May 13, 2020
General Martin E. Dempsey served
as the 18th
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, the senior officer in the Armed Forces and the military
advisor to the Secretary of Defense and to the President.
General Dempsey is the co-author of
“Radical Inclusion: What the Post-9/11 World Should Have Taught Us
About Leadership.” “No Time
For Spectators: The Lessons That Mattered Most From West Point To
The West Wing” is Dempsey’s latest book, and he examines the limits of loyalty, the necessity of sensible skepticism, and the value of responsible
rebelliousness, and
explains why we actually should sweat the small stuff.
The conversation with General
Dempsey takes
listeners behind the closed doors of the Situation Room, onto the
battlefields of Iraq, and to the East German border at the height
of the Cold War. The conversation also answers: Why are the best
leaders the ones who are most adept at following? What should we
expect of those who have the privilege of
leading?
Key Takeaways
The relationships between
leaders and followers—employers and employees, politicians and
constituents, coaches and athletes, teachers and students—are most
productive when based on certain key mutual
expectations.
[3:05] General Dempsey spent
some time as a youth really getting to know his origins and
understanding his Irish background.
[6:50] Chapter 5: Don’t Hurry.
If you try to spend up the process, you are bound to miss a few
steps along the way. For example, it takes time to build critical
relationships from within the organization. Trust takes
time.
[14:25] People are wondering
when they can get back to normal. The question really is, was
normal even that good? Can we build a better ‘normal’?
[16:15] We all have our own lens
or level of expertise but it’s our character that really brings
these levels to light. Character is the final filter for making
tough decisions based on the limited information you might
have.
[22:15] Innovation happens with
a bit of rebelliousness. The question becomes whether you can
define the limits of rebelliousness so that it can still be
responsible and valuable to the organization.
[28:35] General Dempsey really enjoys the ‘art’ of
Twitter and how he creatively has to convey his message within a
limited amount of characters. There is real power towards being
able to share your message concisely.
[34:10] This is our first global
crisis in the social media age. You see people being very helpful
and also manipulative. General Dempsey wrote a chapter in his book
about sensible skepticism. In the world we live in today, you can’t
take anything without applying your own common sense to
it.
[35:10] General Dempsey believes
you can get people to come together through influence and
collaboration. Do not rely on your authority as a leader to get
empowerment/trust done.
[42:15] Sometimes not everybody
can have a say or voice in the decision-making process, but if you
try to make it as inclusive as possible when you can, people are
not going to think less of you during the times where you can’t
include them.
[49:35] It was tough for General
Dempsey to see fallen soldiers, but it was even tougher trying to
comfort the men who still had to fight after losing someone they
cared about. He could see in their eyes the mix of emotions between
fear and guilt.
[54:00] General Dempsey’s
challenge: What has this pandemic done to you/for you?
Quotable Quotes
- “You
have to get off the sidelines if you want to have positive,
productive relationships.”
- “I hope
we don’t go back to normal, but rather to a new
normal.”
- “Character exists in the privacy of our own
individual consciousness, and it’s a willingness mostly invisible
to others to allow our aspirational self to confront our actual
self.”
- “Almost every decision made at the presidential level
is of such importance that character is the final filter, or it
should be the final filter. ”
- “Innovation normally occurs with a little bit of
rebelliousness.”
- “There
are 330 million people in this country and the vast majority of
them want more knowledge, want more honesty, want more clarity, and
want it more concisely.”
- “I
don’t think, in the world we live in today, you can take anything
without applying your own common sense to it.”
Resources and Books Mentioned
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