Here (Stitcher; iTunes) are links to an episode of Brian Koppelman’s podcast I just listened to for the second time. Koppelman was (among other successes) a co-writer of Ocean’s Thirteen and is one of the heads behind the super-successful series „Billions“.
For this episode he had on General Stanley McChrystal. McChrystal is a retired general of the US-Army, in the late 70s commanded a unit of the US Special Forces (more commonly know as Green Berets), later headed JSOC (the umbrella command for all US special operations forces) and ISAF (Afghanistan). He’s not uncontroversial and his career actually ended largely due to this feature in the Rolling Stone suggesting a less-than-perfect alignment with presidential politics and intentions at the time.
Be all that controversy as it may: If you are interested in leadership in high-stress, high-stakes environments, how one can cope with resulting challenges both at a personal and a professional level and how all that translates into a long-term perspective on professional life, this is a „must listen“. Particularly, since Koppelman and McChrystal clearly seem to connect and the resulting tone of the conversation is fascinating in its own right.
I know, I know, it’s about an hour, but you’ll see that it’s well worth it (and super applicable in a law-firm context). So, if you have a commute or flight to fill…this is it.
[shariff]