Episodes
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No Turning Back first began in April of 2020, originating as a video series where Stan McChrystal and Chris Fussell would speak with some of the world’s most consequential leaders about leadership and resilience through such unprecedented times. This video series served as a way to bring people together for a conversation and gave viewers a slight reprieve from the uncertainty in our world. We quickly realized there was a larger audience who were looking for impactful conversations like No Turning Back.
Since then, we’ve released over 75 conversations with leaders of all different backgrounds and industries, discussing their experiences facing the pressing challenges they and their organizations encounter every day. As we wrap up this series, we’re taking a look back at the favorite episodes from our team who helped create No Turning Back from behind the scenes.
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This week, we are featuring an episode on leadership with a conversation between Stan, Chris, and Bill McDermott, the Chief Executive Officer of ServiceNow, a role he assumed in November of 2019. Bill has led innovation at the company as it has been at the forefront of digital transformation and shares his insights on company culture, leadership, and adaptation in business.
They discuss the characteristics of what makes a successful leader and how to navigate uncertainty when innovating. Bill details his experiences leading teams, what he envisions as the future of technology, and how it must improve people’s lives. Bill also shares his thoughts on the most pressing challenges facing leaders today, headlined by retention and creating a work environment that suits employees’ shifting needs.
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Missing episodes?
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This week, we have a very special episode on leadership with a conversation Stan and Chris had with Linda Rendle. Linda is chief executive officer at The Clorox Company, a position she assumed in September 2020.
They discuss agile leadership, innovation, and the importance of preparing for an unpredictable future. Linda shares lessons learned from leading The Clorox Company during COVID, her pride in her team, and the resiliency they demonstrated.
Linda shares with us why learning is a business imperative and how it accelerated the development of a learning culture at Clorox. They talk about her career choices, experiences that helped her become CEO, and how her values have guided her professional growth. This conversation is rich with actionable insights on how leaders at all stages of their journey can lead resilient teams during crises and beyond.
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This week, Stan and Chris conclude the demystifying DEI mini-series of No Turning Back, looking back on the four episodes, and looking ahead to how we can all be more intentional in our commitment to making progress in diversity, equity and inclusion.
We hope you’ve enjoyed listening to different perspectives of DEI, the lessons learned, and the individual journey leaders have taken. If you’ve enjoyed these conversations, visit our website, McChrystalGroup.com for resources on Inclusive Leadership.
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This week, we continue our Demystifying DEI mini-series with a conversation Stan had with Elena Kvochko, the first Chief Trust Officer at SAP, a role she began at the height of the pandemic. In this role, Elena leads a team of security architects and focuses on building trust through a culture of accountability and openness.
In this fascinating discussion, Elena shares how DEI and trust interlink through the framework of people, processes, and techniques and the tangible impact of DEI initiatives across the three. Stan and Elena discussed the implications of the change in the security threat landscape from organizations being more reliant on technology than ever before. This conversation unpacks the trust equation, how to measure trust, and the importance of actions speaking louder than words.
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This week, we continue our Demystifying DEI miniseries with the conversation Stan and Chris had with Susan O'Malley. Susan serves as the Head of Strategy for Personalized Medicine at Genentech. She brings together creative leadership with decision-making and long-term future thinking in this role. Prior, she spent almost a decade at the design and innovation firm IDEO and began the first chapter of her career at Google.
In this fascinating discussion, Stan and Chris dive deep into the journey of diversity, equity, and inclusion and why this is the grand challenge of our time. They explore why equity can be a stopping point for leaders and how leaders can be more inclusive. This conversation unpacks how to develop diverse teams, sharing the five dynamics as a powerful tool for balanced teams.
Susan shares the importance of authenticity in our relationships. How being intentional with the process is critical, and why different perspectives are key for effective collaboration. We were enthralled by the wealth of insights Susan shared and will include the resources she referenced in the show notes.
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Over the next several weeks, Stan and Chris will embark on a new miniseries called Demystifying DEI, where we will look at how organizations are approaching the important work of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In this series, we're excited to hear how industry leaders are authentically incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into their organizations, investing in their people to drive change, and the lessons they have learned through curiosity and trial. This week, we kick off our Demystifying DEI miniseries with a conversation Stan and Chris had with Ebbie Parsons. Ebbie is the Founder and Managing Partner of Yardstick Management, America's leading Black-owned management consultant firm. In this discussion, Stan and Chris dive deep into the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. They explore the business case for DEI, the importance of diversifying your network, and how processes and systems can enable advancements. Ebbie shares why it's critical that we all drive intentional change across organizations and why it's a marathon and not a sprint. This conversation is rich with actionable insights on how leaders can do the demanding work to develop an equitable society for all. We were really interested in hearing about Ebbie's work with business leaders as we started the Demystifying DEI series of No Turning Back.
