3 common myths about leadership

Since retiring from the US military as a four-star general eight years ago, Stanley McChrystal has reflected on one of his favorite subjects – leadership – and he’s had some significant revelations.

McChrystal had a 34-year military career, taking out al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi as the head of Joint Special Operations Command, and spent a year leading America and its allies in the War in Afghanistan. Since retiring, he’s overseen the leadership consulting firm the McChrystal Group, translating what he’s learned to a business audience.

For an episode of Business Insider’s podcast “This Is Success,” we explored the three most common myths about leadership, which he identifies in his new book “Leaders: Myth and Reality.”
The Formulaic Myth: If someone follows a checklist of behaviors, they’ll be a great leader
McChrystal said that it’s tempting to believe that if you make a checklist of traits and behaviors collected from leadership books and mentors, and check off every box, you will be a great leader. “But the reality is, when you look at history, there’s a number of people who followed that perfectly and failed, some over and over,” he said.

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