Podcasts about vice admiral james stockdale

Today's Heroic +1 features wisdom from James Stockdale's Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot. Get more wisdom in less time with a Heroic membership. Get started for FREE today: http://heroic.us Ready to actualize your Heroic potential? Move from Theory to Practice to Mastery: https://heroic.us/mastery Join 12,500+ Heroes from 110+ Countries by becoming a certified Heroic Coach: https://heroic.us/coach About Heroic: Heroic integrates ancient wisdom, modern science, and practical tools into a beautifully-designed app to help activate your best. Premium Heroic members have access to 600+ of the absolute greatest personal development books distilled into 25-min PhilosophersNotes and 50+ hour-long masterclasses on all areas of a flourishing life. #stoicism #wisdom #morewisdominlesstime #personaldevelopment #heroic

Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" In November of 2016, we introduced a new format that we are putting alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives. "Lessons for Hannah" are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I have learned which I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it. This week’s Lesson for Hannah Hannah, I want share with you an abbreviated version of a talk I have been doing called “The 5 Principles to Thrive, Succeed, and Live Your Best Life.” It is resonating greatly right now during the pandemic, but the principles are timeless. I want to start by asking you and anyone listening a question. And that is, “Do you know what chances of being alive are? Let me explain. The chances of you being alive are the same as if 2.5 million people got together, roughly the population of a city the size of Chicago or San Diego, to play a game of dice, each person with a TRILLION sided dice, and they all roll the dice and come up with the exact same number. I’m going to let that sink for a second. To put it numerically, your chances of being born are 1 in 4 TRILLION. There is no way around it – you are a miracle it. I share this for perspective. No matter what your circumstances, no matter who you are, no matter where you are in your life right now, you are a miracle. The fact that you are here means that trillions of others that could have been will never exist. Literally, one step in the wrong direction on a battlefield in history and you don’t exist. One rock in space hits another a different way – and someone else is in your place. You are one of the greatest miracles ever created. Cherish this fact. And that brings me to principle #1: Keep Perspective. You must keep perspective in your life. No matter what is happening, good or bad, right or wrong – you will do well to keep yourself grounded and maintain perspective. Having good perspective will not only help you to think better and make better decisions, but it will also give you the ability to find happiness at any point in your life. There are always things to be grateful for and to live for and into our lives…Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t have tough times in our lives. We all do. Right now, the whole world is turned upside and will be potentially changed forever creating some challenging time. But when these times come, it is very important for all us to control what can be controlled and let the rest go. Above all else, there is one thing we can control that makes the most difference in our lives – and that is our mindset and our conditioning. You see. we have two minds. We have a conscious mind that we are “aware” of… It is the mind that you use when you “think” to do something. But, we have another much more powerful mind…the subconscious mind. This is the part of your brain the runs you without you even knowing. Think about it – how much do you “think” to throw a ball, drive a car, brush your teeth. You don’t – you just do it. The subconscious is the most powerful part of our mind and the conditioning it has received determines much of our thinking, decisions, and how we operate in life. Have you ever asked yourself or wondered, “Where do my thoughts come from?” or ever made a decision where you said afterward, “Why did I do that?” You did it because it was the automatic response your subconscious was conditioned to….As powerful as it is, it is actually not that smart in that it doesn’t decide if the conditioning it has received is truly the best thing for you or not. It just follows the programming. This is why a person’s mind can actually be their biggest obstacle to success – because whatever your subconscious is programmed to is where you end up. The key is to understand this and use this awareness to stop debilitating conditioning and reprogram your mind with the way you want to think and the thoughts you want to have. And that is Principle #2: Learn to control your mindset and conditioning. Principle #3 is short and quick. You must balance faith and optimism. The best example of this is a story I’ve shared before about Vice Admiral James Stockdale, who was a PO in Vietnam for about 7 years. I urge you to go read his story and his interview by Jim Collins. Essentially, the biggest lesson he shared is “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose-- with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” You must always balance faith and optimism and come to grips with reality. If you develop the ability to do this, you can make it through anything. Remember, as I started with, you are a miracle and you are here because you were destined to be here. Things are happening as they are supposed to. And you get to choose how you respond and react to them. And that brings me to Principle #4, which you taught me, Hannah. Our journey to become a family is filled with twists, turns, and miracles. You can go listen to the first Lessons for Hannah for the full story. But it came down to just a few things. One small choice, one tiny checkbox made the difference for us to find you. The adoption agency, at the time only worked with only 1 orphanage directly in all of China And no one in the world new about you but us because of checking that one box and the agency working with that one orphanage. Third, you were mis-diagnosed and should have been considered a “healthy child,” which means we would never have had know about you as it was a different program. And here is what I learned from our journey. Everything that happened to the point where we became a family, had to happen exactly as it did – Good and Bad. And it taught me to have no regrets. Aside from the chances of you being alive, everything that had to happen to get you to this point right now where I am speaking to you and you are getting this message had to happen exactly as it did. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t change any of it. Oh, that doesn’t mean I don’t learn from it and given the chance to do things again, wouldn’t apply what I’ve learned. I just don’t regret it. And that brings me to principle #4 which is really a couple of principles in one, but they fit together. Everything is a choice. Choose wisely. Do not let yourself be saddled by regret from your choices. Learn from them and become better… When you do that. When you combine everything I’ve shared in this episode. Keeping a good perspective and staying grounded. Learning to control your mind and conditioning to utilize it to help you become the best version of yourself and live into your potential. Having faith that you will make it, but not discounting the reality that is before you And understanding the everything in your life is a choice that YOU make and that those choices have gotten you to where you are and are the experiences you can draw on to make yourself better – not letting your past determine your future When you put all this to work for yourself, you will find yourself practicing Principle #5. You will become the best version of yourself – a constant work in progress no doubt, but a light to those around you and someone they can count on to guide the way and prevail no matter what happens You will be able to give to this world and those around in ways you never dreamed of and make a much bigger impact that you ever thought was possible. You will be able to thrive, succeed, and live your best life. Principle #5 is be the light you were meant to be in this world. You have so much more in you than you know. Live into it. I’ll leave you with this quote from the great Jim Rohn: “The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.” Hannah, and anyone listening I challenge you to use these 5 principles to maximize your potential and stretch yourself to the limit. I love you, Daddy Misfit 3: You are a miracle. You are 1 in 4 Trillion. Cherish every moment and thank God for it. Realize that everything that had to happen to get you to where you are now, good and bad, had to happen exactly as it did. Don’t regret anything but make darn sure you learn from it and become better for yourself and for others. Life is too short to saddle yourself with regret. Be the light you were meant to be in this world. You have so much more in you than you know. Live into it. Show Sponsors: Incredible offer from Get.Store Domains, over 90% off your .STORE domain.  Get it for just $1.99 using the promo code MISFIT:  www.Get.Store and use promo code: MISFIT 5 Minute Journal: www.MisfitEntrepreneur.com/Journal  

