TED Talks: Listen, Learn.....Then Lead

     For those of you who are not familiar with TED Talks, they are an insightful series of speakers who present on a variety of topics that are meant to be inspiring and stimulating. I've included my favorite one below, conducted by Stanley McCrystal, a former four-star general in the United States military and previous Commander of the International Security Assistance Force and of all U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

     McCrystal was the unfortunate subject of a well publicized fall from grace. A 2010 Rolling Stone article revealed off color remarks made by McCrystal's staff that criticized the Obama administration, high ranking national security officials and Vice President Joe Biden. Despite never being directly quoted, McCrystal immediately tendered his resignation, which was then accepted by President Obama.

     Despite this, I think McCrystal was an incredible leader and did an extraordinary job as the leader of U.S. and Allied forces in Afghanistan. He is also credited with being extremely influential within the Special Operations community for the way he pushed to expand their capabilities and increase their utilization, something that was misunderstood for many years. Following his departure from the military McCrystal went to Yale University where he taught a graduate seminar on modern leadership. There is no question that he has a wealth of knowledge and experience regarding effective leadership. Tune in to see what he has to say: