McConnell Center Distinguished Speaker Series
General David Petraeus
2012
Gary Gregg: [00:00:00] Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to
welcome you here this morning. If I could remind you make sure your cell phones are
turned off at this time and remain so during the duration of our program this morning.
My name is Gary Gregg, and I’m the Director of the McConnell Center here at
the University of Louisville. This year we celebrate our twentieth anniversary of our first
entering class of McConnell Scholars, and since that day in 1992, more than two hundred
students have come through our program, a program designed with Senator McConnell’s
vision and mission, vision in mind from the beginning of finding, attracting, nurturing,
and supporting the most outstanding young leaders we can find in the Commonwealth of
Kentucky. More than two hundred students, as I’ve said, have come through our
program in those years and have gone on to important service and important careers in
the military and medicine and politics and engineering and academia, you name it.
Today I have with me on stage, and it’s a great privilege to share the stage with them as
it’s a great honor for them to share in my life and me to share in them, our current crop of
McConnell Scholars here at the university. [applause]
Over the years, we have also developed a lecture series that is really without peer.
We have hosted secretaries of state and Supreme Court justices, vice presidents of the
United States, ambassadors, Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. I will say—I’ve been here
since the year 2000—I’ve looked forward to no speaker as much as I have today in
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General David Petraeus. Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, please rise and help
me welcome the president of the University of Louisville, Jim Ramsey, the twenty-fourth
secretary of labor, Elaine Chao, your senior senator, Mitch McConnell, and General
David Petraeus. [applause]
Jim Ramsey: [00:03:07] Thank you, Gary. And would you join me in thanking Gary for
his incredible leadership for the McConnell Center. [applause]
It’s a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the University of Louisville. We’re
honored that you have joined us for this very, very special occasion. It’s my honor this
morning to introduce Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Leader of the United
States Senate. As I have said on many occasions, the University of Louisville is proud
that Senator McConnell is a graduate of the University of Louisville, and I’ve gone on to
say that no university could have a better friend than Senator Mitch McConnell.
[applause]
As Gary has indicated, the senator is the father of the prestigious McConnell
Scholars Program at the University of Louisville and the McConnell Center at the
University of Louisville. When I travel across the state, which I’ll do in a couple of
weeks, and visit high schools from Bowling Green to Paducah to Owensboro to
Pikesville to Ashland to northern Kentucky, principals, counselors, teachers say they
want their very best students to be like these students, they want them to be McConnells
at the University of Louisville.
We’re proud also that the senator has selected the University of Louisville to
house his papers, and also we’re proud that Elaine’s papers are also here at the University
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of Louisville. Their papers greatly enrich scholarship and research at the University of
Louisville.
[00:04:50] Because of Senator McConnell’s work on behalf of higher education,
we are a better university today. Senator McConnell understands that universities are
engines for economic growth and enhancing the quality of life for the people of our
community and state. Senator McConnell has made strengthening Kentucky’s research
universities one of his top priorities. With the senator’s help, UofL has been able to
invest in important academic research programs such as our Ekstrom Library, our
Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, our Center for Translational Research, and our
Belknap Research Building here on the Belknap campus. The senator is a champion of
higher education in Kentucky and the United States, and again I say no university could
have a better friend than Senator Mitch McConnell.
Please welcome Senator McConnell. [applause]
Senator Mitch McConnell: [00:05:57] Good morning. At the risk of this sounding like a
mutual admiration society, let me point out that Jim Ramsey has been an extraordinary
president for this university. It has changed in dramatic ways, and his leadership has
been the key factor in changing this university into the excellent institution it is today,
and, Jim, we thank you for the wonderful job you’re doing. [applause]
Years ago when we started the McConnell Center, frankly, I wasn’t quite sure
how it would develop and how it would turn out, but the key to that development has
been Dr. Gary Gregg. Gary, thank you for the terrific job you’ve done over the years.
[applause]
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It was a great idea to put the students on the stage. I know that was Gary’s idea.
