Stanley Mcchrystal: Leadership And The Power Of Leadership

Leadership is a multidimensional skill that in necessary in a wide variety of situations. In the video, Stanley McChrystal describes how he found himself in a situation where leadership was essential, yet exceedingly difficult. Stanley found that the situation had unique obstacles and that the environment had changed dramatically from the one to which he was accustomed. Yet similarly to many great leaders before him, Stanley utilized his skills and knowledge to learn and to grow his leadership ability to provide quality leadership to those who followed him. This paper is going to cover some of the ways Stanley was able to accomplish this task.

The textbook defines a vision as “a general idea of where you want to go and how you plan to get there.”

However, from the content of the video it is clear that Stanley is not a “lone wolf” leader. As we discussed in the second paragraph, Stanley gathered group consensus and worked towards a shared purpose. While this does not line up exactly with the textbook, I believe that by doing so Stanley was sharing the vision. Furthermore, Stanley shared relationships by empowering followers under him to work together on missions that were thousands of miles away from him. Since Stanley himself referenced how many individuals he led I do not believe there is any way that he could have not shared decision making. Finally, giving orders is a primary responsibility of any leader in the military so therefore I believe Stanley shared tasks through

While his situation is vastly different from the ones many managers find themselves in, the core principles of leadership still hold strong. From developing and sharing a vision to motivating followers, Stanley exemplifies many of the qualities of great leadership. Not all of his strategies will be applicable in the business sector, but great leaders adapt their leadership to get the best from their followers in whatever environment they are in. This ability to adapt leadership, along with his application of leadership detailed above, is what makes Stanley McChrystal such a profound