Ten years ago, on a Tuesday morning, I conducted a parachute jump at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was a routine training jump, like many more I'd done since I became a paratrooper 27 years before. We went down to the airfield early because this is the Army and you always go early. You do some routine refresher training, and then you go to put on your parachute and a buddy helps you. And you put on the T-10 parachute. And you're very careful how you put the straps, particularly the leg straps because they go between your legs. And then you put on your reserve, and then you put on your heavy rucksack. And then a jumpmaster comes, and he's an experienced NCO in parachute operations. He checks you out, he grabs your adjusting straps and he tightens everything so that your chest is crushed, your shoulders are crushed down, and, of course, he's tightened so your voice goes up a couple octaves as well. Then you sit down, and you wait a little while, because this is the Army. Then you load the aircraft, and then you stand up and you get on, and you kind of lumber to the aircraft like this, in a line of people, and you sit down on canvas seats on either side of the aircraft. And you wait a little bit longer, because this is the Air Force teaching the Army how to wait.
十年前,一個星期二的早上, 我在北卡羅萊納的布拉格堡指揮帶領一次跳傘 這就是一次例行的跳傘訓練, 和我27年前成為一名傘兵後 的許多次跳傘沒什麼不同。 我們提前到達機場 因為軍隊就是這樣,你永遠都要提前。 做了一些例行的複習訓練, 然後就在一個同伴的幫助下,穿上降落傘, 降落傘的型號是T10。 你要非常留意綁帶子的環節, 尤其是腿上的帶子,因為它們穿過兩腿中央。 然後再背上備用傘,然後是死沉的帆布背包。 接著一位跳傘指揮員走過來, 他是有著豐富跳傘訓練經驗的軍士。 他負責檢查你的裝備,抓著你調整那些帶子, 把能拉緊的都拉緊。 緊到胸口被擠壓, 肩膀被拉扯向下, 當然隨著他的收緊,你的聲音都會高上幾個八度。 然後就坐下來,等上一會兒, 因為軍隊就是這樣。 然後就要登機了,你站起來,走上飛機 你登機的樣子有點笨拙像這樣——排成一排—— 然後坐在飛機兩側的帆布椅子上。 這時你要等的時間會稍微長些, 因為空軍就是這麼教給我們陸軍的。
Then you take off. And it's painful enough now -- and I think it's designed this way -- it's painful enough so you want to jump. You didn't really want to jump, but you want out. So you get in the aircraft, you're flying along, and at 20 minutes out, these jumpmasters start giving you commands. They give 20 minutes -- that's a time warning. You sit there, OK. Then they give you 10 minutes. And of course, you're responding with all of these. And that's to boost everybody's confidence, to show that you're not scared. Then they give you, "Get ready." Then they go, "Outboard personnel, stand up." If you're an outboard personnel, now you stand up. If you're an inboard personnel, stand up. And then you hook up, and you hook up your static line. And at that point, you think, "Hey, guess what? I'm probably going to jump. There's no way to get out of this at this point." You go through some additional checks, and then they open the door.
然後就起飛了。 到這會已經非常不舒服了—— 而我覺得它是故意這麼設計的—— 它就是讓你不舒服到想趕緊跳下去 你並不是真的想跳,但你想出去。 於是你爬上飛機,飛到半空中, 飛了大概20分鐘以後,這些跳傘指揮員開始給你下指令。 他們告訴還有20分鐘——這是一個倒計時提醒。 你坐在那裡,好吧。 接著他們告訴你還有10分鐘。 當然,你要對這些一一做出回應。 那是為了鼓舞大家的士氣,告訴別人你不害怕。 然後他們會說:“準備。” 然後說:“出艙人員,全體起立。” 如果你是一個要出艙的人員,你現在就要站起來了。 而如果你是一名艙內人員,你也要站起來。 然後你要掛上鉤,就是鉤上你的強制開傘拉繩。 到這一刻,你會想:“嘿,怎麼樣? 可能我還是要跳。 到了這會兒已經沒別的退路了。” 你再做些額外的檢查工作,然後他們就打開了機艙門。
And this was that Tuesday morning in September, and it was pretty nice outside. So nice air comes flowing in. The jumpmasters start to check the door. And then when it's time to go, a green light goes and the jumpmaster goes, "Go." The first guy goes, and you're just in line, and you just kind of lumber to the door. Jump is a misnomer; you fall. You fall outside the door, you're caught in the slipstream. The first thing you do is lock into a tight body position -- head down in your chest, your arms extended, put over your reserve parachute. You do that because, 27 years before, an airborne sergeant had taught me to do that. I have no idea whether it makes any difference, but he seemed to make sense, and I wasn't going to test the hypothesis that he'd be wrong. And then you wait for the opening shock for your parachute to open. If you don't get an opening shock, you don't get a parachute -- you've got a whole new problem set. But typically you do; typically it opens. And of course, if your leg straps aren't set right, at that point you get another little thrill. Boom.