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This week Stan and Chris conclude the No Turning Back miniseries. They reflect on the four past episodes, exploring insights from their guests on how they implemented Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast in their leadership.
Thank you for joining us for this miniseries. We hope these episodes have prompted you to think about how you can lead during unpredictability, be more intentional in your leadership, and better adapt to the changing environment.
If you’ve enjoyed this miniseries, please visit mcchrsytalgroup.com for our Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast resources page, where you can download our latest playbook.
Our next No Turning Back miniseries coming to you soon is called Demystifying Diversity Equity and Inclusion.
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As a part of the “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast” series of No Turning Back, Stan and Chris were eager to speak with Jake Wood, the founder and CEO of Groundswell.
Jake's career began in the military – he was a Marine and upon leaving the military founded Team Rubicon, an organization that position veterans to help in disaster response. Most recently, Jake founded Groundswell, a nonprofit that aims to change charitable giving.
Stan spoke to Jake about intentional decision making, how Jake successfully grew and led Team Rubicon and had tremendous impact, how he intentionally made career pivots, and his current work at Groundswell and its efforts to disrupt corporate giving.
Overall, Stan spoke to Jake about how he thinks about evolving while remaining focused and competitive as the world changes around him. Jake is a fascinating thought leader and guest. We hope our discussion here is thought provoking and enjoyable.
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As a part of the “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast” series of No Turning Back, Stan and Chris were excited to speak with Meg Gentle, the Executive Director of HIF USA. Meg has had an impressive 25-year career in the energy industry. A former oil & gas executive, she recently left the business to focus on decarbonization, with goals to return our planet to a CO2 homeostasis.
In this discussion, Stan and Chris ask Meg about the future of the energy sector: what leadership will look like, and how and when we should act during the ongoing challenge of climate change. It’s a timely, necessary conversation, and we think you’ll learn something useful. -
We're officially in the "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast" series, with a special guest: Bruce Broussard, the CEO of Humana. As organizations jump into 2022, they are eager to start the year with energy and vigor and leave behind the challenges of the past two years. We know all organizations – especially ones in healthcare, like Humana – must be more intentional than ever before.
In this episode, we spoke with Bruce Broussard and how speed affects the healthcare system. Bruce speaks about how the healthcare system should adopt the "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast" idea by focusing on disease prevention, not just treatment. Stan and Bruce speak about why and how digital transformation is an evolution of the healthcare system, and even touch on the recent Theranos trial - considering how innovation will continue to affect the healthcare system.
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Over the next several weeks, Stan and Chris will be embarking on a new mini-series, called “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast.” The title comes from a concept in special operations, where operators move more methodically and slowly to make fewer mistakes. In this series, we’re curious to hear how leaders are tackling unpredictability, being intentional in their leadership, and adapting to crises as they unfold.
This week, we are teasing the mini-series with a conversation with Carl Liebert. Carl currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of kwx of Keller Williams. A member of the United States Naval Academy’s basketball team, Carl went on to serve in the Navy, before navigating his way through a variety of positions in General Electric, Circuit City, Home Depot, 24Hour Fitness Worldwide, and USAA.
In this discussion, Stan and Chris learn more about how Carl navigates new industries and role positions. They get Carl’s take on the role that both truth, and curiosity, play in a board of directors meeting, and hear about how Carl thinks about his first 90 days at any position. We were really interested in hearing about the intentionality behind all of Carl’s decisions, as we start the “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast” series of No Turning Back.
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As we conclude this “Future Focused” series that looks to the future of work and our world at large, we were really interested in exploring how cities and businesses will grow together. Meet Maggie Hsu, the former Chief of Staff to the late CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, who was heavily involved in the Downtown Project. The Downtown Project aimed to build and revitalize the community of Las Vegas. Maggie has spent her career thinking ahead about ways to make our future world better.
In this episode, Maggie explains the intent and legacy of the Downtown Project, dives into holacracy and its connections to blockchain, how cities can be cryptofriendly, and how she thinks work, life, and play have fundamentally changed after the pandemic. It's one of our more thought-provoking discussions as we look ahead to 2022.
This wraps up our No Turning Back content for 2021 - we look forward to an exciting year exploring new topics, and mini-series, with you next year.
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How should we think about the future of technology in the military? How will warfighters leverage technology, artificial intelligence, and new innovations to best react to the conflicts that await us?
