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Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick emphasizes the critical role that public schools play in developing the next generation of STEM leaders. In his insights, Bostick highlights how early exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—combined with strong leadership training—prepares students not only for academic success but also for the challenges of the modern workforce. Public schools that focus on mentorship, hands-on projects, and teamwork create an environment where young learners gain more than just technical knowledge; they develop problem-solving skills, creativity, and resilience. According to Bostick, nurturing STEM talent at a young age is vital for national growth and innovation. By fostering curiosity in classrooms, connecting students with real-world role models, and building confidence in leadership, schools help shape well-rounded individuals who can become future engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. This approach ensures that education goes beyond textbooks, giving students the tools to think critically, collaborate effectively, and lead with purpose. Investing in STEM-focused education today not only equips students with valuable career skills but also ensures society benefits from a generation ready to tackle global challenges. Bostick’s perspective reinforces the importance of strong public school systems in unlocking potential, building leaders, and shaping a brighter, innovation-driven future. Learn More

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. Michael Jordan Not one, but two massive leadership and team challenges Moving is stressful. A new study found that 60 percent of people cite moving as the most stressful life event – and that’s when moving just involves some packing boxes and a moving van. Now consider moving an entire port from one country to another. Don’t stop there. Next, consider moving an entire airport!  Those were the two massive challenges we faced and this is the story of how through inspired leadership, sheer hard work, and tight teamwork we successfully overcame both. Challenge #1 Move an entire port Challenging the past – the way that’s always been done The first challenge was presented just as the 1st Armored Division was preparing to depart Bosnia following a yearlong deployment. One afternoon, our Commander, General Ellis called Brigadier General Eaton, our Assistant Division Commander, our logistician and me into his office.  He had a question. He wanted to know why the military always used the European ports of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Bremerhaven in Germany to bring in equipment for troops that were serving in Bosnia – especially since Rotterdam was 1676 km or 1,041 miles from Bosnia and Bremerhaven was almost as far at 1643 km or 1,020 miles. We pointed out that this was the way equipment had been brought in for fifty years. And that for fifty years these two ports were highly successful. They just worked. Cost-benefit analysis General Ellis then threw another question at us. He asked whether it was more expensive to bring equipment into these ports and then load everything onto trains or ground transportation or both to deliver all this equipment to Tuzla, Bosnia where it was needed. We confirmed that using those distant ports was expensive. And then we asked, “But what was the alternative?” That turned out to be the key question that started a chain of events that would do the seemingly impossible –move a port. General Ellis said that he had the answer to that question. He claimed that there was an alternative to the ports in the Netherlands and in Germany. He pointed out that there was a port just 215 miles away – almost a thousand miles closer. It was the Croatian port of  Rijeka. A bold move from a visionary leader This was a bold move from a visionary leader. But even so, the first step was to do some reconnaissance. We needed to see what we were dealing with – the possibilities as well as the impossibilities. The four of us jumped on a Blackhawk Helicopter and flew to the Port of Rijeka.  The flight seemed to take forever.  After we landed my assignment was to take a look not only at the port itself but the railroad tracks – the infrastructure that served it and to report my findings to General Ellis.  Our logistician was tasked with reviewing the warehouse facilities adjacent to the port.  We went to work. After a few hours, General Ellis asked for our thoughts.  I expressed concern that the port looked almost abandoned. There were very few workers on site. One issue was whether the port had the staffing required. And while I agreed that one of the great advantages of the Adriatic Sea Port of Rijeka, was that it was much closer to Tuzla, Bosnia – almost a thousand miles closer than the Dutch and German ports, I also expressed concern that there were significant issues arising out of the logistical challenges to make this port and its infrastructure work the way we needed it to work. Our logistician made similar observations and expressed similar concerns.  We jumped back on the Blackhawk for another long flight back to Bosnia. A surprising and powerful lesson in leadership After landing in Bosnia we thought that was the end it. That the Tuzla Harbor issue would be dropped. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only did we get a totally unexpected but powerful lesson in leadership but we were thrown right into one of the largest and most innovative changes in military procedure in fifty years. General Ellis told us to join him in a Video Teleconference with General Eric K. Shinseki, the NATO Stabilization Force Commander, who at the time, was based in Sarajevo.  General Ellis began the conference by saying that he had just returned from the Port of Rijeka and his logistician and his engineer (that was me) had convinced him that it was possible to bring the 1st Cavalry Division into the port of Rijeka rather than Bremerhaven which would not only save considerable money and time but would also help rebuild the economy of Croatia.  