Leadership comes in many forms and styles. One might expect military leadership to be much less diverse, a one-dimensional, top-down and rigid leadership system, but that is not the case. In his TED Talk that has become a classic, former U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal shares some surprising and inspiring insights on effective leadership, including:

• The primary goal of leadership is to build consensus, a sense of shared purpose.
• Strong and trusting relationships are the foundation of effective leadership and cultivate a level of commitment that is essential for the success of the team.
• The key elements of commitment, loyalty, trust, faith, effort, respect, must all be reciprocal, flowing both ways between a leader and his/her subordinates.
• Effective listening and reverse mentoring are not only beneficial, but essential to fully access and leverage the skill set of those you are leading.

Watch McChrystal’s entire Ted Talk to experience his inspiring insights here.

‍About McChrystal
‍General Stanley McChrystal is a four-star general, former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan and the former leader of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). General McChrystal has been credited with fusing intelligence and operations for groundbreaking effect in modern warfare. In leading JSOC, McChrystal’s leadership spanned operatives from 20 countries with extreme diversity in culture, background, age and skills sets. McChrystal’s leadership of JSOC is credited with the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein.