National Resource Directory (NRD): A First Stop Free Veteran Directory!

 

National Resource Directory (NRD) is a strong resource for looking up information for veterans (You can find resources for Escanaba and San Diego). Often it is knowing where to find information and who to contact that makes the biggest difference. One can browse the Internet and find a mixed bag of credible and non-credible sources. NRD ensures the resources have value to veterans. 

What does NRD do?

The NRD is a database of validated resources that supports recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration for service members, veterans, family members, and caregivers.

National Resource Directory

(Part of a project I'm working on)

Analysis of Leadership Effectiveness in Organizational Knowledge Sharing Behavior

Leadership provides direction for an organization and a society. The world is full of uncertainties and as people make choices they naturally will weigh and balance the options. Because organizations and societies are collectives of people, they need leaders that understand the complex issues of the day and can create a vision that leads to collective action. 

In other words, if you have a sense of navigation and know where to turn the ship as well as how to organize the crew then you are more likely to achieve your destination.

Further, our modern world is based on increasing use of technology and the development of exceptional human capital. The ability to lead people by helping them navigate new technologies and develop the skills needed to use such technology in constructive ways can help companies adapt to change.

Leadership at the executive and "influencer" level indicates that the ability to influence perception and groups is powerful in accomplishing goals.

Consider the study below on leadership below and what does it tell you about strategy, free exchange of ideas, feedback, and the general concept of empowerment? (You can read the abstract, intro and conclusion/discussion)

A Study on Leadership:

As a result of the analysis of the research, it is seen that both leader effectiveness and knowledge sharing behavior positively affect the work performance of the employees within the organization.

Analysis of Leader Effectiveness in Organization and Knowledge Sharing Behavior on Employees and Organization

The study discusses how team members are encouraged to participate and to express their beliefs and opinions. Team members should always be well informed. The more feedback, the greater the integrity of the communication and sharing process. Increasing leadership effectiveness is based on the development of organizational adaptation and employee perceptions of leading characters, as well as other psychological empowerment factors.

Sonmez Cakir, F., & Adiguzel, Z. (2020). Analysis of Leader Effectiveness in Organization and Knowledge Sharing Behavior on Employees and Organization. SAGE Open, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020914634 (Original work published 2020)

Donning Fire Gear Tutorial: Practice Makes Near Perfect!

The other day I was practicing with some other firefighters putting on our gear on fast. I post this video I found because I'm working on another project somewhere else. However, what I can say is that I often leave a strap or two out because I can't see it and others point it out. Typically, I might turn the airpack on just before I throw it on my back. It is hard to reach back there. Everything else is about the same. If you do it over and over you can get it down to a science as you ensure you put everything in your gear bag together the right way.

If you like this kind of stuff you might want to join your local department or donate to a local fire department. If your interested in donating send me a message to the right. 

   

World Economic Forum 2025 Outlook

According to the WEF it appears markets have stabalized and they encourage people to be more involved in the workforce. I think that can be done by using technology and continuing education to support constant learning and updating. It is helpful to read these reports to understand the performance of the markets and what things to focus on going on forward. These are projections so read widely different reports. They borrow from each other but emphasis different market aspects. 

World Economic Forum 2025 Outlook

Delta County MI Board of Commissioners Meeting (5/6/2025): Veteran Committee, Administration and Amtrak

Three major topics include taking care of veterans with the development of the Committee of County Veterans, possible Amtrak coming through town/UP, and new administrative positions. 

First, I think our veterans are an excellent group of people and I have come to know many over my life. Empowering them and maximizing their contributions to society is important not only to them but also society itself. I think of this from a village standpoint centuries ago. If warriors came back from helping and protecting our village, we would do our best to give them opportunities for a happy life.Sometimes we are removed from the curtain of how things could have been if we lost some of our wars. Thank you vets! 

