The four years I worked as the spokesperson for the FBI in Northern California were the busiest of my career. I’d spent the previous twenty years as an agent investigating counterintelligence and espionage cases. But, when I entered the world of public relations, I...
As an undercover FBI agent, I had to learn how to lie to people. This is ironic because if an agent is less than honest in their investigations or their behavior toward others, it’s a legitimate reason to be fired from the FBI. I’d been raised to be honest with people...
The FBI requires agents to take annual physicals, including a treadmill test every few years. That year was my time for the examination. Dr. General (his first name, believe it or not) hooked me up so he could follow my heart and lung responses. I was panting along at...
As a kid growing up on a remote cattle ranch in Wyoming, I grew up scrappy. I had to be fast to outrun a charging bull and innovative enough to find a way to saddle a horse so tall that my stirrup came to rest at eye level. I never thought much about well-being and...
As an FBI agent, I quickly learned that the “needs of the Bureau” would always come first. Transfers, assignments, and caseloads were handed out with little or no consideration for how they would impact the agent. We were given jobs that often seemed impossible to fit...
Most of us have a desire to close the gap between the person we are and the person we’d like to be. Ironically, few of us have a detailed plan for getting there. It’s much easier to muddle through the seasons of life with a vague understanding of what matters most to...
I grew up on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, where I spent more time with animals than with people. I love animals, even the smelly ones with bad tempers who fling snot and stomp the ground. When I moved into an urban area, I had to leave them behind, but I kept fond...
Imagine a freezing and windy day in the middle of winter. Fingers are so cold that you hug your armpits for the warmth of skin. An FBI firearms instructor shouts orders, and at his command, you drop to the ice and snow on the ground and aim your weapon at a target...
As an FBI agent, one of the first things I learned was that the real threat to my existence didn’t dwell in dark and dangerous places. Instead, it was complacency that could lead to my extinction. There are all sorts of ways to die. Sometimes it’s our bodies, but...
Examples of poor leadership skills surround us. All too common, we see selfish, opinionated, greedy, and deceitful people move into the upper echelons of leadership. Politics might be the first area that pops into the minds of many of us, but we can find the same...
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