GEN McChrystal ’76 Leadership, Rationalization And Wisdom

General Stan McChrystal ’76 transformed American special operations, defeated Al Qaida in Iraq, and earned a reputation as one of America’s greatest living soldiers and leaders. McChrystal’s insight shines a light on a central truth about people. Human beings are not rational actors. We are rationalizing ones. We think that we have desires and then act on them. But in reality we take actions, then construct reasons (usually self-justifying ones) afterwards. How then, do leaders fight back against such pressures? How do we know when we’re succumbing to them? West Point’s cadet prayer can help. The prayer includes the sentence “Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.” Read more.