Brian Johnson (Heroic +1 series) summarizes and endorses General Jim Mattis's memoir Call Sign Chaos, positioning it among other influential leadership memoirs and books. The short episode highlights one clear thesis: a leader's role is to solve problems, and Johnson issues a direct call-to-action for listeners to identify and solve one problem in their life.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. General Jim Mattis is the former Secretary of Defense and one of the most formidable strategic thinkers of the 21st century. He wrote a great book on leadership called Call Sign Chaos, Learning to Lead. The book is, as per the back cover, a clear eyed account of learning to lead in a chaotic world in which Mattis recounts the foundational experiences and lessons he learned over four decades in three wars. It is a journey about learning to lead at every level with insights equally applicable to the military, to business and individual growth. Now, I got this book on the recommendation of a new dear friend who happens to be a longtime student and heroic coach who also happens to be a commanding officer in the US Military. It's an absolutely fantastic memoir packed with wisdom on how to lead, which is why it has nearly 5,000 five star reviews. It reminds me of two other memoirs by military leaders I admire, Admiral William McRaven's Sea Stories and General Cullen Powell's It Worked for Me. It also reminds me of Phil Knight's memoir Shoe Dog and Ray Dalio's Principles. And while we're on the subject of other great leadership books, check out our notes on all those titles and our our notes on General Stanley McChrystal's leaders, myths and Reality, Doris Kern Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times, and James Kouzis and Barry Posner's the Leadership Challenge. Plus check out Leadership 101 if you feel so inspired. All of those are linked in this plus one. Now in the next several plus ones, we're going to spend some time chatting about some of my favorite ideas from that book and we're going to keep today's super simple. Here we go. Mattis tells us, and I quote, a leader's role is problem solving. Andy says if you don't like problems, stay out of leadership. That makes it simple, huh? You want to lead? Quit complaining about all the problems and or challenges in your life. Solving those problems is your job. Period. That's today's plus one. What's one problem in your life right now? You got it. Awesome. Now go do your job. Solve it. That's today's plus one. What's one problem in your life right now? You got it. Awesome. Now go do your job and solve it. Day one all in. Let's go hero.
