Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn ... then lead

Translator: Roman Studenic Reviewer: Martin Francis Gilbert Máik

Ten years ago, on a Tuesday morning,

Pred 10-timi rokmi, v utornajšie ráno,

I conducted a parachute jump at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

som vykonával zoskok s padákom vo Fort Bragg, Severná Karolína.

It was a routine training jump, like many more I'd done

Bol to rutinný tréningový skok, ako veľa iných,

since I became a paratrooper

odkedy som sa stal výsadkárom

27 years before.

pred 27 rokmi.

We went down to the airfield early

Zavčas sme šli na letisko,

because this is the Army and you always go early.

lebo to je armáda a vždy idete zavčas.

You do some routine refresher training,

Spravíte rutinný osviežovací tréning,

and then you go to put on your parachute and a buddy helps you.

a potom si nasadíte padák a kolega vám pomáha.

And you put on the T-10 parachute.

Nasadíte si padák T10.

And you're very careful how you put the straps,

Ste veľmi pozorní, ako si nasadíte popruhy,

particularly the leg straps because they go between your legs.

hlavne nožné popruhy, lebo idú medzi vašimi nohami.

And then you put on your reserve, and then you put on your heavy rucksack.

Nasadíte si vašu zálohu a potom váš ťažký ruksak.

And then a jumpmaster comes,

Potom príde veliteľ zoskoku,

and he's an experienced NCO in parachute operations.

je to skúsený dôstojník výsadkárskych operácií.

He checks you out, he grabs your adjusting straps

Skontroluje vás, ťahá nastavovacie popruhy

and he tightens everything

a všetko utiahne tak,

so that your chest is crushed,

že drví váš hrudník,

your shoulders are crushed down,

vaše plecia sa tlačia dole

and, of course, he's tightened so your voice goes up a couple octaves as well.

a, samozrejme, utiahne to tak, že aj váš hlas ide o pár oktáv vyššie.

Then you sit down, and you wait a little while,

Potom si sadnete a chvíľu čakáte,

because this is the Army.

lebo to je armáda.

Then you load the aircraft, and then you stand up and you get on,

Naložíte lietadlo a potom vstanete a posúvate sa,

and you kind of lumber to the aircraft like this, in a line of people,

tackáte sa k lietadlu, asi takto -- v zástupe ľudí --

and you sit down on canvas seats on either side of the aircraft.

a sadnete si na látkové sedačky po stranách lietadla.

And you wait a little bit longer,

A ešte trochu počkáte,

because this is the Air Force teaching the Army how to wait.

lebo to je letectvo, vyučuje armádu v čakaní.

Then you take off.

Potom vzlietnete.

And it's painful enough now --

A je to už dosť bolestivé --

and I think it's designed this way --

myslím, že je to tak vymyslené --

it's painful enough so you want to jump.

je to dosť bolestivé, takže chcete skočiť.

You didn't really want to jump, but you want out.

Nechcete vlastne skočiť, ale chcete von.

So you get in the aircraft, you're flying along,

Ste teda v lietadle, letíte

and at 20 minutes out, these jumpmasters start giving you commands.

a 20 minút pred, velitelia začnú dávať rozkazy.

They give 20 minutes -- that's a time warning.

Udajú 20 minút -- to je časové varovanie.

You sit there, OK.

A vy sedíte.

Then they give you 10 minutes.

Potom udajú 10 minút.

And of course, you're responding with all of these.

A vy, samozrejme na všetko takto odpovedáte.

And that's to boost everybody's confidence, to show that you're not scared.

To má posilniť každého sebavedomie, ukázať, že sa nebojíte.

Then they give you, "Get ready."

Potom zavelia: "pripraviť."

Then they go, "Outboard personnel, stand up."

Potom: "pravobok vztyk."

If you're an outboard personnel, now you stand up.

Ak ste na pravoboku, postavíte sa.

If you're an inboard personnel, stand up.

Ak ste na ľavoboku, postavíte sa.

And then you hook up, and you hook up your static line.

Potom si zapnete; zapnete statickú šnúru.