We haven’t done that before. That allows you to see what this is basically about. These
forty young people who are the best and brightest we can attract to come here from
around the state are right here on the stage with us, and I congratulate all of them for
being selected. I couldn’t have made it into this program, but these guys did. [audience
laughter] Congratulations, everybody. [applause]
[00:07:18] Finally, I’m pleased to be joined today by my roommate, who, as
many of you know, was the only member of the previous administration who was there
from day one until the end, did a fabulous job for America, and we are proud of her in
Kentucky, my wife, Elaine Chao. [applause]
Well, we all know these are difficult times for America. The challenges
confronting our nation call out for leadership. And in the midst of a closely contested
election, Americans can sometimes disagree on what we want from our leaders or even
what constitutes leadership itself, but there’s no disagreement, none whatsoever, that our
speaker today, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, General David Petraeus,
literally personifies leadership. After a thirty-seven-year career in the U.S. Army and six
consecutive general officer commands, he has certainly practiced it, and Americans of all
political stripes agree that he is one of the foremost—he is, in my judgment, the foremost
military leader of our generation.
Before assuming the helm of the CIA, General Petraeus served as commander of
the NATO International Security Force and commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
He previously served as the tenth commander of the United States Central Command.
And then there is the assignment that made him a revered household name. As
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commanding general of the multinational force in Iraq, he led the surge in 2007 that
successfully quelled violence in that country and dramatically, dramatically reduced
American casualties. [applause]
[00:09:27] General Petraeus also commanded the U.S. Army Combined Arms
Center at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. It was there he oversaw the development of a
new counterinsurgency field manual for the army, which he would later implement with
great success in Iraq. General Petraeus previously commanded the 101st Airborne
Division in our state, based in Fort Campbell. Fort Campbell is one of the country’s most
important military installations, as I think all of you already know. The 101 st Airborne
has contributed greatly to the war on terror, been involved in it continuously since after
9/11.
So as you can imagine, I got to know the general well, and I can safely say this, in
my career in public service, I’ve met senators, diplomats, and presidents, and I’m hardpressed to think of anyone who has impressed me more by his integrity, his lifelong
dedication to service, and his true understanding of leadership.
Now, General Petraeus graduated as a distinguished cadet from the United States
Military Academy and was the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General
Staff College. He earned an MBA and a Ph.D. degree in international relations from
Princeton. For his distinguished service in uniform, he has received many awards and
decorations, including four awards of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, three
awards for Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, and the State
Department Distinguished Service Award. General Petraeus became the twentieth
director of the CIA in 2011. As director, he’s taken on a wide-ranging mission of leading
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human intelligence, covert operations, and liaison with foreign intelligence services as
well as intelligence analysis and open-source analysis.
[00:11:36] General, it’s an honor to welcome you to the university. On a daily
basis, the director must concern himself with the unrest in Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and
North Africa, the familiar threats of the Iranian nuclear program, untested leadership in
North Korea, and war in Afghanistan. The world remains a dangerous place. We are
reassured, however, that you are in such an important position of national security
leadership, we’re all eager to hear your thoughts on how American should navigate these
uncharted waters of global instability.
Join me in welcoming the Director of the CIA, General David Petraeus.
[applause]
General David Petraeus: [00:12:45] Well, thank you very much. Good morning to you
all. I’m most appreciative of that very warm welcome. It is, needless to say, a great
honor for me to join you all this morning. Upfront, I obviously want to thank Senator
McConnell for this opportunity and for his kind introduction. I want to recognize his
wife as well, the former secretary of labor and a truly outstanding public servant, Elaine
Chao.
