No Time For Spectators The Lessons That Mattered Most From West Point To The West Wing

And then I had to kind of struggle with myself about what I wanted to do from that point forward.

But no, when I went to West Point, it was a great school, good values. A lot of discipline, which was probably one my mother wanted me to go there.

And so, I decided myself that I would resign my commission, retire.

But I do think that as I said knowledge, experience, and character, I think character's got to be part of the equation all the time.

And so, the way I tried to get at it in this book as you've seen kind of the paradigm I used is that I'm not talking about leadership and followership, I'm talking about the relationship between them, what are the common expectations that we should have of each other in order to produce productive, positive relationships in the workplace, whether it's military or business or academia.

And so, I decided myself that I would resign my commission retire.

But no, when I went to West Point, it was a great school, good values. A lot of discipline, which was probably one my mother wanted me to go there.

And then the last kind of episode when I thought I should end my careers I had cancer in 2010.

And so you look inside and you say look I've been at this now for now that by then I'm at it for like 30 years.

And then you know, the doctors, my family, the parish priest all kind of supported me and once again convinced me that I should do whatever I could still do in the army.

And so, I decided myself that I would resign my commission retire.

But as you say I didn't think there was any I first of I'd never met the president secondly you know I put on my uniform having lost 30 pounds and I I looked like you know look like Gomer Pyle or nothing I don't know no offense to Gomer Pyle but but I just looked awful I was gray I was skinny you know I'm not that good looking to begin with so you know when you get this going.

The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice government of the people by the people for the people.

I don't want to make it sound too noble I mean there really is no promotion involved you know the four stars are all paid the same and I mean the chairman is in fact the senior military officer in all of the armed forces by protocol but there's no benefit that really comes from that product except where you sit at ceremonies you know.

I think though that the way to deal with those is to acknowledge the competition and not decide that it's an ala carte menu and I you know I'll take China and Iran and the hell with the rest of them we can't do that if you're us so we got to figure out how to meet our needs adapt and not be over invested in any one place so that we can and importantly we've got to stay true to our allies and partners.