And at that point, you think, "Hey, guess what?

A v tom bode si pomyslíte "Hej, hádaj čo?

I'm probably going to jump.

Asi skočím.

There's no way to get out of this at this point."

Teraz sa z toho už nedá dostať."

You go through some additional checks, and then they open the door.

Spravíte ešte niekoľko kontrol a potom otvoria dvere.

And this was that Tuesday morning in September,

A toto bolo to utornajšie ráno v septembri

and it was pretty nice outside.

a vonku bolo celkom pekne.

So nice air comes flowing in.

Takže vletí príjemný vzduch.

The jumpmasters start to check the door.

Veliteľ skoku skontroluje dvere.

And then when it's time to go,

A potom je už čas,

a green light goes and the jumpmaster goes, "Go."

zasvieti zelená a veliteľ skoku rozkáže "Vpred."

The first guy goes, and you're just in line,

Prvý vyskočí a vy ste na rade,

and you just kind of lumber to the door.

a len tak sa dotackáte k dverám.

Jump is a misnomer; you fall.

Skok je zveličenie; padáte.

You fall outside the door,

Vypadnete z dverí,

you're caught in the slipstream.

zachytí vás prúd vzduchu.

The first thing you do is lock into a tight body position --

Prvá vec, ktorú robíte, je zaujatie kompaktnej pozície --

head down in your chest, your arms extended,

hlavu na hrudi, ruky vystreté,

put over your reserve parachute.

položené na rezervnom padáku.

You do that because, 27 years before,

Robím to, lebo ma to tak naučil výsadkársky čatár

an airborne sergeant had taught me to do that.

pred 27-imi rokmi.

I have no idea whether it makes any difference,

Nemám potuchy, či je v tom nejaký rozdiel,

but he seemed to make sense,

ale vyzeral, že vie o čom hovorí,

and I wasn't going to test the hypothesis that he'd be wrong.

a neplánoval som testovať hypotézu, že sa mýlil.

And then you wait for the opening shock

A potom čakáte na otváracie trhnutie,

for your parachute to open.

keď sa otvorí padák.

If you don't get an opening shock, you don't get a parachute --

Ak necítite otváracie trhnutie, nemáte padák --

you've got a whole new problem set.

máte úplne nový balík problémov.

But typically you do; typically it opens.

Typicky však cítite; typicky sa otvorí.

And of course, if your leg straps aren't set right,

A samozrejme, ak nesedia dobre popruhy na nohách,

at that point you get another little thrill.

v tom bode už máte ďalšiu starosť.

Boom.

Prásk.

So then you look around,

Potom sa poobzeráte,

you're under a canopy and you say, "This is good."

ste pod vrchlíkom a poviete si, "je to dobre."

Now you prepare for the inevitable.

Pripravujete sa na nevyhnutné.

You are going to hit the ground.

Narazíte na zem.

You can't delay that much.

Nemôžete to príliš odkladať.

And you really can't decide where you hit very much,

A ani si nemôžete príliš vyberať kde narazíte,

because they pretend you can steer,

lebo oni sa síce tvária, že môžete riadiť,

but you're being delivered.

ale ste len dopravení.

So you look around, where you're going to land,

Poobzeráte sa, kde by ste pristáli,

you try to make yourself ready.

snažíte sa pripraviť.

And then as you get close, you lower your rucksack below you on a lowering line,

A keď sa blížite, spustíte svoj ruksak pod seba na lane,

so that it's not on you when you land,

aby ste ho nemali na sebe pri pristáni

and you prepare to do a parachute-landing fall.

a prichystáte sa na padákový pristávací pád.

Now the Army teaches you

Armáda vás učí

to do five points of performance --

spraviť päť bodov úkonu --

the toes of your feet,

prsty na nohách,

your calves, your thighs,

lýtka, stehná,

your buttocks and your push-up muscles.

zadok a brušné svaly.

It's this elegant little land, twist and roll.

Je to to elegantné pristátie, skrčenie a kotúľ.

And that's not going to hurt.

A nebude to bolieť.