Second, Amtrak could potentially bring a whole new tourist route and much of the track to Green Bay may already exist. With tourism ships and other investments, we are continuing the journey of transformation that could potentially create a shiny investment and vacation gem on the Great Lakes.

Third, if a position is designed well, it can generate more positive benefits than it costs. Streamlining some of the work might help in focusing on what provides the most value for people. No job is immune from bloat on trivial activities that generate little return (Yes, I have worked for many years and trust me time wasting activities just creeps in all the time.)

Leadership in Complex Environments

Leadership in complex environments moves beyond simple knowledge and more into understanding the dynamic aspects of internal and external systems. Those executives that understand their environment and have developed strategies for dealing with contingencies are more likely to successfully adapt their organizations to changes versus those that do not/cannot. When one has a keen eye on internal and external markets, they are much more likely to find solutions.

One of the very first steps is to gain knowledge about the environment and the trends. It is important to continue to read, understand, learn, assess, and reflect so as to be aware. Strong executives know their business inside and out and can gauge internal resources to deal with such issues. They know what they are strong and weak, available resources, and who can do what.

There are specific methods such as the study below that help us understand change and risk to organization. For example, if you rely on specific widgets but only one supplier you are going to have an issue if that delivery is going to stop. Further, if there is a shortage of a specific skill in the market then the organization must either change its process or develop the skill (internal, external, higher ed, etc.).

The first piece discusses complex systems and understanding how to avoid risks from an organizational perspective. Companies exist in an international world and there could be things ranging from supply chain to internal labor shortages that might constitute risk. Leaders will seek to understand the risks and can do so through review and risk analysis. Once they know the risks they can strengthen and patch weak areas of an organization (It is possible to play devil's advocate to strengthen systems).

Advancing the complex adaptive systems approach to enterprise risk management with quantified risk networks (QRNs)

Social networks are also part of a complex system and can have an influence on economics. For some time, I have been discussing the sociological aspects of society as tied to economic/societal health (i.e. economics as social choice). Things like corruption, hate, social in-groups, and bribing damage the system on a deep root level. Leaders understand the long-term necessity of ethics in their businesses and encourage an environment that is most conducive to upholding social contracts, free exchange of ideas, and social trusts to foster pro-growth economic environments.

Rethinking leadership in complex adaptive systems

When Judges Engage in Criminal Behavior? Eroding the Foundations of Justice and Society (Philosophical discussion on hate and corruption)

Systems are only as good as the people who administrate them. When a judge engages in misbehavior there are few to no laws that will be enforced or that will make much sense. This is often the case in places where groups of people engage in corruption that span years with no backstops. Worse, when the judge and a group of corrupted officers engage in coordinated activities in order to help enrich their social networks and cleanse certain races and religions out of an area. 

This is part of a long-running experiment that some of it might be used in a book of which one section will likely talk of the allure of corruption and how leaders seek to ensure institutions function with their essential purpose in mind. If it teaches us something about hate and corruption that is a good thing. Take with a grain of salt but learn because the very foundations of our republic rely on people doing the right thing and acting with integrity in alignment with our Constitution, oaths, and artifacts.

In our thought experiment example, the behaviors were so common and grotesque that they could happen only if a judge was aware of the misbehaviors but decided to look in the other direction. In some cases, be willing to participate in hate crimes and collusion. This occurs when there are other factors outside of the intent of the law. The risk being that criminalization and dehumanization are normalized because there are no backstops (i.e. a closed system). Causes include hate, financial gain, and social benefit.   

Let us pretend that a group of corrupted officers coached their friends on how to set people up and target them (something they were good at and appeared to have knowledge on how to do). The judge was aware that they told the victims they were targeting them because of their religion while they had a group of officers ready to swoop in (most of the officers clueless of why they were truly there). When the set up failed some officers then terrorized the targets in order to help enrich their friends and further their extreme ideologies (In our example it may have reached that level). 

