Gaido Leader Development

Life has a way of throwing the unexpected at you.

Today I finaled out of housing and brought this chapter to a close. Tomorrow, Diesel and I head up to Gettysburg and then Mae our trek across the country.

These past two years at the Pentagon have brought the completion of an incredible assignment, the closing of a chapter in my personal life, and the beginning of several new ones.

It also brought perspective.

I’ve been reminded that life is not just about professional success. It is about resilience, reflection, and deciding who you want to become when things do not go as expected.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue building with Military Mentors, helping create cultures where mentorship is intentional and development is designed.

I’m proud of what AJOC continues to become as we work to elevate junior officer voices and strengthen trust, retention, and leader development across the Army.

I’m honored to continue as a fellow in the LTG (Ret.) James M. Dubik Writing Fellows Program, surrounded by leaders who believe writing is a professional responsibility.

I’m grateful to continue on my PhD journey in Adult Learning and Leadership, focused on the power of mentorship and how we intentionally develop people and organizations.

This next chapter is going to be exciting.

Onward to the PNW and the hunt for Bigfoot!

🪖 The Friday Formation — 24 April 2026

This week’s lineup:

📖 Quick Read: Lessons from the Eastern Front

🌊 Deep Dive: Landpower in an air & naval fight

🎙️ Listen: Human demands of modern combat w/ MG (Ret) Kline

My last issue before I PCS west — SFC Blood has the watch. 🤙

New issue drops every Friday.

Link in story.

Most mentoring programs are solving the wrong problem.

We match pairs. Train mentors. Set goals. Measure satisfaction.

And the one behavior most tied to retention still ranks last. Every year.

The program isn’t the problem.
The culture underneath it is.

I’m bringing that argument to the International Mentoring Association Conference on May 13 — Tailor-MMade Mentoring.

8 minutes. One idea. St. Petersburg, FL.

🔗 imaconference2026.com

SMART ≠ challenging

If it doesn’t stretch you
It won’t develop you

Set goals that force growth

Don’t fall for the trap of giving advice

Seek Clarity

Be Curious

Challenge

Co-elevate together

Trust > Prescription

The hardest orders to execute aren’t the ones that come from above.

They’re the ones you give yourself — to step into something new. 🪖

This week’s Friday Formation leads with Andy Yakulis on the courage it takes to start over — alongside drones, AI advantage, polar strategy, Iran, and the enduring demands of the profession.

🔗 Full issue on Substack — link in bio.

We’ve mastered CONOPs.
We’ve mastered war stories.

But have we mastered growth?

SMART goals = ex*****on
D.U.M.B. goals = transformation

⚡ Discover
⚡ Understand
⚡ Master
⚡ Blend

Don’t just DO the job—
become someone who can do it anywhere, under pressure, with anyone.

That’s the difference.

Doctrine is only a recommendation, not the gospel

Amiright or amiright and

📚 Friday Formation | 20 February 2026

This week’s Friday Formation is live — and it centers on one idea:

Resilience.

Not just personal resilience, but institutional, intellectual, and operational resilience — the kind required for competition and conflict long before first contact.

This week’s readings explore:
⚔️ Integrated fires and network modernization
🌍 Adversary probing and irregular warfare realities
🔧 Sustainment innovation in contested environments
🧠 Intelligence and information advantage
💪 Leader resilience, habits, and professional growth

The throughline is clear:

Preparation isn’t an event. It’s a culture.

If you’re thinking about how the Army learns, adapts, and fights in the modern era — this week’s dispatch is worth your time.

👉 Read deliberately. Think deeply. Strengthen the formation.

🔗 https://open.substack.com/pub/hardingproject/p/the-friday-formation-6be?r=13o008&utm_medium=ios

It’s been an incredible SIX years

Here’s to many more

#6 Iron Sharpens Iron

🧠 How do you win the talent war?

Most orgs spend money, build programs, and work hard to figure it out…

Turns out, the answer is simple — but not easy. 👇

✨ Culture of mentorship.

Not programs. Not forms. Not checkboxes.

Real growth comes from informal mentorship — those human relationships that flourish when we:

🔹 Have clarity
🔹 Stay curious
🔹 Challenge each other
🔹 Co-elevate through the process

That’s what I’m calling dynamic mentoring — a living, adaptive way to develop people.

Want the full nerd-level breakdown? Link in comments. 📚