As the senator noted, he and I have known each other for a good while now, going
back to my service at Fort Campbell and command of the great 101st Airborne Division,
Air Assault, and it’s great to see some individuals here with the 101st combat patch on,
Air Assault. We did not rehearse that. [audience laughter] The senator and I have met
innumerable times since then in my subsequent positions, in any case, and it was always
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apparent to me that he and his wife were great supporters of our soldiers, sailors, airmen,
Marines, and Coast Guardsmen, and of the members of the silent service whom I now
have the honor of leading at the Central Intelligence Agency. Senator McConnell is a
true patriot who never forgets the sacrifices made by the men and women serving our
great nation, and I would ask that you join me in thanking him for that. Thanks again,
Leader. [applause]
[00:14:14] I add my thanks as well to President Jim Ramsey, to Provost Shirley
Willihnganz, and to the other university leaders for being here with us today, and thanks
also to the many great community leaders and other distinguished guests and students
and, of course, McConnell Scholars who have joined us. It is great to see so much
support for the McConnell Center and, in particular, for its efforts to help develop future
leaders and future independent thinkers capable of making a difference in our world. It
is, again, a privilege to have this opportunity to share some ideas with you this morning.
In fact, upon receiving the invitation to speak here, I was pretty fired up, and so I
went back to the agency and immediately huddled with my speechwriter. “How long
should I plan on speaking?” I asked him.
“Thirty minutes,” he replied.
“Thirty minutes?” I asked. “How can I possibly tell them all that I know in thirty
minutes?” [audience laughter]
“Well, sir,” he said, “I suggest you speak very slowly.” [audience laughter]
Sorry, I know that’s one of those jokes that’s so old it probably predates the founding of
Louisville. [audience laughter] But thanks for laughing, because you know at this stage
in one’s life, you’re only as good as the material they give you. [audience laughter]
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But, thankfully, they did give me some more good material, and it has to do with
that other school in Kentucky. And, you know, I notice that Senator McConnell has his
bases covered. He was an honors graduate here, where he was also the president of the
student body, and then he went up the road and got a law degree from UK. So he’s
always planning. And this has to do with that other school—and, by the way, great job in
that football game in this past weekend too. [applause] This has to do with some
students from University of Louisville who were attending an off-campus party last
week, already partying. Now, I’m not sure how Louisville students had the time to be at
a party on a week night, given the extraordinarily demanding curriculum here, but
apparently they did. I’m sure they were outliers. [audience laughter] In any event, the
way I heard it, a Louisville student leaned over to a guy next to him at the party and
asked, “Hey, you want to hear a joke about the University of Kentucky?”
[00:16:31] Giving the University of Louisville student a hard look, the guy next to
him replied, “Listen, buddy, before you tell that joke, you should know something. I’m
six-foot-five-inches tall and weigh 230 pounds, and I go to the University of Kentucky.
The guy right here next to me is six-two, weighs 225, and he goes to Kentucky too. And
the next guy over is six-three, ways 230, and he’s a Wildcat as well. Now, do you still
want to tell that joke?”
“Nah, I guess not,” the Louisville student replied, “not if I’m going to have to
explain it three times.” [audience laughter and applause]
Well, again let me say how delighted I am to be back in the Bluegrass State.
Hopefully, can that part be off the record, by the way? [audience laughter] I may have to
go to Wildcat country one of these days.
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In fact, just a few weeks ago, we were back in Kentucky. We went to the great
Fort Campbell to help mark the seventieth anniversary of the activation of the 101st
Airborne Division, which, again, I was privileged to command during the fight to
Baghdad in our first year in Iraq. While in Fort Campbell for the celebration, I was
reminded many times of the steadfast support that Kentuckians have always given to our
men and women in uniform. Indeed, the community surrounding Fort Campbell are the
very best neighbors any post could ever have, generously and graciously looking after our
families during long deployments and always going the extra mile to support our
troopers. The commitment of those communities to our military underscores the strong
bonds between the state of Kentucky and those who serve our nation in uniform. And
you should know how much we current and former members of the military appreciate
your support, and I want to thank you for that. Thanks. [applause]
[00:18:36] Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank Professor Gary Gregg for
pulling this event together and for directing the McConnell Center with such vision,
energy, wisdom, and energy over the years. In particular, I’d like to commend Gary’s
bedrock belief in the value of a traditional liberal arts education, which the McConnell
Scholars Program and the Center clearly stand for. As everyone at the Center clearly
understands, a solid grounding in the liberal arts develops critical thinking skills and
prepares students to see possibilities that lie beyond their immediate horizons. It equips
them to see unconventional solutions, to chart an azimuth through challenging period.
