Summary
Mr. McChrystal 's TED Talk is listed as 'Listen, Learn, the Lead '. Within the video he explains that a leader is good if they are open-minded, have a willingness to learn, and trust those they 're leading. He starts with talking about parachute jumping and how younger paratroopers were following what they had been taught to do by their leaders. That leading these people well meant they would survive combat, and how important that is to Mr. McChrystal. He shares the 'theoretical war ' changed into a very real possibility on September 11th, and that he was going to have to make significant changes to leading. He goes on to state that he was raised with traditional and personal examples of leadership. Moreover he shares the personal …show more content…
Mr. McChrystal talks about two distinct periods of time, before 9/11 and the subsequent technology boom, and after it. He uses the before timeline to share personal experiences and growth with leadership. A failure of his past is shown to explain how a few words can change everything. He 'd messed up a practice dawn attack and has to go through an "after action review". Basically, that 's when higherup 's tell him everything he did wrong. Mr. McChrystal was only a company commander at this point and he felt 'as low as a snakes ' belly in a wagon rut ', so it 's safe to assume that his self-confidence and self-worth was very low. When he was walking out of the review he saw his battalion commander and went over to apologize for letting him down. The battalion commander told him "Stanley, I thought you did great." With this one act of communication Mr. McChrystal was put back on his feet, and was taught an important life lesson. A good leader will let their followers fail without letting them be a failure. That is an important distinction because it allows someone to learn and grow, instead of feeling like they 'll never amount to anything. Mr. McChrystal uses this example to imply that a good leader has skills at communication while directly stating a vital technique to …show more content…
McChrystal uses the after timeline to give personal examples of how leadership was changed. The first of those changes was leading a dispersed group that was spread out over thousands of miles and only having electronic mediums- email, teleconferences, chat, phone calls, anything he can get his hands on- to communicate with those he 's leading. He then has to substitute that for in-person communications without losing the ability to build trust and confidence between him and the individual people. It 's much easier to give someone confidence in the leader and themselves if the leader is in the room with the receiver for there is less chance of interference. Another change was the generational shift in the people under his rank. Mr. McChrystal was in his forty 's when 9/11 occurred and now he has served with people who were 11 when that happened. This in turn has caused an inversion of expertise. People are now entering the lower levels of the military having grown up with the technology boom, while elders like Mr. McCrystal do not have that skill. He was taught practices the military wasn 't using anymore. He poses the question "how does a leader stay credible and legitimate when they haven 't done what the people you 're leading are doing?" The answer is to become transparent, willing to stop and listen, and accepting to be reverse-mentor from the lower ranks. A good leader stays a good leader when they can admit they don 't know every and are willing to learn the skill
Mr. McChrystal 's TED Talk is listed as 'Listen, Learn, the Lead '. Within the video he explains that a leader is good if they are open-minded, have a willingness to learn, and trust those they 're leading. He starts with talking about parachute jumping and how younger paratroopers were following what they had been taught to do by their leaders. That leading these people well meant they would survive combat, and how important that is to Mr. McChrystal. He shares the 'theoretical war ' changed into a very real possibility on September 11th, and that he was going to have to make significant changes to leading. He goes on to state that he was raised with traditional and personal examples of leadership. Moreover he shares the personal …show more content…
Mr. McChrystal talks about two distinct periods of time, before 9/11 and the subsequent technology boom, and after it. He uses the before timeline to share personal experiences and growth with leadership. A failure of his past is shown to explain how a few words can change everything. He 'd messed up a practice dawn attack and has to go through an "after action review". Basically, that 's when higherup 's tell him everything he did wrong. Mr. McChrystal was only a company commander at this point and he felt 'as low as a snakes ' belly in a wagon rut ', so it 's safe to assume that his self-confidence and self-worth was very low. When he was walking out of the review he saw his battalion commander and went over to apologize for letting him down. The battalion commander told him "Stanley, I thought you did great." With this one act of communication Mr. McChrystal was put back on his feet, and was taught an important life lesson. A good leader will let their followers fail without letting them be a failure. That is an important distinction because it allows someone to learn and grow, instead of feeling like they 'll never amount to anything. Mr. McChrystal uses this example to imply that a good leader has skills at communication while directly stating a vital technique to …show more content…
McChrystal uses the after timeline to give personal examples of how leadership was changed. The first of those changes was leading a dispersed group that was spread out over thousands of miles and only having electronic mediums- email, teleconferences, chat, phone calls, anything he can get his hands on- to communicate with those he 's leading. He then has to substitute that for in-person communications without losing the ability to build trust and confidence between him and the individual people. It 's much easier to give someone confidence in the leader and themselves if the leader is in the room with the receiver for there is less chance of interference. Another change was the generational shift in the people under his rank. Mr. McChrystal was in his forty 's when 9/11 occurred and now he has served with people who were 11 when that happened. This in turn has caused an inversion of expertise. People are now entering the lower levels of the military having grown up with the technology boom, while elders like Mr. McCrystal do not have that skill. He was taught practices the military wasn 't using anymore. He poses the question "how does a leader stay credible and legitimate when they haven 't done what the people you 're leading are doing?" The answer is to become transparent, willing to stop and listen, and accepting to be reverse-mentor from the lower ranks. A good leader stays a good leader when they can admit they don 't know every and are willing to learn the skill