Risk

Risk

A User’s Guide

Summary

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We may not be able to see the future, but Control can teach us how to improve our resistance and build a strong defense against what we know -- and what we don't.

Retired four-star general Stan McChrystal has lived a life associated with the deadly risks of combat; he has seen how individuals and organizations, too often and to great cost, fail to mitigate risk. Why? Because they focus on the probability of something happening instead of the interface by which it can be managed.

In Control, McChrystal offers a new system of responding to risk, through ten dimensions of control we can adjust at any given time: narrative, bias, diversity, action, timing, adaptability, communication, technology, structure, and leadership. By monitoring these controls, we can anticipate, identify, analyze, and act when things do not go as planned. Drawing on compelling examples ranging from military history to the business world, and offering practical exercises to improve preparedness, McChrystal illustrates how these ten factors are almost always in effect, and how by considering them, individuals and organizations can exert mastery over every conceivable sort of risk that they might face.

© Stanley McChrystal 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Reviews

  • An absolute masterpiece on the subject of risk! Brilliant and highly entertaining, this book is essential reading for every leader, regardless of age or experience.
    Admiral William McRaven, author of Make Your Bed

About the author

General Stanley McChrystal

Stanley McChrystal retired in July 2010 as a four-star general in the US Army. His last assignment was as the commander of the International Security Assistance Force and as the commander of the US forces in Afghanistan. He had previously served as the director of the Joint Staff and as the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. The author of My Share of the Task, Team of Teams, and Leaders, he is currently a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and the cofounder of the McChrystal Group, a leadership consulting firm.
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