Those skills, in my view, are essential for those who truly want to lead their organizations
rather than to simply preside over them. And thanks to the vision of Senator McConnell
and the great work being done by Gary and his team at the Center, we can be confident
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that leaders with the right skills and the right attitude are being developed here to help
lead us into the future, leaders who are comfortable in multiple arenas, and, more
importantly, who are willing to embrace the unfamiliar and to confront dynamic
situations. So, well done and thanks to Gary and all the members of the McConnell
Center staff. Well done, Gary. [applause]
[00:20:01] By the way, I learned through careful intelligence that Gary is quietly
laboring away on a new book about George Washington’s rise as a young leader. You
know, we do intelligence at the CIA, and that knowledge is clearly another great
intelligence success. [audience laughter] In any event, I am among those who believe
that we can never learn enough about George Washington and the origins and exercise of
his remarkable leadership and how fortunate we were for it. When I was studying at
Princeton, in fact, I’d often run from the main campus to the Princeton battlefield, the site
of one of Washington’s greatest triumphs during the difficult early years of the
Revolutionary War, a battle where his bravery, determination, and decisive leadership
were on vivid display. Indeed, our first president is an endless source of fascination and
inspiration for students of leadership. So, Gary, I wish you good luck on your book, and
I look forward to reading it when you finish.
But that brings me to the subject of my remarks this morning, leadership, a
subject I have both lived and studied for some forty years now, starting with, arguably,
when I entered West Point as a cadet in 1970 and one that is deservedly such a key focus
of inquiry right here at the McConnell Center. Part of what makes the study of leadership
so compelling is that its lessons often endure, transcending boundaries of time,
profession, and even partisan politics even as contextual circumstances do, of course,
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change, and do require alterations.
What George Washington taught us more than two centuries ago, nonetheless, is
still relative today, again albeit with some adjustments for the context of modern times.
What we glean from the battlefield, moreover, can often be adapted to the boardroom.
What worked for an executive launching a startup company can also inform the work of a
humanitarian starting a new charity. So, study of leadership in the past does help inform
those seeking to exercise it in the present. That is not to say, again, that the lessons of
leadership can be transferred lock, stock, and barrel from one endeavor or one era to
another. Indeed, when I’m asked about my leadership style or philosophy, I usually
begin by stressing that my style depends on the context, in particular on the style of the
organization or individuals that I’m trying to lead. Organizations, needless to say, vary
greatly in their cultures and their ambitions and their needs. The same is definitely true
of individuals.
[00:22:46] So the job of a leader is not to apply the exact same leadership style in
every case, but to have a finger on the collective pulse of an organization, to know its
rhythms, to amplify its strengths, to compensate for its weaknesses, and, above all, to try
to create the conditions that will enable the organization to maximize its potential.
Needless to say, the same concept applies in trying to lead the individuals who report
directly to him or to her and in helping to create conditions in which they can, to use the
old army recruiting slogan, in which they can be all that they can be.
My leadership style at the CIA, for example, is far different from the style I
employed in the early 1990s as an Air Assault Infantry Battalion commander, though I do
chart an azimuth, establish goals in consultation with our other key leaders, determine left
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and right limits, lay down markers to guide the organization and so forth. The CIA,
thanks to its seasoned and highly educated workforce, does not need a heavy hand on the
reins. A light touch is generally all that is required.
[00:23:57] When I was a battalion commander, by contrast, my job in many cases
was to push the unit, to drive it, to propel it forward by example and encouragement, to
give energy and fortitude, to lead from the front, and to share risk and hardship. Of
course, I must confess that in one case I did end up getting shot by one of my own
troopers, a fact that might not be construed as positive feedback on my leadership style.
[audience laughter] It happened right here in Kentucky, at good old Fort Campbell, no
hard feelings ever since. In all seriousness, it was an accident that occurred during an
aggressive maneuver live-fire training exercise at Fort Campbell some twenty years ago.