These are the sorts of questions on Major General Heather Pringle's mind, as the Commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory. Major General Pringle serves as the Technology Executive Officer, whose work and research supports the Air Force and Space Force.In this episode, we hear about Major General Pringle's team of 6,000 folks who aim to create an exhaustive portfolio of technology that predicts new fighting environments and challenges for the military. Major General Pringle speaks about the symbiosis between technology and humans, how the basic "to-do" lists for warfighters today are similar to how they've always been (though the technology applied will be different), and the role that ethics plays in her lab. Major General Pringle discusses how her team is pushing to the exciting edge of technology - and we think you'll really enjoy what she has to say.
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What will "work" look like in 2022, and the years beyond it?
Meet Philip Ross, a futurist who specializes on how technology influences how we live, work, shop, and socialize. He's our guest today on No Turning Back in the next episode of the "Future Focused" series. He is the founder of UnGroup and Cordless Group, and aims to help organizations navigate the future workplace. He advises companies, runs workshops and conferences, and writes books about the Future of Work, generously giving his time to us as we look ahead to the work place awaiting us. -
Welcome to the Future Focused series of No Turning Back. As we end 2021 and take the step into 2022, we will be having future-focused conversations: largely talking about the future of work, but also the human-AI experience, technological innovation in the military, drafting out and discussing what our world will look like in the years to come.
Bob Johansen, this week's guest, kicks off the mini-series. Bob is a self-proclaimed "futurist" who looks at life backwards, focusing ten years ahead as he makes predictions about the life waiting for him. Bob is a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future, where he helps organizations get ready for, and influence, the future. He has been doing this work for 30 years while also authoring or co-authoring a massive 12 books on the subject.
In today's discussions, Bob explains that all humans will be cyborgs in 10 years, why he dislikes the term "artificial intelligence," and why good leaders must be digital leaders. He shared one of the more interesting and important questions in the future is: what can humans do best? And what can computers do best? He challenges us to focus on the hopeful potentials of both the human and the machine. -
This week, Stan and Chris conclude the Risk mini-series of No Turning Back, looking back on the six episodes, and looking ahead to the greatest risks facing our nation and world.
Our podcast, after all, is called No Turning Back, and Stan and Chris will leave you today with clear insights into the challenges that lay ahead. Our next mini-series, coming to you within a matter of weeks, is about the Future of Work.
If you've enjoyed the Risk mini-series and are looking for more, pick up a copy of Stan's latest book, Risk: A User's Guide, which is available everywhere books are sold. https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/library/risk-a-users-guide/ -
This week, we continue our risk mini-series on No Turning Back, with a very special, distinguished guest: John Chambers, the former chairman of S&P’s sovereign rating committee. We couldn’t think of a better guest to discuss the nuances of financial risk.
John spent 24 years at Standard & Poor’s, or S&P, and is known most for downgrading the US credit rating in 2011. His insights and experiences are topical and relevant as the United States worked through the debt ceiling debate earlier this month. In the discussion, John shares his perspective on today’s debt ceiling debates, the five components of S&P’s risk assessment, and how he teaches risk at the Executive MBA level at NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Stan and Chris’s reflections in today’s episode were particularly thought-provoking. They dive into existential risk: when and how leaders consider how entire efforts will fall apart, how we should be thinking about the risk to our republic, and also discuss how a “crisis in confidence” can generate more risk to our society.
Stan’s latest book, Risk: A User’s Guide, touches on more topics like these. You can learn more here: https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/library/risk-a-users-guide/
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This week, Stan and Chris speak to Bob Wood, the former Chairman and CEO of Chemtura Corporation. Bob has an impressive career navigating business risk: before Chemtura, Bob was an executive at Dow Chemical, spending over two decades there and climbing the ranks in the business. He has been a member of a variety of impressive boards, including the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, MRC Global, Praxair Inc., and Univar Solutions, to name a few. Notably, Bob is a member of the board of directors at McChrystal Group, where Stan and Chris have worked closely with him for a number of years.
In this week's episode, Bob explains why market leaders need to be paranoid and why market laggards need to be creative. He walks us through how his own thinking of risk has evolved as he became responsible for others leading a team and how he thinks of risk as a member of boards of directors. Bob challenges leaders to understand the risk upfront through good questions, rather than understanding it from hindsight. He also outlines how he'd prompt younger leaders to think about the relationship between risk and opportunity.
Learn more about Stan's latest book, Risk: A User's Guide, here: https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/library/risk-a-users-guide/
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