My wife, Patricia, and I attended an informative lecture by four-star General Stanley McChrystal at Princeton University Feb. 28. He was described by former defense secretary Robert Gates as “perhaps the finest warrior and leader of men in combat I ever met.”
I was particularly interested in attending to gain his perspective on the challenges our nation faces. I also wanted to see how Princeton students would respond to a high-ranking military speaker.
My top takeaway from his speech was his desire that all of our young people should give a year of their lives in national service. He believes it would shape within each of them knowledge of what it means to be a citizen of our country. McChrystal heads the Aspen Institute Franklin Project to promote this idea.
Why does he feel a year of their lives spent this way would be productive? His experience in the Army showed him that most people rise to the expectations of those around them. He has seen that when low performers are put amongst high performers, the low performers also become high performers.
Another principle McChrystal stresses is that we must always raise the bar, but not so high that the person doesn’t believe it can be attained. Constructive tension is a requirement in order for one to attain one’s potential. The experience of World War II taught us that if you take masses of soldiers and give them an extremely difficult task, almost everybody rises to that task. And when it is all said and done, people are left changed; they now expect far more of themselves… and they go on to achieve it. They now tell themselves, “I can be more than I thought I could!”
He explains the process like this, if you see someone being successful, you say to yourself, “I want to do it too.” Making this happen in one’s life is not easy; it requires setting a new, slightly higher standard for oneself every day, building on the learnings of yesterday. He emphasizes, you can never be satisfied because you can always do better.
His experience of heading up the U. S. military effort in Afghanistan required adaptability. The situation there was always in flux, and yesterday’s ideas probably don’t work today.
Since retiring from the Army, he has founded a company which teaches these principles to business leaders, because the thinking has broad applicability.
Imagine McChrystal’s idea of a year’s community service being rolled out across our entire nation and the discipline and love of country it could engender. Imagine immersing our youth in a culture where all, not just some, are taught to believe in themselves and their ability to achieve. Do you think it would get our nation out of our current funk?
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How did the students respond to McChrystal? In the Q&A afterward, they were polite, they were interested in what he had to say, and they asked good questions.