It was no fun, I can assure you, right through here. Thankfully is was over the A in
Petraeus rather than the A in army, but at least our medics got some terrific real-world
training out of it. [audience laughter] And an individual who would be one of Senator
McConnell’s colleagues a few years later, then still Dr. Bill Frist of Tennessee, was the
surgeon who operated on me at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Ever since then,
in fact, Dr. Frist has written me that I must have been dying to meet him. [audience
laughter] Sorry. I was.
Again, though, the point is that leaders have to tailor their leadership styles to suit
those they’re seeking to lead. Indeed, as I progressed in my career and took on
responsibility for larger numbers of people, I recognize the need to change my style, to
meet the demands of strategic rather than merely tactical leadership. As the commander
of U.S. Central Command, for example, where I was in charge of some 250,000
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American men and women in uniform, serving an area encompassing twenty countries
from Egypt in the west to Pakistan in the east and Kazakhstan in the north to Yemen in
the south, in that area of responsibility, it was obviously impossible and inadvisable to try
to replicate the leadership style that I used as a battalion commander, where I had
constant and direct contact with my troopers and could often assess the situations
firsthand.
[00:26:14] Leadership at the strategic level, I found, required a very different
approach, and that is what I would like to explore during the balance of my remarks,
providing my views on strategic leadership; that is, leadership at the helm of large
organizations. Before I proceed, if I could, I might stress, considering where we are in
the political calendar, that my remarks today are in no way intended as a commentary of
any style of leadership that may or may not be associated with a particular political party,
leader, or cause. In fact, I have worked hard in the past decade in particular to maintain
nonpolitical status, having served in senior positions for both Republican and Democratic
presidents and, by the way, doing events like this in response to invitations by
Democratic as well as Republican members of Congress. So what I want to offer today is
a straightforward set of observations on strategic leadership that were honed by direct
experience and careful study, nothing political or partisan about them.
As I see it, strategic leadership is fundamentally about big ideas and, in particular,
about four tasks connected with big ideas. First, of course, you have to get the big ideas
right. You have to determine the right overarching concepts and intellectual
underpinnings to accomplish your organization’s mission. Second, you have to
communicate the big ideas effectively through the breadth and depth of the organization.
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Third, you have to oversee the implementation of the big ideas. And, fourth and finally,
you have to capture lessons from implementation of the big ideas so that you can refine
the overarching concepts and repeat the overall process. These four steps comprise, I
believe, the fundamental cycle of strategic leadership, one that is simple in concept but
not so simple in practice.
[00:28:17] This morning, I’d like to walk you through those elements of strategic
leadership using our experiences in Iraq during the surge to highlight how they worked in
practice as we executed the surge that commenced in early 2007. The first task of a
strategic leader, then, is to get the big ideas right. This is also the most important task
because it is the foundation for all the others. If strategic leaders fail to get the big ideas
right, they will not succeed. It is as simple as that. In Iraq, for example, the surge of
forces, as important as that was, was not as important as the surge of ideas, the big ideas
that guided the changes we made in our strategy. Indeed, with violence threatening to
tear apart the very fabric of Iraqi society, no surge of forces, no matter how large, would
have succeeded if we had not also changed our overarching approach. To arrest the
downward spiral, we needed a new strategy.
Fortunately, as the Leader mentioned, well before the surge of forces was even
authorized, while I was commanding the army organization that oversaw all aspects of
education and training of our leaders and units, I led a team that took on the task of
rethinking the big ideas behind our approach to the campaign in Iraq. In less than a year,
we and our Marine Corps partners produced the Counterinsurgency Field Manual
published in late 2006, just in time to guide us during the surge in Iraq that did commence
in early 2007.
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One of the main conclusions from our study was that we could not expect to kill
or capture our way to victory in Iraq. To have any hope of success, we had first and
foremost to secure and serve the Iraqi people. We determined that the decisive terrain
was the human terrain, and we poured our energy, manpower, and resources into securing
and serving it.
