Jim Mattis on Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead

Uncommon Knowledge

Hoover Institution

Politics, History, News:politics, Science, News

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2019

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For more than two decades the Hoover Institution has been producing Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, a series hosted by Hoover fellow Peter Robinson as an outlet for political leaders, scholars, journalists, and today’s big thinkers to share their views with the world. Guests have included a host of famous figures, including Paul Ryan, Henry Kissinger, Antonin Scalia, Rupert Murdoch, Newt Gingrich, and Christopher Hitchens, along with Hoover fellows such as Condoleezza Rice and George Shultz. “Uncommon Knowledge takes fascinating, accomplished guests, then sits them down with me to talk about the issues of the day,” says Robinson, an author and former speechwriter for President Reagan. “Unhurried, civil, thoughtful, and informed conversation– that’s what we produce. And there isn’t all that much of it around these days.” The show started life as a television series in 1997 and is now distributed exclusively on the web over a growing network of the largest political websites and channels. To stay tuned for the latest updates on and episodes related to Uncommon Knowledge, follow us on Facebook and Twitter. For more than two decades the Hoover Institution has been producing Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, a series hosted by Hoover fellow Peter Robinson as an outlet for political leaders, scholars, journalists, and today’s big thinkers to share their views with the world. Guests have included a host of famous figures, including Paul Ryan, Henry Kissinger, Antonin Scalia, Rupert Murdoch, Newt Gingrich, and Christopher Hitchens, along with Hoover fellows such as Condoleezza Rice and George Shultz. “Uncommon Knowledge takes fascinating, accomplished guests, then sits them down with me to talk about the issues of the day,” says Robinson, an author and former speechwriter for President Reagan. “Unhurried, civil, thoughtful, and informed conversation– that’s what we produce. And there isn’t all that much of it around these days.” The show started life as a television series in 1997 and is now distributed exclusively on the web over a growing network of the largest political websites and channels. To stay tuned for the latest updates on and episodes related to Uncommon Knowledge, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Uncommon Knowledge, I'm Peter Robinson.
0:11.3	James Norman Mattis enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1969.
0:17.0	That is half a century ago, Jim.
0:19.0	At the age of 19, during a Marine Corps career of more than four decades he commanded in combat in the
0:25.6	first Gulf War in Afghanistan and then once again in Iraq. He retired as commander of the United
0:31.4	States Central Command in 2013.
0:34.9	Four years later, General Mattis became Secretary Mattis, serving from 2017 to 2019 as the
0:41.5	nation's 26 Secretary of Defense. Now Secretary Mattis has co-authored a book
0:46.9	with his old Marine Corps friend Captain Bing West, call sign Chaos, learning to lead.
0:53.0	I have here the galleys, not the final book.
0:56.0	Call sign Chaos.
0:58.0	Jim, welcome.
0:59.0	May I call you, Jim?
1:01.0	I should... Let's just establish you and I know each other. You're Secretary Mattis. you're Chaos. Well, Peter, I'd spent over four decades in the Marines, in the Marine infantry.
1:17.0	I had learned a lot of lessons, traveling around the world,
1:20.0	been in a lot of campaigns, obviously.
1:22.0	And Chaos had... been in a lot of campaigns obviously and chaos had been part and parcel of my life on the
1:28.3	battlefield but also in our own organization where you try to disrupt the organization the organizational bit to keep it at the top of its game.
1:36.0	However, on the battlefield, you try to introduce chaos early in the enemy's problem
1:42.0	so that you can dominate them on the battlefield.
1:44.8	I thought I would write down the lessons I'd learned over those 40-odd years
1:49.2	passing those lessons on to to young folks. The book ends with a letter you sent to President Trump
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Hoover Institution, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Hoover Institution and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.