Karen explains how Vice Admiral James Stockdale created a network of espionage within the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. Chuck schools us on tap codes.#ViceAdmiralJamesStockdale #surprising spies #spies #Naval history #CIA espionage #Military history #American History #War #Sybil Stockdale #Microdot #supportindiepodcasts #spystoriespod

Karen explains how Vice Admiral James Stockdale created a network of espionage within the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. Chuck schools us on tap codes. #ViceAdmiralJamesStockdale #surprising spies #spies #Naval history #CIA espionage #Military history #American History #War #Sybil Stockdale #Microdot #supportindiepodcasts #spystoriespod

Vice Admiral James Stockdale is an American hero. Stockdale spent nearly eight years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. He spent four of those years in solitary confinement and was repeatedly tortured. He was the commanding officer of hundreds of other U.S. soldiers and received the Medal of Honor for his service beyond the call of duty. This is an incredibly inspiring look at the powerful mind and equally powerful moral commitment of a hero. Big Ideas we explore: Being our brother’s keeper, chiseling our integrity to achieve delight with life, courage as endurance of the soul and heroes vs. bums.

Vice Admiral James Stockdale is an American hero. Stockdale spent nearly eight years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. He spent four of those years in solitary confinement and was repeatedly tortured. He was the commanding officer of hundreds of other U.S. soldiers and received the Medal of Honor for his service beyond the call of duty. This is an incredibly inspiring look at the powerful mind and equally powerful moral commitment of a hero. Big Ideas we explore: Being our brother’s keeper, chiseling our integrity to achieve delight with life, courage as endurance of the soul and heroes vs. bums.

