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A Bit of Optimism

Leadership with General CQ Brown, Jr.

A Bit of Optimism

The Optimism Company from Simon Sinek

Education, Careers, Self-improvement, Business

4.82.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For this 4th of July, I wanted to do something special to celebrate the birth of our nation. So I invited Air Force Chief of Staff General CQ Brown, Jr. to join me on the podcast.  General Brown is the head of the Air Force and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is also the current nominee to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. If he is confirmed as Chairman later this year, it would make him the most senior-ranked member of the United States military.  General Brown is humble, approachable, credible, and super inspiring.  This is… A Bit of Optimism. For more on General Brown and his work, check out:  His Leadership Library: https://www.af.mil/About-Us/CSAF-Leadership-Library/ His comments in the wake of George Floyd: https://twitter.com/PACAF/status/1268794618461618177?s=20 His bio: https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/108485/charles-q-brown-jr/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

For this July 4th, I wanted to do something special to celebrate the birth of our nation.

0:12.5

So I invited General C.Q. Brown to join me on the podcast. General Brown is the Chief

0:18.1

of Staff of the Air Force, the Head of the Air Force, and a member of the Joint Chiefs

0:21.9

of Staff. He is also the current nominee to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, which

0:27.3

would make him the most senior-ranked member of the United States military. He's the

0:32.2

first African-American service chief, but more importantly, he's just a great officer

0:37.6

and a great general in our United States military. So we sat down to talk about what makes

0:42.3

a great leader. How senior people can stay in touch with young people, and quite frankly,

0:47.6

make sure that they get the truth of any situation, and yes, we talked about AI. General

0:53.4

Brown is humble, he's approachable, he's credible, and he is super inspiring. This is a bit

1:02.2

of optimism. General Brown, thank you so much for joining me. It's really such a treat

1:11.3

for me to get to talk to you here, so thanks so much for coming on.

1:14.1

It's a treat for me as well, so thanks for the opportunity.

1:16.6

I wanted to jump right in. You operate at actually the highest level of the Air Force. You

1:21.5

are the chief of staff, the Air Force, you run the Air Force. One of the things I'm so

1:25.1

fascinated about rank, and I see this in all organizations as people make their way up

1:29.5

a rank, which is the more senior you get, the more difficult it is to get the truth.

1:36.2

And it doesn't matter what kind of inclusive and open-minded environment you set, no matter

1:41.0

who you are, the rank becomes intimidating. People want to please you. Have you noticed

1:45.4

that? When did you start noticing that as you made it through your career, and how do

1:49.0

you combat that? I think the time that I noticed it the most

1:51.8

was when I was the Wayne Commander of Abyano, and I went there as a one-star select, and

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