就在那個九月的星期二早晨, 外面一切都很美好。 新鮮空氣涌進機艙, 跳傘指揮員開始檢查艙門, 然後時間到了, 一盞綠燈亮了,跳傘指揮員說了聲“跳”! 第一人跳下去了,你在後面排著, 你搖搖晃晃走到門口, 說跳其實不太恰當,你其實是掉下去。 你從艙門掉出去, 掉進螺旋槳捲起的氣流裏。 你首先要做的就是擺出一個緊張的姿勢—— 頭貼近胸部,雙臂張開, 抱住你的備用傘。 之所以這麼做是因為27年前, 一位空警就是這麼教我的。 我也不知道這麼做有什麽意義, 但他似乎有他的道理。 我也不想驗證假設他是不是錯的。 然後你等待降落傘打開的瞬間 把你嚇上一跳。 如果你沒被嚇一跳,那就是你沒帶降落傘—— 那你面對的就是另外一類問題了。 但一般來說,你會被嚇一跳;一般來說,你的傘會打開。 當然,如果你腿上的帶子綁的不對的話, 傘打開的時候你還會額外吃一驚。 嘭!
So then you look around, you're under a canopy and you say, "This is good." Now you prepare for the inevitable. You are going to hit the ground. You can't delay that much. And you really can't decide where you hit very much, because they pretend you can steer, but you're being delivered. So you look around, where you're going to land, you try to make yourself ready. And then as you get close, you lower your rucksack below you on a lowering line, so that it's not on you when you land, and you prepare to do a parachute-landing fall. Now the Army teaches you to do five points of performance -- the toes of your feet, your calves, your thighs, your buttocks and your push-up muscles. It's this elegant little land, twist and roll. And that's not going to hurt. In 30-some years of jumping, I never did one. (Laughter) I always landed like a watermelon out of a third floor window.
然後你環顧四周, 你的副官說:“還不錯。” 現在你要為之後無可避免的事做好準備。 你就要降落到地面了。 你拖不了太久。 而且你也不太能決定自己降落的地點。 因為雖然他們假設你可以掌握方向, 但你其實是被丟擲下來的。 所以你東張西望,看看自己將會落在什麽地方, 努力讓自己準備好。 當你逐漸靠近地面時,把你背後的背包放低一些, 這樣當你降落的時候它不會砸到你身上。 這樣你就做好了跳傘著陸的準備了。 這時部隊教過你 要注意5個地方—— 腳趾, 腿肚子,大腿, 屁股,和你的背肌。 就是類似這樣帶點小優雅的著陸,蜷起身,一滾。 這樣就不會受傷。 在30年來的跳傘生涯里,我一次都沒完成過。 (觀眾笑聲) 我的著陸總像從三樓窗戶扔出來的西瓜。
(Laughter)
(觀眾笑聲)
And as soon as I hit, the first thing I did is I'd see if I'd broken anything that I needed. I'd shake my head, and I'd ask myself the eternal question: "Why didn't I go into banking?" (Laughter) And I'd look around, and then I'd see another paratrooper, a young guy or girl, and they'd have pulled out their M4 carbine and they'd be picking up their equipment. They'd be doing everything that we had taught them. And I realized that, if they had to go into combat, they would do what we had taught them and they would follow leaders. And I realized that, if they came out of combat, it would be because we led them well. And I was hooked again on the importance of what I did.