Management over Leadership - An Acceptable Inevitability or Purposeful Neglect? When writing I often find it all too easy to end up widely off message narrating a vitriolic polemic about some imagined injustice in the world - this post was no different. I, like so many in the military, have strong views on leadership and we don't tolerate those who shirk that responsibility lightly. But that got me thinking - why do we place such importance on leadership; maybe the problems lies with an individual's expectation of leadership where management might have been more appropriate? Command is the whole complex business and a position enshrined in law;leadership is about people and turbulence; management is about stuff andnumbers’. - Watters & Horton, cited in Leadership in Defence So if leadership is about people and turbulence, and management is about stuff and numbers, leadership just sounds so much more interesting, doesn't it? As a member of the Chartered Management Institute (you join these things when on resettlement) I receive their magazine 'Professional Manager' through the post every quarter - it makes me cringe every time I see it. The truth, however, is that it is an interesting read and this spring's edition contains articles on the value of an MBA, how email lost its way and the rising stars of the business world. It interests me as it parallels the work I do in the military but something about the term 'manager', especially if I apply it in a military context, still makes me shudder. You see, in the military to be seen as a manager is to be thought of as uninspiring, uncharismatic and output driven. It is true that an officer will have very little formal leadership training outside of initial officer training and has to rely on learning through osmosis from those above. It could be argued that an officer should be resourceful and seek out qualifications and publications in order to prove their own leadership development; they shouldn't expect to be spoon-fed. I've always felt that, away from a theatre of operations, it can be hard to demonstrate functional leadership especially when you may not have an adversary to rally the troops against. Back at home the days flow one into another, the task is routine and the job becomes dull - yes, management can all too quickly become the order of the day. An important thing to acknowledge early in this post is that, as abhorrent is the thought that senior military officers might be more akin to being managers than leaders, an understanding that this might actually still serve a very real purpose is important. For example, in flying training, the hierarchy is responsible for using of all of their resources in order to get students to finish on time to meet their next course start dates. If they miss the start dates then front line manning will suffer and adjustments will have to be made that will not be conducive to a steady, well-trained and functional war-fighting machine. So although a desire for inspirational leadership, through all levels of military command, might be what we think we need, actually managers might be more appropriate in certain situations. As the services get smaller, senior figures continue to promise the Government that the task is still acceptable - after all, no one wants to tell their boss that they can't do what is being asked of them. Unfortunately, by the time we realise that we might have forgotten that 'integrity' is one of the core values of our Service, it's probably too late and we now need to deliver on what we promised. We need to deliver the same but with less and some things will have to go. Wednesday afternoon sports or physical training went many moons ago, centrally funded educational staff rides next and the one week a year adventurous training has slipped to one week in every three years. Alongside this erosion in leadership development opportunities we still have fewer people to get the job done; but it still needs to be done - is it really a surprise that some commanders get so busy that leadership becomes a second thought?'Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.' - Jack Welch Command, leadership and management can often be referred to as the Officers' Trinity; command being the exercising of both leadership and management. Management is about achieving output whilst leadership is about getting buy-in with your message and taking people with you on your vision. Positional power gives commanders authority but if this is solely the method of control, then in times of dire need the commander will become unstuck. At these times a very real form of leadership will be required - this can be described as 'Personal Power' and it is this that differentiates the leader from the manager when in a command position. Increasingly in the military, but also in many businesses, more and more contractors are being employed to fill in the gaps and to provide a more cost-effective way of delivering defence. In the RAF, the Whole Force Concept sees contractors and civil servants mixed in with regular and reserve servicemen and servicewomen creating a very unique environment in which to operate for both sides. On my station there are 40 contractors and sub-contractors who make up 70% of the Station strength; this means that only 30% of people on the Station are military. Each contractor has their own way of operating and their own pre-conceived ideas about defence which requires the military person to employ a very unique and individual approach to their working practises. In the military we all agree that an order is an order; they are rarely delivered in such a perfunctory manner, however, but still the expectation is that, once given, the direction will be followed. This approach is not always possible when working with contractors who may have different aims and objectives. When Tim Collins, as Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Royal Irish Regiment, gave his rousing eve-of-battle speech to his men on 19 March 2003 it was necessary and appropriate. It was what a leader is supposed to do and there is no doubt that the message Collins imparted to his men that day saved lives and helped to achieve their unit's success on the battlefield. When Winston Churchill delivered his famous 'We Shall Fight on the Beaches' speech to the House of Commons on 4 June 1940 it was at the height of the battle for France and he warned of a very real possible invasion by Germany. His speech was another stirring battle cry that motivated the country to engage in war and inevitably ensure its victorious outcome. 