#132 Ret. Gen. Stanley McChrystal - The Essence of Leadership

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Shane Parrish

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2022

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Retired United States Army General Stanley McChrystal calls on more than three decades of military experience to discuss the fundamental tenets of leadership, and practical advice for taking calculated risks and making important decisions. This wide-ranging conversation includes insights on mitigating risk, making decisions under uncertainty, why civilian leadership is tougher than military leadership, developing mental toughness, teaching discipline, and so much more.

A veteran of four U.S. wars in the Middle East, McChrystal was a four-star general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command from 2003-08, when he oversaw special operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. His troops were responsible for both the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the 2006 death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. After retiring from the military in 2010 he joined Yale University as a Jackson Institute for Global Affairs senior fellow, and in 2011 he founded a consultancy firm, McChrystal Group, which helps organizations tap into human potential in service of stronger business outcomes.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	And we did some operations that were pretty difficult.
0:03.4	We lost, I remember one instance, when we lost a little bird pilot, actually, too, in a
0:11.5	daylight firefight using a weapon system that was designed for night.
0:17.0	And the father of one of the pilots who was lost had to fare a question afterwards.
0:21.7	He said, what do you do in having that my son fly in that helicopter during daylight
0:26.4	in its conditions?
0:28.0	And our response was, that's the only time we could get at the enemy and we had to do
0:31.1	that.
0:32.1	And he accepted that, you know, which is tough because of the loss.
0:35.9	But I think I was pleasantly pleased that people were willing to accept really difficult
0:41.7	decisions and orders if they understood the purpose clearly.
1:03.3	Welcome to the Knowledge Project Podcast.
1:05.3	I'm your host, Shane Perish.
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1:36.5	Check out the show notes for a link.
1:39.0	The retired four star general Stanley McChrystal joins me today.
1:43.0	Throughout his military career, Stan commanded a number of elite organizations, including the
	...

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