The vast majority of good officials were silenced due to the misuse of position and power (there are lots of great officers but they can be confused by a hate narrative and many were unaware). They knew it was wrong but when the judge is in agreement and some of their bosses seemed to be part of the problem, there isn't much they can do (open retaliation common). Reporting the crimes only led to retaliation and further targeting.

Here are some rules to consider when guaging judicial corruption and bias. When Judges Should Recuse?. As I explore this book on integrity and leadership we need to understand a full chain of logic on criminal activity. Here are a few examples of things that can be included,

-Blocked investigations into perpetrators due to social affiliations but opened cases into whistleblowers. (seems like it would fit)

-Extreme racial, religious, and political bias against others. The judge knew they told the targets they were going after for religious purposes (seems like it would fit)

-Open discussions of bias within the courts. Other areas and attorneys say they don't want to go to the "kangaroo court". There is also a type of stonewalling by some attorneys that deal with the courts regularly so as to not get on the bad side of the judge and impact their practice (Unsubstantiated but seems fairly accurate)

-Awareness of the public that an underage girl was raped and group targeted by a few corrupted officers until she killed herself. Similar patterns of targeting repeated against whistleblowers. Other victims came forward and a few may have been blocked from coming forward (Appears to be more of rumor and similar patterns emerged from different perspectives)

-Victims started coming forward and it appeared the judge tried to block knowledge of the wider group (might be accurate but time will tell)

-The judge had serious political leanings and wanted to teach about "law and order" while commiting some of the biggest crimes. A type of hypocracy. (Possible and seems like an underlining intent)

-Preference for local people in outcomes which was seen as a code word for homogeneous clan affiliations. Some of the victims were white but practiced different religions (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, etc. ), some minorities, and even some Native Americans. Many people lived in the area and predated the people known as "local". (Seems fairly accurate)

-When there are secret collusion among corrupted officers, the judge and the perpetrators helped enrich those within the network. (There appeared to be coordination in crimes that could reach a certain bar of serious federal crimes)

-When human rights, civil rights, freedom of speech and freedom of religion are openly violated and mocked. (Appears to be accurate based on what was said and done to fit this example well)

-Financial incentives to reward members of the clan were present. (We have seen in the deep south and other places where courts of the past were used as methods of exploiting wealth.)

-Knowledge of harmful activities toward kids and putting them at risk. The judge dehumanized them through their actions of supporting the manipulation and misuse of authority. (Seems fairly accurate)

-Secretive backroom off the record discussion and target lists. Failure to follow reasonable procedures (Seems fairly accurate)

-Ostracization by those who caused the problem (The judge seems connected to this group)

You get the point of so on and so forth. Justice is more important than clan affiliations because it is the foundation of social exchange. Those who are conservative by nature might find such misbehaviors inappropriate for building a strong republic where people earn on merit and not social, racial, or religious affiliations (I'm a little conservative by nature and I have the perspective that all people are created equal in value by God and that people are given talents and abilities they have a responsibility to maximize. Corruption and hate undermine human capital management). 

Philosophical Discussion: 

Let us say that people did engage in these behaviors and a judge was well aware that these misbehavior occurred. Instead of protecting the victims the judge allowed such behavior and never opened an investigation into the perpetrators. A good indication they were involved. Worse, they contributed to the targeting of others and the undermining of our institutions. Laws are meant to protect the public and not enrich one's friends and perspective of who is deserving of rights and those that are not. Once these things start to happen regularly it undermines the larger system and that is something we should always avoid. So it is wise to support the highest functioning systems we can and sometimes we may need to remove a judge from the bench to do that. Why should they get away with it? Who will protect future victims? Who protects ALL of the community? What is the purpose of Law & Order?

(I'm a big time supporter of wise law and order. Good officers should be retained, poor officers removed, and everything within an institution should be aligned to its essential purpose and mission. Law and order supports the foundation of social and economic exchange while corruption does the opposite.)

*This is a philosophical thought experiment for learning purposes. Feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts.