George Lawton

A Gold award for a Q&A with Ret. Gen. Stan McChrystal on what's wrong with modern leadership

https://azbeeawards.secure-platform.com/a/gallery/rounds/40/details/16237

Here is the story:
https://searchcio.techtarget.com/feature/Ret-Gen-Stan-McChrystal-on-whats-wrong-with-modern-leadership

Getting this candid interview with Gen. Stanley McChrystal on modern leadership involved serendipity, superb connections and determination on writer George Lawton's part. McChrystal was… Show more

A Gold award for a Q&A with Ret. Gen. Stan McChrystal on what's wrong with modern leadership

https://azbeeawards.secure-platform.com/a/gallery/rounds/40/details/16237

Here is the story:
https://searchcio.techtarget.com/feature/Ret-Gen-Stan-McChrystal-on-whats-wrong-with-modern-leadership

Getting this candid interview with Gen. Stanley McChrystal on modern leadership involved serendipity, superb connections and determination on writer George Lawton's part. McChrystal was promoting a new book on leadership. Lawton, through his Silicon Valley contacts, was invited to a private book launch party hosted by Keith Krach, a titan of the tech community; there, Lawton managed to secure a follow-up phone interview with the general. Lawton was determined to get beyond the celebrity book review type of Q&A. Any discussion of leadership would need to address McChrystal's being fired after a controversial profile in Rolling Stone. Lawton pressed McChrystal on this and, to his surprise, found the general "was willing to be vulnerable." Recalled Lawton: "The hardest part was focusing on the uncomfortable topic of his failure while also being appropriately respectful of his accomplishments." CIOs, whose jobs do not typically put them in life and death situations, nonetheless operate in high-stakes corporate environments where their decisions can spell success or failure in today's technology-driven economy. Lawton wanted the interview to speak to them. The result is a thoughtful, revealing discussion about data-driven decision-making, change management, the importance of teams and the uncertainty of a future where machines are making decisions -- all highly relevant for CIOs. The story has proved popular with readers, becoming our top story on leadership in 2019. (Krach also paid Lawton a great compliment, confiding that the interview revealed details of his long-time friend's life and point of view he had not known before.) Show less