging the current lack of civility is [...]
By Thom Little, Ph.D. What a weekend! What a conference! A few days ago, I had the honor and privilege of spending time with an extraordinarily ordinary group of young people (and some pretty cool older people too!) at SLLF’s 2018 Spring Leadership Forum, “Bridging the Gap: Leading and Learning from a New Generation.” I [...]
By Thom Little, Ph.D. Everybody talks about top-down leadership. Those at the top of the pyramid lead those further down. Indeed, with its focus on presiding officers, pro tempores and floor leaders, the State Legislative Leaders Foundation has spent more than forty-five years focusing on top-down leadership. But today, I want to flip that on [...]
By Thomas H. Little, Ph.D. and SLLF Director of Curriculum Development and Research Some weeks ago, following SLLF’s New Speaker Orientation, I posted a blog about the many daunting challenges facing new Speakers. Today I would like to turn the tables, and talk about the great opportunities these new leaders face. During the New [...]
By Thomas H. Little, Ph.D. and SLLF Director of Curriculum Development and Research I had the honor and pleasure to spend time recently with twelve of the nation’s newly elected Speakers of the House, at SLLF’s New Speakers Orientation in Washington, DC. It was a great weekend, and, as always after such meetings, I [...]
By Thomas H. Little, Ph.D. and SLLF Director of Curriculum Development and Research These are challenging times! In many places around the world, tensions are high as peoples and nations attempt to adapt to new social, political and economic realities. Here in America, we await the dawn of a new presidential administration and the [...]
By Thomas H. Little, Ph.D. and SLLF Director of Curriculum Development and Research November 9, 2016 NOTE: This blog was written on Friday, well before the votes were tallied yesterday. More than thirty years ago (1983), Americans were mesmerized by the made-for-television movie depicting the aftermath of an all-out nuclear war between NATO and the [...]
By Thomas H. Little, Ph.D. and SLLF Director of Curriculum Development and Research A couple of months ago, I posted a blog called “E Pluribus Unum,” in which I described how participants in SLLF’s Emerging Leaders Program were able to set aside partisan and ideological differences to form a cooperative and cohesive unit. As I [...]