I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. And glancing over at our logistician, it seemed that neither could he. But General Shinseki was delighted and approved the decision to move to the new port right on the spot. If it’s not ‘impossible’ it just might be ‘possible’ After the video teleconference, I asked General Ellis how had  I convince him that it was possible to use the port of Rijeka. I remember apprising him of the possibilities and also of the many, as yet to be determined, challenges.  I never remembered saying that it was possible. But General Ellis responded with, “True, but you did not say it was impossible.”  I started to list some of those challenges in the hopes that the General would reconsider his decision. I told him we hadn’t checked the trains to see if our equipment could be transported to our base in Bosnia. I pointed out that the tunnels might be too low and too tight to accommodate the 1st Cavalry Division’s tanks and other equipment. I explained that we hadn’t even checked yet whether the bridges could handle the […]

Competing at the highest level is not about winning. It’s about preparation, courage, understanding and nurturing your people and heart. Winning is the result. Joe Torre Organizations need both leadership and teamwork. Organizations need both leadership and teamwork. Without effective leadership, inspiring leadership, committed leadership, teams lack focus, direction, and confidence. They are not effective. And when teams are not effective, the entire organization suffers. Leaders and their teams are inextricably linked – forged together for strength. Here are three stories of leadership and team building that had impressive outcomes. #1 The Story of the Sports Award Sports are a powerful team-building tool Sports are a powerful team-building tool and if used correctly can not only achieve team-specific goals, but go far beyond to build confidence, inspiration, and achievement. That’s what happened to my battalion. Our battalion was training in the field for their upcoming rotation at the National Training Center.  The National Training Center where some of the Army’s most important and intense training takes place. It was tough and troops trained just get ready for their turn at the National Training Center. In the middle of all this preparation, Command Sergeant Major Rivera approached me and told me that the post wrestling championships was the next day. I had to make a quick decision. Should I leave the troops in the field training for their upcoming all-important National Training Center rotation or should I pull our best wrestlers out, send them into the wrestling competition and then bring them back. Decision made. I told CSM Rivera to send best wrestlers to the wrestling championships and then bring them back to the field exercise. Sports is the glue that often binds a team together Why did I interrupt their training? Because sports is the glue that often binds a team together. Sharing failure in sports. Sharing victory in sports. Both make a team strong. And that strength translates to their performance on the field of battle. The wrestling championship was only one example where training in the field was interrupted for training in the athletic arena. And it paid off. Through the many sacrifices and the creativity of finding ways to allow our soldiers to compete while we were in the field, our battalion finished first in cross country, and ultimately won the 1st Infantry Division awards the Commander’s Cup Trophy for achievements in sports! The power of sports “An athlete gains so much knowledge by just participating in a sport. Focus, discipline, hard work, goal setting and, of course, the thrill of finally achieving your goals. These are all lessons in life” American Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi #2 The Story of Artillery Fire That Didn’t Happen…And Then It Did Winning in sports gave many of our soldiers the qualities that would allow them to win on the battlefield.  They developed persistence, endurance, creativity, and above all the passion to win. Sports make for better teams It wasn’t long before we had a chance to test our theory – that sports make for better teams. It was during our next rotation at the National Training Center, that our team, the 1st Engineer Battalion demonstrated it knew how to win. But it didn’t begin very well. In fact, it was pretty much a disaster at first. At the National Training Center, visiting units train by fighting against the Opposing Force (OPFOR.) Now it is important to understand that the Opposing Force generally defeated every brigade that arrived at the National Training Center. Why? Simple. First, the OPFOR knew the terrain better than the visiting units. Second, they fought every visiting brigade every month.  The visiting units came to the National Training Center maybe once a year so the OPFOR got much more practice – 12 times as much practice as any visiting team. The bottom line is that very few units ever defeat the OPFOR. A winning combination – leadership and teamwork At first, it seemed like we would also join the ranks of defeated units. But through a combination of leadership and teamwork, the 1st Engineer Battalion in support of the 1st Brigade found a strategic way to win again and again. When lack of specific training is the problem Initially, it didn’t look good for our unit. Clearly our biggest challenge appeared to be lack of training in the National Training Center environment – especially in battle specific skills like calling for fire – artillery support. For example, one of the brigade’s battalion commander’s units was being attacked.  The battalion commander requested artillery support several times. But his unit was not the priority and no artillery support was forthcoming. Finally, the priority shifted to this commander. Now he was first in line and directed to call for artillery fire he needed.  But the situation quickly went from bad to worse. As we all listened in on the brigade command radio frequency, we realized that the battalion commander failed to give a direction – a crucial component – for the artillery fire.  At that moment, I realized that we had a big gap in our training. We didn’t know how to call for fire, for artillery support. And while that was a serious problem during a training exercise, in an actual battle it could be fatal. When we returned to Fort Riley, Kansas, I was determined that every officer in the battalion would become certified to call for fire.  We would never be exposed and vulnerable again. Setting up win-focused training We went to work. We set up a simulation center that replicated the National Training Center.  This would eliminate any excuse because we weren’t familiar with the environment, terrain, or any other factor. The decision was made to first train our lieutenants who would be forward in the field and in the best position to call for fire.  Our trainer called out, “three enemy tanks in the open…call for fire…Lieutenant Bostick.” That was me. Although I was a Lieutenant Colonel, the trainer called me “Lieutenant” so I […]

