No Turning Back

Today, on the very day of the book launch, we're excited to share this sneak peek of content with you. In this episode, you'll be hearing three clips of Stan's own voice as he reads excerpts from Risk: A User's Guide, to give you a taste of the other pages to follow.

Order your copy to Risk: A User's Guide, here: https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/library/risk-a-users-guide/

This week, Stan and Chris speak to chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, about risk: in the game of chess, and more broadly, in society. Garry is well-known as a World Chess Champion who famously dueled against IBM's supercomputer, Deep Blue. In recent years, Garry has been translating and expanding his focus to the Renew Democracy Initiative, which aims to promote and protect democracy worldwide.

 

Garry first came onto No Turning Back this past January, and Stan and Chris were intrigued by all Garry had to say about risk. This week, they take a fascinating deeper dive into how Garry thinks about risk and opportunity against an opponent, and the risks that Garry faced when he decided to play chess against a machine. Garry speaks to broader topics on how society now has a new relationship to risk post-COVID-19, and also speaks to disinformation – the risks it presents to our society on a national and global scale.

 

Risk: A User's Guide, will publish one week from today. You can learn more about Risk: A User's Guide, here: https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/library/risk-a-users-guide/.

Poker is a game of risk. The chances you take, the bets you make, determine the loss, or the reward. It's a heated calculus of quick decision-making, gut instinct, and strategy. This week, on the second episode of the Risk mini-series on No Turning Back, Stan and Chris speak to Annie Duke, a former professional poker player whose titles include the NBC National Poker Heads-Up Championship, as the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.   In today's discussion, Stan and Chris speak to Annie about why most people don't think probabilistically when making decisions, why uncertain decisions are often most impactful, and why no good decisions ever come from consensus. She speaks to the power of a pre-mortem to think through ways a plan can fail before it does, and discusses how poker players not only think about winning, but winning the most they absolutely can (even if it means taking on more risk). She brings an academic focus, and intense inquisitiveness, to the game, and her lessons and tactics about risk transcend poker.

Stan McChrystal has spent a lifetime attempting to mitigate risk: importantly, in the military, and critically now in the corporate sector. He concluded that we don't handle risk very well – at both the individual and organizational level. This reality had been percolating at the back of his mind for quite some time. The events of the last few years brought these issues to the front burner, and are the topic of his latest book, Risk: A User's Guide.

This mini-series on No Turning Back will analyze risk in several parts. Stan and Chris will kick off the series today by exploring how the special operations community thinks of, and responds to, risk.

Stan and Chris know the power of the Operations & Intelligence or O&I brief. As a part of Stan's efforts to transform Joint Special Operations Command, he leaned on Operations & Intelligence brief, or the O&I. It was a tremendously powerful tool that connected countries around the globe and drove the "battle rhythm" of the counterterrorist force.   This week's guest, Jeff Sonnenfeld, runs a similar forum at Yale University. Jeff, the Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies & a Professor in the Practice of Management at Yale University's School of Management, leads the CEO Summit, which brings leaders from top businesses, parts of government, and scholars from all corners to discuss important leadership topics.   In today's episode, Stan and Chris speak to Jeff about the CEO Summit. They discuss how and why Jeff created this format, like the O&I, a special tool to connect leaders everywhere against shared challenges. During the discussion, Jeff also speaks to the role of a leader: whether it is to have the moral courage or to appease the constituency.

No Turning Back has reached an important milestone: 50 episodes. In honor of this, we wanted to release some of the most thought-provoking moments from our guests. We've noticed some shared themes over these 50 episodes: leading through COVID-19, building strong, trusting networks, the importance of diversity and inclusion, the dangers and benefits of technology, as well as some odds-and-ends leadership insights.

Meet Norman Wright, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer at UnitedHealth Group. Norman, a long-time friend of McChrystal Group, brings a calm, analytical mind and 34 years of experience to the conversation with Stan and Chris. Norman speaks to the protests following George Floyd's murder, shares what it was like to fight against the war that is COVID-19, and how he thinks about balancing the risk of healthcare transformation when change is needed.

Meet Michael Dowling, the President and CEO of Northwell Health, the biggest healthcare provider in the State of New York. Their hospitals, like many around the country, battled against COVID-19, and are now responding to the variants spreading rapidly across the country.   Michael has fascinating leadership observations from COVID-19 that translate well to every challenge. In the conversation, he shares his own personal story of resilience, differentiates having a title from being a leader, and explains why rule-breaking is critical to innovation. Michael also tells us why hurling, an (often violent) Gaelic Irish sport, has affected his own leadership.   Seldom do Stan and Chris speak to a leader with a challenge like the one Michael Dowling faced leading the massive healthcare system during the pandemic. The conversation provides wisdom, offers humor, and a refreshing honesty and perspective that gives us much to think about as the pandemic continues.

Meet Brad Smith, former CEO of Intuit and its current Executive Chairman of its Board of Directors. Stan and Chris are fascinated by how Brad transformed Intuit, diving into leadership lessons learned while Brad was at the helm for 11 years. A West Virginia native, Brad Smith has most recently founded the Wing 2 Wing Foundation, aiming to provide education and entrepreneurial support to Americans in underserved communities. He applies the same customer-driven innovation principles that made him and the team successful at Intuit to these communities: starting with a hypothesis of how to improve conditions, then gathers a group of people, to create sustainable change.   In this discussion, Brad distinguishes passion for principles, explains why vulnerabilities are strengths, and discusses what he learned from President Kennedy's leadership in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Brad is a transformational leader at heart, focusing his efforts on how he can improve the world around him.

Meet Lidia Fonseca, an executive who sits at the center of both the technology and the pharmaceutical industries. Lidia is the Executive Vice President, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Pfizer and is responsible for the company's technology, data, and digital efforts. Her team was critical in developing the Pfizer vaccine - one that has given citizens everywhere hope after COVID-19. Stan and Chris speak to Lidia about how Pfizer and healthcare will be different after the pandemic, why it's important to focus on outcomes rather than activities, and how her leadership has changed after bringing Pfizer through COVID-19.