Stockdale on Leadership

Life is not fair. Admiral Stockdale states:

"The challenge of education is how to prepare young people to respond with grace when they don't succeed. They need to know that a failure is not the end of everything—they must learn how not to give up in the face of adversity."

"At the time I was shot down, I had the top job a Navy fighter pilot could hold. Suddenly I was isolated and crippled, with my captors trying to tear apart my system of values. I was able to overcome the 'Why me?’ feeling by recalling my studies of men who had successfully dealt with failure in our historical past. The biblical story of Job reminded me that life is not always fair. Even honest and upright men can be tested by evil and must be prepared to deal with it."

There is no justice in life; children die of AIDS and drug dealers live to old age. To face this world of injustice, you must have knowledge of past injustices and how great men and women of history dealt with them. This comes through reading and continuing education.

Hatred is self-defeating. Admiral Stockdale states:

"We can't prevent anger sometimes. It can be a healthy reaction to the twists and turns we face in life. But, if you allow it to develop into bitterness or hatred, anger becomes a destabilizing emotion. Harnessing it gives you power."

"I realized after being tortured beyond the point of human endurance, that I had to find a way to outsmart them. So I learned to harness my anger as a tool rather than as a weapon they could us against me. That started with resisting self-pity and by becoming fully engaged with my comrades—helping others and being encouraged by them."

If you get angry when something does not go your way, do not feel sorry for yourself, do not try to "get even", instead, say "I'll show them, I'll be a success in spite of them!" and then charge on even harder than before.