我一落地, 第一件事就是看看有沒有把什麽地方摔斷了。 我搖搖頭, 總是問自己那個問題: “當初我爲什麽不去搞金融業?” (觀眾笑聲) 然後我環顧四周, 看到其他的降落傘, 年輕的男兵或女兵, 他們已經端起他們的M-4自動步槍 收拾起他們的裝備。 他們所做的一切 都是我們之前教給他們的。 我意識到, 如果他們不得不投入戰鬥, 他們做的都是我們教給他們的,而且他們將跟隨他們的指揮官。 我還意識到,如果他們能從戰鬥中安全歸來, 那也是因為有我們好好的帶領他們。 我再次感受到我的工作的重要性。
So now I do that Tuesday morning jump, but it's not any jump -- that was September 11th, 2001. And when we took off from the airfield, America was at peace. When we landed on the drop-zone, everything had changed. And what we thought about the possibility of those young soldiers going into combat as being theoretical was now very, very real -- and leadership seemed important. But things had changed; I was a 46-year-old brigadier general. I'd been successful, but things changed so much that I was going to have to make some significant changes, and on that morning, I didn't know it.
這就是那個星期二清晨的跳傘訓練, 但那是一次不同尋常的訓練—— 那天是2001年的9月11日。 當我們從機場起飛時,美國還是太平無事。 而當我們在降落區著陸時,一切都不同了。 曾經我們以為 這些年輕士兵投入戰鬥的可能性 只是理論上的, 但現在卻是非常非常真切的了—— 而此時領導力似乎非常重要。 但情況已經發生變化—— 那時我是一名46歲的準將。 我一直都是順風順水。 但是在劇變發生時, 我不得不做出一些重大改變—— 而在那個清晨,我對此還一無所知。
I was raised with traditional stories of leadership: Robert E. Lee, John Buford at Gettysburg. And I also was raised with personal examples of leadership. This was my father in Vietnam. And I was raised to believe that soldiers were strong and wise and brave and faithful; they didn't lie, cheat, steal or abandon their comrades. And I still believe real leaders are like that. But in my first 25 years of career, I had a bunch of different experiences.
我是讀著傳統經典將領的故事長大的: 如李將軍和巴福德的格底斯堡戰役。 在我成長過程中, 身邊就有軍事領導能力的活榜樣。 就是參加過越戰的父親。 我從小就堅信 戰士就應該是精明強幹, 勇敢堅定—— 他們不欺騙不作弊不偷竊, 也不會拋棄他們的戰友。 我至今仍相信真正的領袖都是這樣的。 但是在我的軍事生涯的頭25年, 我的很多經驗卻大相徑庭。
One of my first battalion commanders, I worked in his battalion for 18 months and the only conversation he ever had with Lt. McChrystal was at mile 18 of a 25-mile road march, and he chewed my ass for about 40 seconds. And I'm not sure that was real interaction. But then a couple of years later, when I was a company commander, I went out to the National Training Center. And we did an operation, and my company did a dawn attack -- you know, the classic dawn attack: you prepare all night, move to the line of departure. And I had an armored organization at that point. We move forward, and we get wiped out -- I mean, wiped out immediately. The enemy didn't break a sweat doing it. And after the battle, they bring this mobile theater and they do what they call an "after action review" to teach you what you've done wrong. Sort of leadership by humiliation. They put a big screen up, and they take you through everything: "and then you didn't do this, and you didn't do this, etc." I walked out feeling as low as a snake's belly in a wagon rut. And I saw my battalion commander, because I had let him down. And I went up to apologize to him, and he said, "Stanley, I thought you did great." And in one sentence, he lifted me, put me back on my feet, and taught me that leaders can let you fail and yet not let you be a failure.