[00:30:19] In the Baghdad area alone, for example, we set up seventy-seven
additional locations for our troopers, enabling them to live with our Iraqi counterparts and
the Iraqi people instead of commuting to the fight from large bases. In so doing, we sent
a message that really mattered, that we intended to do more than just clear an area of
insurgents and leave. Rather, we intended to hold the area and to help rebuild it,
facilitating the provision of basic services, the establishment of local governance, the
revival of local markets, and other efforts to help Iraqi communities get back on their
feet.
Living with the people allowed us to gradually earn their trust, which was crucial
to another of our big ideas, reaching out to those we called the reconcilables. You see,
not all of the insurgents in Iraq were hardcore extremists. By meeting with the more
moderate elements of the insurgency, we were able to make the case that working with us
and the new Iraq would help build a better Iraq, and they would be involved. We were
able to show how our interests and their interests were actually aligned.
Now, to be sure, we did have to do a good bit of killing and capturing. Make no
mistake about it. And our focus on securing and serving the people and on promoting
reconciliation had to be accompanied by the relentless, tenacious pursuit of those who
rejected reconciliation and who continued to threaten our forces and our Iraqi
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counterparts and the Iraqi people with violence. We could not shrink from that objective
any more than we could shrink from supporting reconciliation with those who used to
oppose us but were now willing to lay down their weapons. Indeed, tenacious pursuit of
key extremist elements and leaders and reconciling with those insurgents willing to be
part of the solution instead of a continuing part of the problem proved to be of crucial
importance to the reduction of insurgence attacks by some 90 percent during the course
of the surge.
[00:32:28] Those are just a few of the big ideas that were at the center of our
comprehensive civil-military campaign to retrieve a very difficult situation in Iraq. Now,
those big ideas didn’t just fall out of a tree and hit us on the head like Newton’s apple. In
my experience, big ideas rarely do. Rather, big ideas tend to start as kernels of little
ideas, and they are then gradually developed, augmented, and refined through analysis,
study, and discussion. This process typically requires an ability by the organization’s
senior leaders to think creatively and critically about complex challenges and, quite often,
to embrace new concepts in addition to constantly testing one’s assumptions.
In Iraq, our big ideas did prove effective. When I left in 2008, improvements in
security had created space for economic, diplomatic, and political progress, although
innumerable threats and challenges clearly remained and still are evident in the Land of
the Two Rivers. Those improvements in security came not just because we had extra
coalition forces and, in time, substantially extra Iraqi forces. The improvements were
more attributable to how coalition and Iraqi commanders employed the extra forces and
how they were prepared to exploit opportunities. Getting the big ideas right was crucial
in guiding that employment, just as getting the big ideas right is crucial in any
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organizational endeavor.
[00:34:06] But while getting the big ideas right is critical, simply developing them
is, obviously, not enough. Indeed, the second task of a strategic leader is to communicate
those big ideas effectively. In tackling this task, strategic leaders should avail themselves
of all possible communication outlets, even those that may seem unorthodox. When
promoting our Counterinsurgency Field Manual, for example, one of the contributing
authors even made an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, although I note I
did leave that task to someone else, Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl, a great Rhodes scholar
and key member of our team. I told him that he was much funnier than I was, after all,
and he took the bait and volunteered. [audience laughter] And, in fact, he did a great job,
I should add, and he helped us reach an audience that otherwise might have eluded us.
We were also fortunate to have the manual reviewed favorably in The New York
Times Book Review. That had to be a first for an army field manual, even one that had
been downloaded some 1.5 million times in the first month on our website.
Now, in taking advantage of these less traditional platforms, we were following
through on our own firm belief that communication by strategic leadership should flow in
all possible directions. Throughout the surge, in fact, we made sure the communication
flowed upward through the chain of command, downward through our units and staffs,
and outward through coalition partners, interagency elements, host-nation partners, and
the press. The most important direction, though, was downward to the leaders and
troopers and units who were working to turn the big ideas into reality on the ground in a
tough fight.
