Tuesday, March 02, 2010
David Petraeus speaks at Princeton: The video
In fulfillment of a promise, here is the link to the video of General David Petraeus' speech at Princeton Saturday before last on the occasion of the awarding of the Madison Medal. It is more important, more interesting, and even more entertaining than anything you were going to watch on television for an hour. Especially if you have ever tried to effect organizational change, or hope to do.
2 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Mar 03, 11:55:00 AM:
One of the most impressive guys out there and an amazing leader. I think that the leadership ability is so compelling that when I think about him on the one hand and our other political leaders on the other, it seems like he has something so vital and lacking in the others. It's not hard to see why many continue to raise his name in a political context.
I can also glimpse why he may find that insufficiently interesting. He is a master of an organization that has tremendous capability, which he has shaped and tuned. And it lets him work his ideas from the "big idea" to their implementation. I think for an idea guy, he may have more effective power where he is, than he would have in a higher profile, more overtly political position.
TH, thanks for putting that up. It was a really good way to start the day.
M.E.
By , at
Mon Mar 08, 10:23:00 AM:
Many thanks for the Petraus video---extremely useful remarks on leadership. Wish Gen. McChrystal would apply some of those big ideas in Afghanistan!!! Petraus rightly pointed out that institutionalizing those ideas is a key leadership factor, and it has apparently not happened yet for the whole military...takes a long time to turn the Queen Mary around. best, Tom
