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" The number of people in America killed by firearms is extraordinary compared to other nations, and I don't think we're a bloodthirsty country. We need to look at everything we can do to safeguard our people. "

Stanley A. McChrystal
Think
People
Need
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" The basic DNA we've got to implant in leaders now is adaptability: not to get wedded to the solution to a particular problem, because not only the problem but the solution changes day to day. Creating people who are hardwired for that is going to be our challenge for the future. "
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" I think with the beginning of any political administration, you have to build trust, and it takes time. "
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" There's this intense media spotlight; there's a need to be transparent, and, 'Oh, by the way, I'm also trying to fight a war at the same time.' It's a challenge, but it goes with the job. "
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" There's an art to asking questions. Briefings are valuable but normally communicate primarily what the subordinate leader wants you to know, and often the picture they provide is incomplete. "
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" When I became commander of the Joint Special Operations Task Force, I was leading thousands of individuals, from Special Forces to the broader interagency effort. I quickly realized that while we had the most best and most effective operators and small teams in the world, we were unable to scale. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
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" If you talk to a British officer or NCO about the strategic objectives of the end state, you'll often get a spirited discussion that's very well informed. "
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" Mike Hall was my old friend and, more important, the finest soldier I'd ever known. After over 30 years of service and then 18 months at a good civilian job, a phone call had brought the retired command sergeant major back on active duty to become the senior enlisted adviser of all international forces in Afghanistan. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Phone
Back
Friend
" How Americans restore trust may be an existential question for their country, then, but it's ultimately a practical one: What U.S. society needs to answer it in the coming years aren't lamentations but practical measures, especially among the emerging generations that will define America's future. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
America
Trust
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" I think my biggest achievement was being part of a team of outstanding, entrepreneurial military leaders and civilians who helped change the way in which America fights by transforming a global special operations task force - Task Force 714 - that I commanded. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Change
Achievement
Way
" Anyone in a position of power is either corrupt or assumed to be corrupt, and the assumption of corruption is as bad as the reality of it. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Corrupt
Bad
Power
" In combat operations in places like Afghanistan, we often confronted the specter of dangerous people with powerful weapons who were a threat to their community and to our soldiers. Our aim was to quickly determine who in that community was a legitimate actor who could be trusted with a firearm and who was not. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Community
Powerful
People
" When I arrived in the summer of 2009 to command the war in Afghanistan, I entered an effort that was failing. Many Afghans, some ISAF coalition members, and much of the American public had lost confidence in both the trajectory of the war and our ability to correct it. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
American
Effort
Lost
" Public television works hard to engage young learners and build the skills needed for a jump-start on life. We need our youngest to be curious, resilient and empathetic, and prepared for the jobs of the future. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Future
Television
Need
" Trust is an amazing commodity. The Afghan people often talk to me about having to develop trust in America, because they believe that we deserted them in 1990 and 1991. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Trust
Amazing
Believe
" There is no avoiding the realities of the information age. Its effects manifest differently in different sectors, but the drivers of speed and interdependence will impact us all. Organizations that continue to use 20th-century tools in today's complex environment do so at their own peril. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Today
Age
Environment
" Change is painful, and people are always reticent to accept a lot of pain. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Pain
Change
Always
" Military leaders, many of whom were students of counterinsurgency, recognized the dangers of an incremental escalation and the historical lesson that 'trailing' an insurgency typically condemned counterinsurgents to failure. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Military
Lesson
Failure
" I knew from history that war comes with frightening regularity, often fought over the same ground and similar causes as previous conflicts. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Ground
Same
Over
" Christmases with Polish and Romanian troops, including religious ceremonies in crude bunkers and huts, were deeply spiritual experiences. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Spiritual
Experiences
Crude
" Many leaders are tempted to lead like a chess master, striving to control every move, when they should be leading like gardeners, creating and maintaining a viable ecosystem in which the organization operates. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Organization
Control
Creating
" I had known Colonel Charlie Flynn since he was a lieutenant 23 years earlier, and I remembered how his first child, Molly, had been born while Charlie was deployed to the first Gulf War. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Years
First Child
Child
" Our bureaucracy had excelled at compartmentalizing intelligence - we had a 'need to know' system - but by 2004, it was impossible to foresee what elements of our organization would and would not need to know a given piece of information. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Organization
Impossible
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" The challenge that we faced with the arrival of the Obama administration is, they didn't really have time to build trust before they had to make big, difficult decisions. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Build
Time
Trust
" I came to believe that a leader isn't good because they're right; they're good because they're willing to learn and to trust. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Learn
Trust
Leader
" Industrial technologies that allowed for increased mechanization in 19th-century armed forces also spurred Frederick Winslow Taylor to develop his 'Scientific Management' doctrine in Philadelphia steel mills. "
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Forces
Steel
Philadelphia
" Political campaigns offer Americans an opportunity to adjust direction, reaffirm values, and recommit to the covenant that binds them together. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Together
Opportunity
Values
" America needs a big idea that plays to its strength. It should look to national service. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
America
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" When I was a lieutenant in Special Forces many many years ago, I thought I was getting fat. And I started running, and I started running distance, which I enjoyed. "
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Special
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" I was raised with traditional stories of leadership: Robert E. Lee, John Buford at Gettysburg. And I also was raised with personal examples of leadership. This was my father in Vietnam. And I was raised to believe that soldiers were strong and wise and brave and faithful; they didn't lie, cheat, steal, or abandon their comrades. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Lie
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Father
" I can't sculpt. But if I were a sculptor, as you start to get something that actually looks like what you want, then it starts to be fun. That's the way I find writing. "
Stanley A. McChrystal
Find
You
Writing