A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other. Simon Sinek Little things can become big catalysts for change This is the story of how a simple game of softball became the catalyst for one of the most powerful organizational team-building success stories of my career. What began as a last-ditch experiment to mold a dysfunctional group of unmotivated, de-moralized, uncaring, task failures, ended a few short months later, with a turnaround team that was tight, trusting, cohesive, and had streaked up the organizational leader board from last place to achieve the coveted status of first-place champions. How to go from unmotivated to engaged It all began with MAIT. The acronym MAIT stands for the Maintenance and Assistance Inspection Team. MAIT inspections were a serious business.  Even so, many companies regularly failed maintenance inspections from the V Corps MAIT team. But it was during my early years in the Army,  when I was a platoon leader assigned to the 54th Battalion in Wildflecken, Germany, a major US training base not far from the former East German border, that I first understood just how important these MAIT inspections really were. I quickly learned that a company’s repeated MAIT failures could lead to a young company commander being relieved of a command, which in turn could damage a career. Thrown into a challenge head first It wasn’t long after my time as a platoon leader, that I was thrown into the MAIT challenge head-first and had to face the very real difficulties of the MAIT failure problem. My new assignment was the position of Battalion Maintenance Officer (BMO). Our battalion commander was Lieutenant Colonel Dan Christman, who later went on to become a Lieutenant General and Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. I had been learning a lot about maintenance. Not enough to pass the inspections but enough to begin to understand why we were failing.  So, when Lieutenant Christman asked me why we were having such a difficult time with maintenance inspections I was ready to venture a preliminary analysis. I put forth the observation that as the BMO,  the lieutenant charged with the responsibility of supervising maintenance, I really didn’t understand maintenance very well. And that I wasn’t alone in this lack of understanding. I explained that our first-line supervisors, our lieutenants, did not know how to supervise. To make matters worse, the lieutenants had never been trained to supervise maintenance and they didn’t know what they were doing. As a result, they didn’t have the tools to help train or supervise others. Introducing a new program The outcome of this meeting was the formation of a new ‘Saturday Certification Program.’ I put together a supervisory certification checklist and every single Saturday LTC Christman personally certified each lieutenant, one-by-one, until they were all certified. Not only was this a learning opportunity for our team of lieutenants, but it was also a learning opportunity for me. During my time with LTC Christman, I learned a lot and would learn more and more from him over the years. As the BMO I learned how to maintain all equipment from our trucks to our communications equipment, generators, and much more. After about eighteen months as the BMO, LTC Christman assigned me as the B Company Commander. This assignment was a special opportunity and I was determined to succeed. What I didn’t realize at the time, was that not only would I succeed beyond any personal expectations, but that’s where the ‘Softball Strategy’ for team-building would be born – a strategy that would result in a group of soldiers going from losers to champions – a winning team. When performance is abysmal At B Company, our maintenance situation was abysmal. We repeatedly failed the critical MAIT inspections. It was no comfort to know that we weren’t the only company failing. It was clear that if we did not turn things around soon, my time as a company commander would be short-lived. Playing the blame game Everyone was playing the blame game. The drivers blamed the mechanics. The mechanics blamed the repair parts clerks, the drivers blamed the supervisors who did not know how to supervise. There was a lot of finger-pointing and a general lack of trust. We needed to build a team that would work together, trust each other, and leverage the skills of everyone on the team toward a single goal – passing the MAIT. The softball solution The solution? Softball. If we weren’t able to build an organizational team a softball team seemed like a good second choice. Our softball team was a true pick-up team with very few skills and little talent. We thought the softball field would give us the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company, to socialize, and to laugh together. We also thought that these bonding activities could serve as foundational trust pillars. We were determined to build a functioning cohesive team that would ultimately transfer the concept of teamwork from the softball field to our company maintenance program. Our first effort resulted not in the win we had hoped for but in another total fail. It was all because of the beer. Beer ball The troops wanted to play “beer ball.” I wasn’t familiar with the game, but it didn’t take me long to catch on. We were stationed in Wildflecken which is situated in the Rhone Mountains. Atop one of the mountains is an area known as Kreuzberg with a famous old monastery whose monks brewed some of the best beer in the world. The beer was not bottled, so if you wanted to sample it you had to visit the monastery. If you wanted to bring some back down the mountain you could to buy a keg of the fantastic brew. And so “beer ball” became our ‘go-to’ game. The rule was simple. There was a keg of beer at every base. When you landed on […]