In Iraq, communication of the new big ideas began the day I took command in my
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change-of-command speech, in fact, and then in a letter I sent that day to all of our
leaders and troopers. Beyond that, we rapidly incorporated the new big ideas into our
joint military and civilian campaign plan and into a host of addresses, command letters,
presentations at commanders’ conferences, briefings to superiors in higher headquarters,
press conferences and press releases, meetings with high-level visitors, and even
congressional hearings. Indeed, sometimes especially through congressional hearings,
right, Senator? We used every possible opportunity to communicate the big ideas, and
over time they took hold. Those responsible for executing them, as well as those
observing our efforts from the outside, came to understand what we were trying to do and
why we were trying to do it.
[00:36:46] The third function of strategic leadership, overseeing the
implementation of the big ideas, is, of course, absolutely critical as well. Whenever
possible, strategic leaders have to personally observe the conduct of operations, to be
present at various points of decision, to see various activities for themselves, and, in some
cases, even to direct them. Now, this should not be taken to imply micromanagement, for
implementing big ideas in large organizations typically requires the opposite,
empowering people and organizations to execute the ideas at lower levels without the
need for constant approval.
Indeed, carrying out the big ideas effectively requires empowering subordinate
leaders to exercise considerable initiative, and that was what we sought to do in Iraq. In
fact, I realized we were making progress on that score in Iraq when I was on patrol with a
young company commander in west Baghdad. He was only a few years older than the
students in our audience today, but he had been through more during his deployment than
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some experience in a lifetime. This young officer had posted a sign on the wall of his
command post that reflected wisdom beyond his years. Indeed, the sign summed up how
all of us should approach the concept of action. “In the absence of guidance or orders,” it
read, “figure out what they should have been and execute aggressively.” This young
leader “got” it, as they say. He captured the need to understand the overall objective and
then to encourage a bias for action. Not only did I take that sign back to the headquarters
with me that day, I then quickly incorporated that direction, the captain’s direction, into
the portion of our counterinsurgency guidance that began with the admonition “Promote
initiative.”
[00:38:43] When strategic leaders get the big ideas right, communicate them
effectively and then oversee their proper implementation, we then have the privilege of
seeing ideas turned into reality. As this takes place, it’s also the responsibility of
strategic leaders to ensure that best practices, as well as worst practices and, for that
matter, lessons that need to be learned are captured, shared, and, where appropriate,
institutionalized. Indeed, the long-term effectiveness of any organization, whether a
military unit, a civilian government agency, or a business, often depends on its ability to
identify adaptations that are proved effective in one area and then to implement them
across the organization. And, remember, a lesson has not truly been learned until it has
been incorporated as a refinement of the big ideas, a change in policy or plans, or an
adjustment to standing procedures.
In Iraq, as we implemented the big ideas, we tried to speed our learning process.
We deployed additional personnel to our units from the Lessons Learned Center at Fort
Leavenworth. We supported a new organization, the Asymmetric Warfare Group, which
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embedded experienced special operations leaders with deployed units. We created webbased virtual communities to link those in combat with those preparing to deploy. And
after we launched the surge, I ensured that each of our commanders’ gatherings in Iraq
included a portion of time set aside for leaders to share best practices and lessons of
general interest. Over time, these and other initiatives made sure that we continued to
learn and to adapt, and they provided the insights that guided us as we refined the big
ideas and then began the process all over again.
[00:40:40] That, then, is the essence of strategic leadership. Again, it’s a process
that may sound simple, but it is very difficult to carry out successfully. Getting the big
ideas right up front is very difficult, as are the tasks of communicating them effectively,
overseeing their implementation, and capturing lessons that need to be learned.
Moreover, to be effective, strategic leaders must avoid the temptation to make decisions
with an eye on their next promotion, the next election, their next bonus, or their desire to
gain the esteem of their peers or their countrymen. They must be willing to risk all of
those to choose the course that they think is right, even when—especially when the stakes
are high and success is far from certain.
As one of our nation’s greatest military leaders, Ulysses S. Grant, once observed,
“No man ought to win a victory who is not willing to run the risk of defeat.” I know that
many in this room are already established leaders, public servants who have given
significantly of their energy and expertise to provide the kind of strategic leadership I’ve
just discussed. And I know that many future leaders are among us as well, and for that
latter group, by way of preparation for the critically important roles in our society that
you will undoubtedly one day assume, I have, of course, a solemn obligation to offer a
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few words of final advice before I close. These are timeless principles, you’ll have heard
them before, principles that are applicable to leadership in any setting and at all levels of
management. They’re also, to repeat my earlier disclaimer, completely nonpartisan and I
offer them in the form of four admonitions.