In 30-some years of jumping, I never did one.

Za 30-niečo rokov skákania som neurobil ani jeden.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

I always landed like a watermelon out of a third floor window.

Vždy som pristál ako melón z tretieho poschodia.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

And as soon as I hit,

Hneď ako narazím

the first thing I did is I'd see if I'd broken anything that I needed.

ako prvé sa pozriem, či som si niečo zlomil.

I'd shake my head,

Potrasiem hlavou

and I'd ask myself the eternal question:

a spýtam sa večnú otázku:

"Why didn't I go into banking?"

"Prečo som nešiel robiť do banky?"

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

And I'd look around,

Poobzerám sa,

and then I'd see another paratrooper,

uvidím ďalšieho výsadkára,

a young guy or girl,

mladého chlapca alebo dievča,

and they'd have pulled out their M4 carbine

a tí už vytiahli svoje karabíny M-4

and they'd be picking up their equipment.

a naložili svoje vybavenie.

They'd be doing everything

Spravili všetko,

that we had taught them.

čo sme ich naučili.

And I realized

A uvedomil som si,

that, if they had to go into combat,

že ak by išli do boja,

they would do what we had taught them and they would follow leaders.

urobili by všetko, čo sme ich naučili, a nasledovali by svojich vedúcich.

And I realized that, if they came out of combat,

A uvedomil som si, že ak by sa vrátili z boja,

it would be because we led them well.

bolo by to preto, lebo sme ich dobre viedli.

And I was hooked again on the importance of what I did.

A znova som bol pohltený dôležitosťou toho, čo som robil.

So now I do that Tuesday morning jump,

Takže som vykonal ten utorkový raňajší skok,

but it's not any jump --

ale nebol to hociaký skok --

that was September 11th, 2001.

bol 11. september 2001.

And when we took off from the airfield, America was at peace.

Keď sme vzlietli z letiska, Amerika bola v mieri.

When we landed on the drop-zone, everything had changed.

Keď sme pristáli v dopadovej zóne, všetko sa zmenilo.

And what we thought

A čo sme si mysleli

about the possibility of those young soldiers going into combat

o možnosti, že títo mladí vojaci môžu ísť do boja,

as being theoretical

že je to teória,

was now very, very real --

bolo teraz veľmi, veľmi reálne --

and leadership seemed important.

a vedenie sa zdalo dôležité.

But things had changed;

Ale veci sa zmenili --

I was a 46-year-old brigadier general.

Bol som 46-ročný brigádny generál.

I'd been successful,

Bol som úspešný,

but things changed so much

ale veci sa tak veľmi zmenili,

that I was going to have to make some significant changes,

že som musel spraviť niekoľko významných zmien --

and on that morning, I didn't know it.

a v to ráno som to nevedel.

I was raised with traditional stories of leadership:

Bol som vychovaný tradičnými príbehmi vodcovstva:

Robert E. Lee, John Buford at Gettysburg.

Robert E. Lee, Jonh Buford z Gettysburgu.

And I also was raised

A bol som tiež vychovaný

with personal examples of leadership.

osobnými príkladmi vodcovstva.

This was my father in Vietnam.

Môj otec bol vo Vietname.

And I was raised to believe

A bol som vychovaný vo viere,

that soldiers were strong and wise

že vojaci sú silní a múdri

and brave and faithful;

a statoční a verní --

they didn't lie, cheat, steal

neklamú, nepodvádzajú, nekradnú

or abandon their comrades.

alebo opúšťajú kolegov.

And I still believe real leaders are like that.

A stále verím, že skutoční vodcovia sú takí.

But in my first 25 years of career,

Ale za prvých 25 rokov mojej kariéry

I had a bunch of different experiences.

som mal zopár iných skúseností.

One of my first battalion commanders,

Jeden z mojich prvých veliteľov prápora,

I worked in his battalion for 18 months

pracoval som v jeho prápore 18 mesiacov,

and the only conversation he ever had with Lt. McChrystal

a jediný rozhovor, ktorý som mal s ppr. McChrystalom,

was at mile 18 of a 25-mile road march,

bol na 18tej míli 25-míľového poľného pochodu

and he chewed my ass for about 40 seconds.

a poriadne mi nakladal asi 40 sekúnd.

And I'm not sure that was real interaction.

Nie som si istý, že to bola skutočná interakcia.

But then a couple of years later, when I was a company commander,

Ale potom, o pár rokov neskôr, keď som bol veliteľ roty,

I went out to the National Training Center.

išiel som do národného výcvikového centra.

And we did an operation,

Robili sme operáciu

and my company did a dawn attack --

a moja rota robila útok na svitaní --

you know, the classic dawn attack:

viete, klasický útok na svitaní --

you prepare all night, move to the line of departure.

chystáte sa celú noc, presúvate sa na líniu odchodu.

And I had an armored organization at that point.

V tom bode som mal obrnenú skupinu.

We move forward, and we get wiped out --

Vyrazili sme a úplne nás vymazali --

I mean, wiped out immediately.

myslím tým, že nás okamžite vymazali.

The enemy didn't break a sweat doing it.

Nepriateľ sa pri tom ani nezapotil.

And after the battle,

A po súboji,

they bring this mobile theater and they do what they call an "after action review"

prinesú mobilný stan a robí sa niečo, čo volajú "vyhodnotenie po akcii,"

to teach you what you've done wrong.

aby vás naučili, čo sa pokazilo.

Sort of leadership by humiliation.

Tak trocha vodcovstvo ponížením.

They put a big screen up, and they take you through everything:

Postavia veľkú obrazovku a prevedú vás všetkým.

"and then you didn't do this, and you didn't do this, etc."

"... a potom ste nespravili toto, nespravili ste toto, atď."

I walked out feeling as low

Vyšiel som cítiac sa tak nízko

as a snake's belly in a wagon rut.

ako hadie brucho v brázde na ceste.

And I saw my battalion commander, because I had let him down.

Uvidel som svojho veliteľa prápora, lebo som ho sklamal.

And I went up to apologize to him,

Šiel som k nemu ospravedlniť sa

and he said, "Stanley, I thought you did great."

a on vraví, "Stanley, myslím, že si bol skvelý."

And in one sentence,

A v jednej vete

he lifted me, put me back on my feet,

ma pozdvihol, postavil späť na nohy

and taught me that leaders can let you fail

a naučil ma, že vodcovia vás môžu nechať zlyhať,

and yet not let you be a failure.

ale aj tak nebyť zlyhaním.

When 9/11 came,

Keď prišiel 11.september,

46-year-old Brig. Gen. McChrystal sees a whole new world.

46-ročný genmjr. McChrystal uvidí úplne nový svet.

First, the things that are obvious, that you're familiar with:

Najskôr to, čo je zjavné, čo poznáte:

the environment changed --

prostredie sa zmenilo --

the speed, the scrutiny,

rýchlosť, skúmanie,

the sensitivity of everything now is so fast,

citlivosť všetkého je taká rýchla,

sometimes it evolves faster

niekedy sa to vyvíja rýchlejšie,

than people have time to really reflect on it.

ako majú ľudia čas na to skutočne reagovať.

But everything we do

Ale všetko, čo robíme,

is in a different context.

je v inom kontexte.

More importantly, the force that I led

Dôležitejšie, vojsko, ktoré som viedol,

was spread over more than 20 countries.

bolo rozptýlené vo viac ako 20tich krajinách.

And instead of being able to get all the key leaders

A namiesto možnosti dostať všetkých kľúčových vodcov

for a decision together in a single room

na rozhodnutie do jednej miestnosti

and look them in the eye and build their confidence

a pozrieť sa im do očí, vybudovať ich istotu

and get trust from them,

a získať ich dôveru,

I'm now leading a force that's dispersed,

vediem vojsko, ktoré je rozptýlené,

and I've got to use other techniques.

takže musím využiť iné techniky.