最早期的營長之一, 我曾在他的營隊呆過18個月, 他和身為少尉的我的唯一一次談話 發生在某次25英里行軍的第18英里。 他狠狠教訓了我大概40秒。 我甚至不敢肯定那算不算真正的互動。 但是幾年後,當我成為一名連長, 來到全國訓練中心 我們進行一次軍事演習, 而我的連隊要發動一次拂曉進攻—— 你知道,就是最經典的拂曉進攻: 你整夜備戰,然後運動到衝鋒線上。 當時我的團隊都是全副武裝。 我們沖上去,然後就被幹掉了—— 我是說:秒殺。 敵人完全不費吹灰之力就把我們幹掉了。 戰鬥結束後, 他們搞了一出活報劇,進行所謂的“事後回顧” 來教育你什麽地方做的不對。 通過羞辱你來培養你的領導能力。 他們架起一個大屏幕,帶你回顧整個過程。 “那時你沒做這個,然後你又沒做這個,等等。” 我走出去的時候感到 自己簡直一文不如。 我找到我的營長,因為我讓他丟臉了, 於是就跑過去向他道歉, 然而他說,“斯坦利,我覺得你做的很好。” 就這麼一句話, 他就讓我振作起來,重新抬起了頭, 他教會我,領袖可以讓你不及格, 但又不會讓你成為一個失敗者。
When 9/11 came, 46-year-old Brig. Gen. McChrystal sees a whole new world. First, the things that are obvious, that you're familiar with: the environment changed -- the speed, the scrutiny, the sensitivity of everything now is so fast, sometimes it evolves faster than people have time to really reflect on it. But everything we do is in a different context. More importantly, the force that I led was spread over more than 20 countries. And instead of being able to get all the key leaders for a decision together in a single room and look them in the eye and build their confidence and get trust from them, I'm now leading a force that's dispersed, and I've got to use other techniques. I've got to use video teleconferences, I've got to use chat, I've got to use email, I've got to use phone calls -- I've got to use everything I can, not just for communication, but for leadership. A 22-year-old individual operating alone, thousands of miles from me, has got to communicate to me with confidence. I have to have trust in them and vice versa. And I also have to build their faith. And that's a new kind of leadership for me.
當911來臨, 46歲的我作為一名準中將看到了一個全新的世界。 首先,形勢很明顯,那些你所熟知的: 環境在改變—— 每件事的節奏,監管, 以及敏感性現在都加快了, 有時它們變得如此之快 以至於人們幾乎沒時間去真正思考。 但我們現在做的每一件事 都處於一個不同的背景。 更重要的是,我所領導的隊伍 散佈在20多個國家。 現在已經不可能做到召集所有的主要領導 聚集在一個房間里一起做一個決定 也無法直視他們的眼睛堅定他們的信心 并獲得他們的信任, 我現在所領導的隊伍是分散的, 我必須利用其他手段。 我必須利用視頻會議,聊天軟件, 電子郵件,以及電話—— 我必須利用我所能用的一切手段 不僅是為了溝通, 更是爲了領導他們。 一名22歲的單兵, 孤身行動 距離我幾千英里 他可以確定可以和我溝通。 我們必須彼此信任對方。 我也必須樹立他們的信心。 這是一種新的領導方式 對我而言。
We had one operation where we had to coordinate it from multiple locations. An emerging opportunity came -- didn't have time to get everybody together. So we had to get complex intelligence together, we had to line up the ability to act. It was sensitive, we had to go up the chain of command, convince them that this was the right thing to do and do all of this on electronic medium. We failed. The mission didn't work. And so now what we had to do is I had to reach out to try to rebuild the trust of that force, rebuild their confidence -- me and them, and them and me, and our seniors and us as a force -- all without the ability to put a hand on a shoulder. Entirely new requirement.
曾經有一次行動 我們必須在多個地點協同作戰。 一個偶然的機會出現了—— 沒時間知會所有人。 所以我們必須都瞭解這一複雜的情報, 我們必須依次逐級採取行動。 這件事很敏感,所以我們又必須逐級上報, 說服他們這樣做是正確的, 所有這一切 都要通過電子通訊。 結果我們失敗了。 任務沒能完成。 所以現在我們必須要做的就是, 我必須四處活動 試圖重建那支部隊的信任 重樹他們的信心—— 他們對我以及我對他們的信心和信任 以及我們的上級單位和我們之間作為一個團體的信心—— 在做這些努力的時候都不具備和對方促膝長談的條件。 這是全新的要求。
Also, the people had changed. You probably think that the force that I led was all steely-eyed commandos with big knuckle fists carrying exotic weapons. In reality, much of the force I led looked exactly like you. It was men, women, young, old -- not just from military; from different organizations, many of them detailed to us just from a handshake. And so instead of giving orders, you're now building consensus and you're building a sense of shared purpose. Probably the biggest change was understanding that the generational difference, the ages, had changed so much. I went down to be with a Ranger platoon on an operation in Afghanistan, and on that operation, a sergeant in the platoon had lost about half his arm throwing a Taliban hand grenade back at the enemy after it had landed in his fire team. We talked about the operation, and then at the end I did what I often do with a force like that. I asked, "Where were you on 9/11?" And one young Ranger in the back -- his hair's tousled and his face is red and windblown from being in combat in the cold Afghan wind -- he said, "Sir, I was in the sixth grade." And it reminded me that we're operating a force that must have shared purpose and shared consciousness, and yet he has different experiences, in many cases a different vocabulary, a completely different skill set in terms of digital media than I do and many of the other senior leaders. And yet, we need to have that shared sense.