[00:42:33] First, lead by example. Your subordinates will look to you for
information and for your take on events. They’ll follow your lead and your example.
Think carefully about that. Everything you do will be scrutinized, emulated, and
commented on by those you were privileged to lead. If you continue to lean forward,
your subordinates will too. If you make light of adversity, they’ll follow suit. But if you
slack off, if you let down, if you blow off the standard, they’ll do the same. Your attitude
will echo throughout your team or organization. The choice is yours. You can be a force
multiplier or an oxygen thief, a source of energy or an air leak. Remember that you can
overcome many shortcomings with a good attitude, a sincere desire to contribute, and a
great work ethic.
Second, listen and learn. Recognize that those you’ll lead will have a lot to teach
you. Indeed, many of those you’ll lead, no matter the field, will have experience in areas
that are unfamiliar to you but are, nevertheless, important to your work. Listening to
them will pay dividends.
Third, make decisions. Recognize that when the listening is done and the time for
decision has arrived, you must make the call. There will be many of those moments
when all eyes turn to you for a decision. Be ready for them. Indeed, embrace them, as
they will matter.
Fourth, lead and build your team. Keep in mind that as a leader it’s all about the
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team. Throughout high school and college, you’ve generally been graded on your
individual performance. As a leader, however, you’ll be graded on how your team or
organization does, not just on how you do. Indeed, as the great Yogi Berra once
observed after the New York Yankees won yet another World Series, “I couldn’t have
done it without the team.” [audience laughter]
[00:44:37] In truth, I know you’ve heard most of these points, if not all of them,
many times before, but please recall that it is one of the duties of retired four-star
generals to state the obvious on occasion. [audience laughter] And this is one of those
occasions. Beyond that, and more seriously, I wanted to highlight them today because
while they are fundamental, they are occasionally forgotten, and living them will stand
you in good stead as you develop your leadership skills and prepare to assume positions
of consequence in our society.
When you take on those positions, it’s important to remember one final point.
While leaders are occasionally born, more often they develop their skills and aptitude
through diligence and hard work. They practice, they study, they develop, and they
enhance their leadership skills over time. Through your academic studies here, you have
already begun developing a solid array of leadership attributes, but when you leave
school, you’ll discover that while individual study and education are of enormous
importance, you’ll learn the most about leadership from getting your hands dirty and your
boots dusty, as I often used to tell young cadets at West Point.
With that in mind, I’ll conclude this morning by recalling the words of America’s
twenty-sixth president, Teddy Roosevelt, taken from his so-called “Man in the Arena”
speech. “It is not the critic who counts,” Roosevelt observed, “not the man who points
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out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who was actually in the arena, whose face is marred by
dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and
again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually
strive to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends
himself in a worthy cause, who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that
his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor
defeat.”
[00:46:57] Many here this morning are already in the arena or have been there in
the past. Others will soon enter it. After all, the principal leader who is committed to
service, the kind of leader who chooses to enter the arena, is very much the kind of
individual who seeks the opportunity to study here and is, in turn, the kind of leader the
McConnell Center seeks to develop.
So as I close, I’d like to thank each of you for the leadership that you are
providing or for the leadership that you will provide when you leave the halls of this
wonderful institution. Good luck, Godspeed, and go Cardinals. Thank you very much.
[applause]
Ramsey: [00:48:18] General Petraeus, if you would come back up for just a moment. It
means so much to us that you’re here on the campus of the University of Louisville. We
thank you for your words, and, more than that, we thank you for all your service to the
people of this country and to the world. [applause] We have a small token of our
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appreciation for you being here today. [applause]
Gregg: [00:48:51] Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking, one more time,
General Petraeus, Senator McConnell, Secretary Chao. [applause]
[End of presentation]
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