I've got to use video teleconferences, I've got to use chat,

Musím využívať telekonferencie, musím používať chat,

I've got to use email, I've got to use phone calls --

email, telefonické hovory --

I've got to use everything I can,

musím používať všetko, čo sa dá,

not just for communication,

nie len na komunikáciu,

but for leadership.

ale na vedenie.

A 22-year-old individual

22-ročné indivíduum

operating alone,

operujúce samostatne,

thousands of miles from me,

tisícky míľ odo mňa,

has got to communicate to me with confidence.

so mnou musí komunikovať s istotou.

I have to have trust in them and vice versa.

Musím im dôverovať a naopak.

And I also have to build their faith.

Musím tiež vybudovať ich vieru.

And that's a new kind of leadership

A to je pre mňa nový druh

for me.

vodcovstva.

We had one operation

Mali sme jednu operáciu,

where we had to coordinate it from multiple locations.

ktorú sme museli koordinovať z viacerých miest.

An emerging opportunity came --

Ponúkla sa možnosť --

didn't have time to get everybody together.

nebol čas všetkých zhromaždiť.

So we had to get complex intelligence together,

Museli sme dať dokopy komplexné spravodajstvo,

we had to line up the ability to act.

museli sme prispôsobiť možnosti akcii.

It was sensitive, we had to go up the chain of command,

Bolo to citlivé, museli sme ísť nahor reťazcom velenia,

convince them that this was the right thing to do

presvedčiť ich, že chceme urobiť správnu vec,

and do all of this

a to všetko

on electronic medium.

v elektronickom médiu.

We failed.

Zlyhali sme.

The mission didn't work.

Misia nefungovala.

And so now what we had to do

Potom sme museli;

is I had to reach out

ja som sa musel

to try to rebuild the trust of that force,

pokúsiť obnoviť dôveru toho vojska,

rebuild their confidence --

obnoviť ich istotu --

me and them, and them and me,

ja v nich a oni vo mňa

and our seniors and us as a force --

a naši velitelia a my ako vojsko --

all without the ability to put a hand on a shoulder.

všetko bez možnosti položiť ruku na rameno.

Entirely new requirement.

Úplne nová požiadavka.

Also, the people had changed.

Taktiež, ľudia sa zmenili.

You probably think that the force that I led

Asi si myslíte, že vojsko, ktoré som viedol,

was all steely-eyed commandos with big knuckle fists

boli všetko komandá so železným pohľadom a zovretými päsťmi

carrying exotic weapons.

s exotickými zbraňami.

In reality,

V skutočnosti,

much of the force I led

väčšina vojska, ktoré som viedol,

looked exactly like you.

vyzerala úplne ako vy.

It was men, women, young, old --

Boli to muži, ženy, mladí, starí --

not just from military; from different organizations,

nie len z armády; z rôznych organizácií,

many of them detailed to us just from a handshake.

veľa z nich som poznal iba z podania ruky.

And so instead of giving orders,

A tak, namiesto vydávania rozkazov,

you're now building consensus

budujete teraz konsenzus,

and you're building a sense of shared purpose.

vytvárate pocit zdieľaného zmyslu.

Probably the biggest change

Asi najväčšia zmena

was understanding that the generational difference,

bolo pochopenie, že generačné rozdiely,

the ages, had changed so much.

veky, sa tak zmenili.

I went down to be with a Ranger platoon

Išiel som k čate Rangerov

on an operation in Afghanistan,

na operácii v Afganistáne

and on that operation,

a na tej operácii

a sergeant in the platoon

seržant z tej čaty

had lost about half his arm

stratil polovicu ruky,

throwing a Taliban hand grenade

keď hádzal talibanský granát

back at the enemy

naspäť na nepriateľa,

after it had landed in his fire team.

po tom ako pristál v jeho družstve.

We talked about the operation,

Hovorili sme o tej operácii,

and then at the end I did what I often do with a force like that.

a potom, nakoniec, som spravil, čo často robievam s takými jednotkami.

I asked, "Where were you on 9/11?"

Spýtal som sa, "Kde ste boli 11.septembra?"