'We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender...' - Churchill, 4 June 1940 Both of the above examples demonstrate effective leadership but do these speeches have any real place in the peacetime military or is the expectation that 'everyman will do his duty' enough to warrant a more distant leadership style more akin to management? I guess the question is: In peacetime, why bother with leadership at all? I have served under many men and women in all three UK Services and under international commanders, too. Some I greatly admired but others I am happy to never encounter again - I am sure in business the same can be said. I have witnessed people progress through their careers gaining promotion based on qualities that have no place in war-fighting and who are loathed by the people they command. I have also seen commanders whose careers have been limited by being committed leaders, putting their people first and the paperwork second and who I would have followed into a high-threat environment without a second thought. So how can leadership be defined when away from the core task of war-fighting; is it truly just 'management with a smile'? Personally, the best description of leadership that I've ever heard is:'Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.' - Dwight D. Eisenhower The quote above is not too colourful and kind of bland but as a usable description of leadership, I think it works. A Google definition search on management finds it described as 'the process of dealing with or controlling things or people'. If we look at these two definitions, albeit with the recognition that there are many more out there, leadership talks of getting someone 'wanting to do something' and management describes the 'controlling' of people.  These are very different things and here, I believe, lies the fundamental problem. Although management, in theory and in times of peace, can most definitely be applied effectively in the pursuit of outcomes and goals, it should be acknowledged that it possesses a destructive influence on the longer term strategic aims especially in a dynamic businesses or the military. Management lacks inspirational intent and if we don't inspire our people they will eventually walk away. And let's not think that all our senior people are leaders either - I remember someone saying to me 'when you don't aspire to be the boss, it's time to leave'. Leadership has nothing to do with rank; routinely I will witness a junior serviceman or woman showing significant leadership ability amongst higher ranking peers - this can be found at work or when operating in all ranks adventurous training exercises. However, with a reduction in adventure training opportunities, as the services reduce in size and the task stays the same, other ways to develop leadership will need to be found. I think we have discussed the difference between a commander and a leader but to re-iterate, all bosses have authority but they are not all leaders. I believe leaders have a responsibility for those they oversee. Leaders must make sure their charges are progressing in their careers and that they are growing as individuals; this is where I believe the difference between leadership and management is most stark. As a manager I cared about output and, because of this, I had to make sure that those responsible for that output where functional. Without a functional team I could not output students to the front line. Now, as a leader this wasn't enough - I had to make sure that I was inspiring my team, that I personally took responsibility for their growth and career progression and that the product I outputted (students) were motivated to succeed on their front line squadrons; a very different task indeed. ‘Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away’. - Vice Admiral James Stockdale, US Navy, 1987 In the military, and in business, care must be taken to understand the difference between management and leadership and the consequences of both. I believe that we can, and do, populate command positions with managers that are very good at securing output, but let's not expect anything else from them. As a military we must understand that if we follow this policy we are losing something else, something that is so very important. We are losing the ability to inspire the next generation of leaders and maintain a front-line focused, core fighting capability and this is no different in business. It might be acceptable in the short-term but as a 'plan' it is a poor one that will lead to the growing of process driven decision makers further down the line. So what can be done? I think that we need to recognise that developing leadership in benign conditions is a difficult process and we should expect that the majority of our authority will be managers. This doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing if it is recognised within an organisation.To be an effective leader takes practise and, if you attempt to become a leader on your own, you will probably gain haters as you are leaving the other 'managers' behind. A leader is someone who has integrity and sacrifice, someone who is passionate in putting the team first and themselves second. Someone who recognises that a failure of one of their subordinates is a failure of themselves. A leader will actively look for ways to make their workplace better for all, opportunities to grow their team's skill-sets and progress the team's careers. If you put your team first then they will find that they are capable of so much more - I have pushed my team into positions that they felt were way above their abilities but, as they saw the belief I had in them, allowed them to achieve more than they ever could have imagined. 'The task of the leader is to get his people from where they areto where they have not been.' - Henry KissingerIt's hard to practise getting better at playing a sport if you don't have anybody to play against - leadership is no different. In order to practise leadership, you need to facilitate the opportunity for doing so. Organisations must make time for team building days, adventure and educational training and individual development. If we do not do this then we can only expect to develop managers who might be good at 'stuff and numbers' but won't be good at 'people and turbulence'. It should be an organisation's priority to not allow leadership to be left to chance. 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