washington business
In Their Words
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former supreme commander of
international and American forces in Afghanistan, retired as a fourstar general in 2010 after a 38-year career in the Army. McChrystal
began his military service in 1972 at the United States Military
Academy at West Point, New York. He gave the keynote address at
the 25th annual AWB Policy Summit last September, speaking on
“Leading in Harm’s Way.” Washington Business Executive Editor
Jason Hagey sat down with McChrystal to learn more about what it
takes to be a leader under pressure, and the lessons he learned through
his decorated military career.
Watch AWB’s full interview with Gen. McChrystal
at www.awb.org/videos/.
During one of your speeches, you recount
a parachute jump and you joked that
moments before you jumped out of the
plane, you asked yourself the eternal
question, “why didn’t I go into banking?”
Could you tell me a little bit about why
you didn’t go into banking or another less
dangerous career?
Gen. Stanley McChrystal
Leadership is mostly about interacting with people. It’s not
about being the smartest person in the room; it’s about being
the person that people want to listen to and the person with
whom people want to stand shoulder to shoulder.
I became a soldier, I think, largely because my father had been a
soldier, and his father before him, and I have brothers and all of
them served in the army. And, my sister married a soldier, so it was
clearly in our tradition and in our blood. Like a lot of people, my
father was my hero. While I didn’t think I could be quite what my
father was, he was a role model and an example. So, the idea that
I would follow in that business, just seemed comfortable. It turned
out that I loved it.
You’ve written that your career in the military was more
than a career, it really was your identity, and when it
abruptly ended, you were forced to re-examine your life.
What advice could you offer to people now who are no
longer expected to stay in the same job, or the same
career long enough for it to become their identity?
I think we all have parts of our life to which we commit. And, then,
suddenly it ends and you have to decide who you are. At that point
it’s very important to decide that your identity is not wrapped up in
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the uniform you wear, the title you have, or the amount of money
you make. It’s really wrapped up in who you are as a person and the
relationships you have built.
How would you summarize the traditional leadership
model versus a newer kind of leadership model?
When I think of traditional leadership, I might call it heroic
leadership, it is the idea that the leader is the strong individual that is
all-knowing. When people need guidance, when they need strength,
when they need wisdom, they go to that leader. In the model that
I grew up in, the leader was often a military or a political leader,
which sort of fit a stereotype. But, that’s not what I [