And one young Ranger in the back --

Jeden mladý Ranger vzadu --

his hair's tousled and his face is red and windblown

strapatý, červená tvár, ošľahaný vetrom

from being in combat in the cold Afghan wind --

z bojov v studenom afgánskom vetre --

he said, "Sir, I was in the sixth grade."

povedal: "Pane, bol som v šiestej triede."

And it reminded me

A pripomenul mi,

that we're operating a force

že operujeme s vojskom,

that must have shared purpose

ktoré musí mať zdieľaný zmysel

and shared consciousness,

a zdieľané vedomie,

and yet he has different experiences,

a predsa on má rozdielne skúsenosti,

in many cases a different vocabulary,

vo veľa prípadoch rozdielny slovník,

a completely different skill set

úplne odlišný súbor zručností

in terms of digital media

v digitálnych médiách,

than I do and many of the other senior leaders.

ako ja a mnoho iných starších veliteľov.

And yet, we need to have that shared sense.

A napriek tomu, musíme mať ten zdieľaný pocit.

It also produced something

Vyprodukovalo to niečo,

which I call an inversion of expertise,

čo volám inverziu expertízy,

because we had so many changes at the lower levels

lebo sme mali toľko zmien na nižších úrovniach,

in technology and tactics and whatnot,

v technológiách, v taktike, vo všeličom,

that suddenly the things that we grew up doing

a zrazu veci, pri ktorých sme vyrastali,

wasn't what the force was doing anymore.

neboli to, čo robili títo vojaci.

So how does a leader

Tak ako vodcovia

stay credible and legitimate

zostanú dôveryhodnými a pravými,

when they haven't done

keď nerobili

what the people you're leading are doing?

to, čo robia ľudia, ktorých vedú?

And it's a brand new leadership challenge.

Je to celkom nová výzva vodcovstva.

And it forced me to become a lot more transparent,

Prinútilo ma to byť oveľa transparentnejším,

a lot more willing to listen,

viac pripraveným počúvať,

a lot more willing to be reverse-mentored from lower.

oveľa viac otvoreným na poučovanie zdola.

And yet, again, you're not all in one room.

A predsa, znova, nie ste všetci v tej istej miestnosti.

Then another thing.

A potom ďalšia vec.

There's an effect on you and on your leaders.

Má to efekt na vás a na vašich vodcov.

There's an impact, it's cumulative.

Má to dopad, je to kumulatívne.

You don't reset, or recharge your battery every time.

Neresetujete to, nenabíjate vždy znova batérie.

I stood in front of a screen one night in Iraq

Stál som pred obrazovkou jednu noc v Iraku

with one of my senior officers

s jedným starším dôstojníkom

and we watched a firefight from one of our forces.

a sledoval prestrelku jednej našej jednotky.

And I remembered his son was in our force.

A spomenul som si, že jeho syn bol v našich silách.

And I said, "John, where's your son? And how is he?"

A povedal som: "John, kde je tvoj syn? Ako sa má?"

And he said, "Sir, he's fine. Thanks for asking."

On povedal: "Pane, je v poriadku, vďaka za opýtanie."

I said, "Where is he now?"

Povedal som: "Kde je teraz?"

And he pointed at the screen, he said, "He's in that firefight."

A ukázal na obrazovku a povedal: "Je v tej prestrelke."

Think about watching your brother, father,

Pomyslite na to, že sledujete svojho brata, otca,

daughter, son, wife

dcéru, syna, ženu

in a firefight in real time

v prestrelke v reálnom čase

and you can't do anything about it.

a nemôžete s tým nič urobiť.

Think about knowing that over time.

Predstavte si, že o tom stále viete.

And it's a new cumulative pressure on leaders.

A to je nový kumulatívny tlak na vodcov.

And you have to watch and take care of each other.

Musíte sledovať a dávať pozor na seba.

I probably learned the most about relationships.

Naučil som sa asi najviac o vzťahoch.

I learned they are the sinew

Naučil som sa, že sú pojivom,

which hold the force together.

ktoré drží sily pokope.

I grew up much of my career in the Ranger regiment.