而且,人員也在發生變化。 你可能以為我所帶領的部隊 都是眼神堅毅的突擊隊員,四肢粗壯, 裝備精良武器。 事實上, 我所領導的大部份人 看起來就像在座各位。 就是些男人,女人,年輕人,年長者—— 不僅僅來自軍隊;也來自其他組織, 很多人都只是一面之緣,就開始合作。 所以我要做的不是發號施令, 而是要取得一致, 建立其一種共同的使命感。 最大的變化可能就是 理解不同時代的差異, 年齡的變化太大了。 有一次我帶領一個排的突擊隊員 在阿富汗斯坦執行一個任務, 在這次行動中, 排里的一個中士 失去了他的半個手臂 因為他把一個塔利班的手雷 扔回給敵人, 那個手雷之前正落在他的隊友中間。 我們聊起了那次行動, 一般在和部隊進行這樣的懇談的最後, 我都會問,“911發生的時候你們在哪?” 一個坐在後面的年輕突擊隊員—— 他的頭髮亂糟糟的,臉被風吹的通紅, 那是在阿富汗的寒風中戰鬥的結果—— 他回答道,“長官,那時我在六年級。” 而這提醒了我 我們現在所領導的部隊 必須有著共同的目標 共同的觀念, 但卻有著不同的經驗, 在很多時候甚至使用不同的詞彙, 整體上完全不同的技術, 尤其是在使用數字媒體時, 與我和其他很多年長領導者所使用的已經大相徑庭。 但即便如此,我們也需要擁有共同的感受。
It also produced something which I call an inversion of expertise, because we had so many changes at the lower levels in technology and tactics and whatnot, that suddenly the things that we grew up doing wasn't what the force was doing anymore. So how does a leader stay credible and legitimate when they haven't done what the people you're leading are doing? And it's a brand new leadership challenge. And it forced me to become a lot more transparent, a lot more willing to listen, a lot more willing to be reverse-mentored from lower. And yet, again, you're not all in one room. Then another thing. There's an effect on you and on your leaders. There's an impact, it's cumulative. You don't reset, or recharge your battery every time.
而這也產生出 我稱之為專業知識的倒置, 因為我們在底層有太多的變化 在技術和戰術以及之類的方面 以至於突然之間,我們一直以來所做的 已經不再是部隊目前的做法了。 那麼一個領導 如何能讓自己是值得信任和勝任的, 當他沒做過 所領導的人做的事? 這是對領導能力的全新挑戰。 它迫使我讓自己變得更為透明, 更願意去傾聽, 更願意接受來自下級的反向指引。 而且,再重申一次,所有這些人都不是面對面在一起的。 另外一件事。 有一種東西正在影響著你和你的領導。 這種衝擊是逐漸積累的。 你並不是每次都對你的電池重新設置或充電。
I stood in front of a screen one night in Iraq with one of my senior officers and we watched a firefight from one of our forces. And I remembered his son was in our force. And I said, "John, where's your son? And how is he?" And he said, "Sir, he's fine. Thanks for asking." I said, "Where is he now?" And he pointed at the screen, he said, "He's in that firefight." Think about watching your brother, father, daughter, son, wife in a firefight in real time and you can't do anything about it. Think about knowing that over time. And it's a new cumulative pressure on leaders.