In recruiting, there are no good or bad experiences – just learning experiences! Anon Turning things around is often a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it holds the bright promise of success; on the other hand it  holds the dark fear of failure. Turning things around all too often brings with it the very real risk that change and innovation will butt heads with tradition and ritual – and that tradition and ritual will win. Lesson #1 The key to winning after losing is all about change often at one of the most challenging times for an organization. This was the unexpected situation I was presented in 2005 just after I returned from Iraq. It all started with a phone call. I had completed my assignment in Iraq and had come back to Washington D.C. where  I was assigned as the Deputy Chief of Engineers. Over the next few months, we settled in. My wife Renee accepted a position as principal of an excellent school, just a few miles away in Arlington, Virginia. We bought a house. Our lives fell into a comfortable, settled, and contented routine. Things can change in an instant And then, one afternoon on my day off, as I was hitting golf balls at the driving range, my phone rang and in that instant, everything changed. The call was from Chief of Engineers, Lieutenant General Carl Strock told me to call the General Officer Management Office, the GOMO, as they had been trying to reach me. That did not bode well. Something was up. And I just had a feeling it would be something I didn’t want to hear. I left the driving range, packed up my clubs, and called the GOMO only to be told that I had just been reassigned. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I pointed out that I had just returned from Iraq to take up the position of Deputy of Engineers in Washington, D.C. so how could I possibly be reassigned after just a few short months? What to do when you are ‘the guy’ selected for the job The GOMO was understanding and sympathetic, but the reality was they had a much bigger agenda and a massive emergency mission. Unbeknownst to me. the army had just failed its 2005 recruiting mission. The quota of new recruits had not been met. And it didn’t seem to make any difference to the GOMO that I had no experience in recruiting – zero. The army had a problem and I had been selected to solve it. In two months I was to take command of U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) in Fort Knox, Kentucky. I was to become the designated ‘turn around’ guy. Becoming the ‘Turn Around Guy’ The ‘turn around guy’ always faces significant challenges. How those challenges are met can mean the difference between growth or stagnation for an organization GOMO did try to soften the blow by telling me that I would probably only be out there for eighteen months and that after this assignment the Army wanted me to command a division. Commanding one of the Army’s ten maneuver divisions was appealing, but that did not make the move any easier. I set to work making plans. Since I would only be at USAREC for eighteen months, it did not make sense for my wife to quit her job, or for us to sell the house we had just purchased. We decided that we would manage a long-distance life for the year and a half I would be assigned to the USAREC. So I packed up a few items and headed to Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Was I going to be in for a major surprise. The competition to fill the monthly recruitment quota was intense. The USAREC was a very competitive environment with soldiers competing with other soldiers to achieve their quota of new recruits each month. The recruiters’ job was a lonely one. The traditional team culture for which the army is known was not in evidence. Even though in USAREC there are permanent recruiters who are then combined with “detail” recruiters. These detail recruiters were soldiers who left combat units to serve in USAREC for just a few years before returning the rest of the Army.  What they experienced when they joined the USAREC was a very different type of teamwork that what they had experienced in the rest of the army, particularly in combat from where many of these soldiers were just returning. This was more solitary mission rather than team mission. The Designated Change Agent A designated change agent needs vision, confidence, compassion, and persistence The work climate could be brutal. The workdays were long – ten-hour shifts were not unusual. Soldiers worked most weekends. Time off was a luxury. I recall visiting my first Recruiting Battalion and asking the Battalion Commander to show me his time-off policy.  The Battalion Commander proudly pulled the policy from his notebook and showed it to me. What I read shocked me. The policy clearly stated that “No soldier will work past 10 p.m. without permission, and every soldier will have one weekend off per month.”  Reading the policy in disbelief, I looked at the Battalion Commander and said, “You’re kidding me, right?” He said, “Sir, I’m the nice guy, the policy was working to midnight for the last commander.” The competition was intense. The pressure was intense. Time off from recruiting was rare.  Soldiers worked endlessly to accomplish their individual recruiting mission which was generally to sign up two new recruits per month. To all intents and purposes, all soldiers tasked with signing up new recruits were totally on their own. They sank or swam pretty much based on their own natural ability and skill set. And a soldier’s success or failure was tied directly to their ability to make their monthly quota. Those were the key reasons Recruiting Command was not the first choice of many officers and noncommissioned officers (NCO). In fact, […]