Becoming an extraordinary leader | General McChrystal and Chris Fussell on shared consciousness, empowering employees and building a cohesive team

Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey – some
of the greatest leaders of all time. But what makes each of these
individuals such a remarkable leader? And how do we define great
leadership?


We may be apt to hold on to the traditional notion that
leadership is defined by rank and order. But your position or
title alone does not qualify you as a veritable leader. Think
about it, how many CEOs are there in the world that hold a
position of great power, but have a nominal impact on their
employees? How many managers aren’t even respected by those that
they manage? Even brilliant and innovative individuals can
stumble when it comes to finding their voice. Because leadership
is not defined by a position, nor it is even defined by
intellectual prowess or natural talent – leadership is the skill
of influence, something that you can use to impact the thoughts,
feelings, emotions and actions of others. And it is the most
important skill that anyone of us can master.


Yet as important as leadership is, in today’s world, it’s a
rarity. And that’s not because there is a scarcity of natural
born leaders. In fact, leadership can be cultivated. Many of us
suppose it’s an innate talent, but anyone can become a leader in
something that they decide to become masterful in. You could be
the leader in your business, the leader in your class, the leader
in your own family. You could even decide to become the leader of
your own life. There are different types and different styles of
leadership. But real leadership starts with the capacity to
discipline your disappointment. Because along any journey worth
taking, you are going to encounter obstacles, and odds are, you
are going to fail. But if you can find a way to connect to
yourself, and connect to others, and if you can find a way to
break through those challenges, you can become a true leader. And
when you strive to serve the greater good – something greater
than yourself – that’s when you can become a truly great leader.


Tony and Mary Buckheit recently sat down with General Stanley
McChrystal and Chris Fussell to discuss what great leadership
looks like today and how to cultivate an infrastructure for
success in any organization.


General Stanley A. McChrystal has been called “one of America’s
greatest warriors” by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.  A
retired four-star general, he is the former commander of U.S. and
International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan and
the former commander of the premier military counter-terrorism
force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He is best known
for developing and implementing the current counter-insurgency
strategy in Afghanistan, and for creating a comprehensive
counter-terrorism organization that revolutionized the
interagency operating culture.


General McChrystal now serves as a senior fellow at Yale
University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs where he
teaches a course on Leadership in Operation.  And he
co-founded the McChrystal Group in January of 2011 where he is
currently a partner.  McChrystal Group’s mission is to
deliver innovative leadership solutions to American businesses to
help them transform and succeed in challenging and dynamic
environments.


Chris Fussell is a former Navy SEAL Officer, where he spent 15
years leading SEAL elements in combat zones around the globe. He
served as Aide-de-Camp to Lieutenant General McChrystal during
McChrystal’s final year commanding JSOC, becoming an integral
part of the team that made the Special Operation’s transformation
into a successful, agile network possible. Fussell is also a
partner at the McChrystal Group, where he leads the McChrystal
Group Leadership Institute, where he brings his Special
Operations experience and his expertise in leadership development
to organizations of all sizes. In addition to being a New York
Times bestselling author, he regularly does media interviews,
gives keynotes speeches, and speaks to business leaders at
roundtables and panels.


In this episode of the podcast, you will hear Tony, General
McChrystal and Chris delve into the reasons that leadership no
longer comes from a command and control model, but from creating
relationship-based change throughout the entire organization and
by empowering every single person that is part of your business.
And they examine the importance of building trust, remaining
flexible, practicing empathy, and creating a culture of shared
consciousness. By breaking out of the traditional sense of
leadership, business owners can create a more cohesive and more
powerful team that is not only more unified, but more efficient,
and ultimately, more effective.