Retired four-star general Stan McChrystal has studied leadership his whole adult life, from his first day at West Point to his most recent work with the corporate clients of the McChrystal Group. In this follow-up to his bestsellers My Share of the Task andTeam of Teams, McChrystal explores what leadership really means, debunking the many myths that have surrounded the concept. He focuses on thirteen great leaders, showing that the lessons we commonly draw from their lives are seldom the correct ones.
These include-
Founders- Walt Disney built his empire thinking he was a man of the people, but was actually a bit of a tyrant to the working man. Coco Chanel hid her humble background to pretend she was an aristocrat, but was obsessed with making clothes for the common people.
Zealots- Maximilien Robespierre whipped his revolutionaries into a frenzy through his writing, while Abu Musab Zarkawi moved on the front lines of the battlefield, winning over his followers through his personal charisma.
Powerbrokers- Margaret Thatcher and Boss Tweed, whose respective reigns depended on the networks they cultivated.
Other leaders profiled include geniuses Albert Einstein and Leonard Bernstein, reformers Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr., and heroes Harriet Tubman and Zheng He.
Ultimately, McChrystal posits that different environments will require different leaders, and that followers will choose the leader they need. Aspiring leaders will be best served not by cultivating a standard set of textbook leadership qualities, but by learning to discern what is required in each situation.
Author Biography
Stanley McChrystal's last assignment was commanding all U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan. Previously, he was the director of the Joint Staff and the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. The author of My Share of the Task, he is currently a senior fellow at Yale's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and cofounder of the McChrystal Group, a leadership consulting firm where Tantum Collins, David Silverman and Chris Fussell are his colleagues.
Jeff Eggers is Executive Director of the McChrystal Group Leadership Institute. Jeff was formerly a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and worked at the White House from 2010 through early 2015, principally as the National Security Council's Senior Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