有天夜裡在伊拉克,我站在一個大屏幕前 身邊是我的一個資深軍官, 我們正在目睹我們其中一支隊伍和敵人交火。 這時我想起他的兒子也在我們部隊。 於是我問,“約翰,你兒子在哪裡?他怎麼樣了?” 他回答,“長官,他很好。謝謝你的關心。” 我問,“那他現在在哪裡?” 他指了指大屏幕,說,“他正在交戰中。” 設想一下目睹你的兄弟,父親 女兒,兒子,妻子 正身處槍林彈雨中, 而你對此卻無能為力。 設想一下在整個過程中你都要面對這個情況。 這是一種新的逐漸積累在領導者身上的壓力。
And you have to watch and take care of each other. I probably learned the most about relationships. I learned they are the sinew which hold the force together. I grew up much of my career in the Ranger regiment. And every morning in the Ranger regiment, every Ranger -- and there are more than 2,000 of them -- says a six-stanza Ranger creed. You may know one line of it, it says, "I'll never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy." And it's not a mindless mantra, and it's not a poem. It's a promise. Every Ranger promises every other Ranger, "No matter what happens, no matter what it costs me, if you need me, I'm coming." And every Ranger gets that same promise from every other Ranger. Think about it. It's extraordinarily powerful. It's probably more powerful than marriage vows. And they've lived up to it, which gives it special power. And so the organizational relationship that bonds them is just amazing.
你必須彼此守望照顧。 我學到的最多的可能就是人和人之間的關係。 我知道這些關係是支柱 將部隊凝聚在一起。 我的軍旅生涯的大多數時間都在突擊隊部隊度過。 在突擊隊,每天早上, 每一個隊員——大約2000多人—— 都要念一個六句話的突擊隊軍規。 你們可能知道其中一條是這樣的, “永遠不丟下受傷的戰友落在敵人之手。” 這並不是一句不經思考的頌歌, 也不是一句詩歌, 它是一個承諾。 每一個突擊隊員對其他隊員的承諾 無論發生什麽,無論要我付出多大代價 如果你需要我,我一定會來。 每一個突擊隊員也從其他隊員那裡 得到同樣的承諾。 想想看。這是多麼超乎尋常的力量。 它可能比婚姻的山盟海誓更強大。 而且他們就是這樣實踐的,這給予它特別的力量。 這種將人麼團結起來的組織關係 是令人驚訝的。
And I learned personal relationships were more important than ever. We were in a difficult operation in Afghanistan in 2007, and an old friend of mine, that I had spent many years at various points of my career with -- godfather to one of their kids -- he sent me a note, just in an envelope, that had a quote from Sherman to Grant that said, "I knew if I ever got in a tight spot, that you would come, if alive." And having that kind of relationship, for me, turned out to be critical at many points in my career.
我學習到人和人的關係 比以往任何時候都重要。 2007年在阿富汗斯坦,我們有一次艱苦的行動。 我有一個老朋友, 多年以來 我軍旅生涯的很多關鍵時刻他都和我一起渡過—— 我還是他其中一個孩子的教父—— 他給我發來一張紙條,就放在一個信封裏, 那是引自謝爾曼將軍(南北戰爭的北軍將領)給格蘭特總統(南北戰爭北軍司令,總統)的一段話, “我知道任何時候如果我處於危急關頭, 你一定會趕來,如果你還活著。” 對我來說,擁有這樣一種關係, 在我的軍人生涯中的很多時候,都有著至關重要的意義。
And I learned that you have to give that in this environment, because it's tough. That was my journey. I hope it's not over. I came to believe that a leader isn't good because they're right; they're good because they're willing to learn and to trust. This isn't easy stuff. It's not like that electronic abs machine where, 15 minutes a month, you get washboard abs. (Laughter) And it isn't always fair. You can get knocked down, and it hurts and it leaves scars. But if you're a leader, the people you've counted on will help you up. And if you're a leader, the people who count on you need you on your feet.
我學習到,你必須做出這樣的承諾, 在這樣的情況下, 因為情況是如此艱苦。 這就是我的人生。 我希望它遠未到頭。 我逐漸相信 領導的優秀之處不在於他們是正確的; 而是因為他們願意去學習和信任。 做到這點并不容易。 這不像電動腹肌健身器 一個月15分鐘,你能讓你的腹部練得好像洗衣板。 (觀眾笑聲) 事情并不總是公平的。 你可能會被打倒, 受到傷害, 留下傷疤。 但如果你是一個領導者, 那些你所信靠的人們 會幫助你站起身。 如果你是一個領導者, 那些信靠你的人們需要你站起來。
Thank you.
謝謝大家。
(Applause)
(觀眾掌聲)