Vyrastal som väčšinu svojej kariéry v pluku Rangerov.

And every morning in the Ranger regiment,

A každé ráno v tom rangerskom pluku,

every Ranger -- and there are more than 2,000 of them --

každý Ranger -- a je ich tam viac ako 2000 --

says a six-stanza Ranger creed.

povie šesť slohovú prísahu.

You may know one line of it, it says,

Možno poznáte jednu strofu,

"I'll never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy."

"Nikdy nenechám padlého kamaráta, aby padol do rúk nepriateľa."

And it's not a mindless mantra,

Nie je to len bezduchá mantra

and it's not a poem.

a nie je to básnička.

It's a promise.

Je to sľub.

Every Ranger promises every other Ranger,

Každý Ranger sľubuje každému inému Rangerovi,

"No matter what happens, no matter what it costs me,

nezáleží, čo sa stane, nezáleží, čo ma to bude stáť,

if you need me, I'm coming."

keď ma budeš potrebovať, prídem.

And every Ranger gets that same promise

A každý Ranger dostáva ten istý prísľub

from every other Ranger.

od každého ďalšieho Rangera.

Think about it. It's extraordinarily powerful.

Pomyslite na to. Je to neuveriteľne silné.

It's probably more powerful than marriage vows.

Je to asi silnejšie ako manželské sľuby.

And they've lived up to it, which gives it special power.

A oni podľa toho žili, čo tomu dodáva špeciálnu moc.

And so the organizational relationship that bonds them

A tieto vzťahy organizácie, ktoré ich spájajú,

is just amazing.

sú úžasné.

And I learned personal relationships

Naučil som sa, že osobné vzťahy

were more important than ever.

sú dôležitejšie ako kedykoľvek predtým.

We were in a difficult operation in Afghanistan in 2007,

Boli sme v zložitej operácii v Afganistane v r. 2007

and an old friend of mine,

a jeden môj starý známy,

that I had spent many years

s ktorým som strávil mnoho rokov

at various points of my career with --

na rôznych miestach mojej kariéry --

godfather to one of their kids --

krstný otec jedného jeho dieťaťa --

he sent me a note, just in an envelope,

poslal mi odkaz, len v obálke,

that had a quote from Sherman to Grant

kde bol výrok Shermana Grantovi,

that said, "I knew if I ever got in a tight spot,

keď vravel: "Viem, že keď by som bol v úzkych,

that you would come, if alive."

prišiel by si, keď by si bol nažive."

And having that kind of relationship, for me,

A mať taký druh vzťahu, pre mňa,

turned out to be critical at many points in my career.

sa ukázalo byť kritické v rôznych bodoch mojej kariéry.

And I learned that you have to give that

Naučil som sa, že to musíte dávať

in this environment,

v tomto prostredí,

because it's tough.

lebo je ťažké.

That was my journey.

To bola moja cesta.

I hope it's not over.

Dúfam, že ešte nekončí.

I came to believe

Teraz verím,

that a leader isn't good because they're right;

že vodca nie je dobrý, lebo má pravdu;

they're good because they're willing to learn and to trust.

vodcovia sú dobrí, lebo sú ochotní sa učiť a dôverovať.

This isn't easy stuff.

Nie je to ľahké.

It's not like that electronic abs machine

Nie je to ako tie elektronické posilňovacie stroje,

where, 15 minutes a month, you get washboard abs.

kde za 15 minút mesačne dostanete tehličky na bruchu.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

And it isn't always fair.

Nie je to vždy fér.

You can get knocked down,

Padnete,

and it hurts

bolí to

and it leaves scars.

a zanecháva to jazvy.

But if you're a leader,

Ale ak ste vodca,

the people you've counted on

ľudia, na ktorých sa spoliehate,

will help you up.

vám pomôžu na nohy.

And if you're a leader,

A ak ste vodca,

the people who count on you need you on your feet.

ľudia, ktorí na vás spoliehajú, vás potrebujú na nohách.

Thank you.

Ďakujem.

(Applause)

(Potlesk)