I was back at the Atlanta History Center Monday night to hear General David Petraeus discuss his new book Conflict: The evolution of warfare from 1945 to Ukraine and the current political climate overseas. I have been looking forward to this since I heard about it last month and it did not disappoint!
Monday’s event was sold out with over 1000 people in attendance. I also found it interesting that other programs had been occurring all day with General Petraeus and a good portion of the seats in the center of the ballroom were reserved for those who had been with the General all day. The program was sponsored by a few veteran-focused programs around Atlanta that I had never heard of, but will look up to support in the future!
I have always enjoyed the events at the Atlanta History Center, but this one felt a bit off in terms of the crowd. I would like to call out the AHC staff for extra security – I was a bit uneasy given the last political event at the venue with the heckler, but this went off without any wayward attendees that I noticed. However, this crowd was not the typical crowd I’m used to seeing and both myself and the couple I sat next to found this crowd less than comfortable to be around.
As one would expect, General Petraeus drew a crowd of both book lovers like me and military members (current and former). I realized this would be a different crowd when, while waiting to be checked in, several pushed through to the front with no regard for those who had been waiting for a while. Once inside the venue, the behavior was not much better. Several disregarded the reserved seating barricades and had to be redirected. There were also a few that were loud and disrupted the speakers in inappropriate times. It felt like the event would not have a Q&A, but one such person just stood up and started shouting out questions. Maybe I’m jaded because I’ve been attending events at the AHC for a few months and knew what to expect, but it felt a bit disrespectful to the other attendees across the board.
Also, let me put this disclaimer out there: I love our military members and their families. I am your family. But I also have manners and expect officers to have manners, too. Several of those disrupting the program were Colonel rank or higher.
If you would like to avoid spoilers or too much detail, please skip ahead by clicking here.
I have always been interested in General Petraeus and his leadership. Many years ago, a good friend was stationed in theater under his command and spoke so highly of the General. The authors use the General’s own experience in Iraq and Afghanistan as the basis for two chapters of this book, but also pull in so much other research and the experience of others to flesh out this beautifully written book about how strategic leadership can make the difference on the battlefield. General Petraeus was quick to point out that many of the concepts discussed in terms of the battlefield can easily be transferred to the business world as well.
General Petraeus and his coauthor Andrew Roberts have known each other for decades and weren’t necessarily planning to write a book togehter. However, General Petraeus had been looking for a way to write about his experiences in the Middle East without it being a self-serving memoir – this book gave him just that opportunity. Originally, they wrote those two chapters on his experiences in the third person as most history books are constructed, but Harper Collins asked them to change it to give it a more personal and authoritative feel. General Petraeus mentioned he also reads those two chapters of the book if you grab the audio version!
When asked why it’s important for all of us to study war, General Petraeus mentioned that this book gives readers the historical context for what is ongoing in both Ukraine and Israel. He called what is going on in Ukraine a personal matter for himself – he had his run ins with Putin years ago. He also stated that understanding the nature of the war you’re in will help you craft a strategy to combat and to communicate the big ideas to stakeholders to gain their support – something that is very important in today’s digital world.
Speaking of the digital world, General Petraeus shared some details of how the tools of warfare have changed over the years. Weapons improvements have happened with every war (planes weren’t used well by an country until World War II), but what we see now is a completely different kind of war coming. The use of drones and remotely directed weaponry is reducing the required size of the force to truly fight a battle, but also saving lives as the human aspect isn’t front line as it once was. He also pointed out the other tech factors that have helped in current wars like Ukraine using cell phone towers and signal tracking to locate Russian forces and also recording conversations to post online to discredit them.
In terms of strategic leadership, General Petraeus emphasized that how you spend your time in crucial. It’s important to flex with the changes to the operating environment and context. You also need to have integrity in your reporting and data to support your analysis and for seeking support from the stakeholders. He used Netflix as an example – they started with the big idea of reaching movie lovers without a brick and mortar set up. When the environment changed, they pivoted to online streaming. And when the environment changed again, they pivoted to producing their own material. They had reliable data and great analysis to support the changes and made successful changes to their business model to grow with their customers instead of becoming the next Blockbuster, disappearing into history.
I found it interesting that this career military man would spend so much time discussing diplomacy and the importance of having both diplomacy and discipline. General Petraeus mentioned that he and the Ambassador formed a partnership where they did everything together. They were able to predict complaints and changes from those on both sides and were able to support each other with a single united point of view. He also mentioned their press policy to be the first with the truth – sometimes you have to own your mistakes or short comings to retain your credibility in a diplomatic situation.
Returning to Ukraine, General Petraeus mentioned that is exactly what their government did – they got the truth out. The utilized classified intel that was merged with open source intel to support their side of the story and launched it as wide and far as they could with both the President’s personal appearances in the media, social media posts by the citizens, and other web sources.
In terms of why the US should be involved, General Petraeus mentioned that deterrence is a fraction of the cost of war. What happens in one part of the world has repercussions in another part of the world every time. It’s important that we advise, assist, and enable those fighting these battles to deter future aggressions in our section of the globe. As an example, he brought up President Biden’s “slips” in regard to supporting Tawain against any Chinese aggression – General Petraeus feels like these were strategic moments to put China on notice of our intentions to get involved and hopefully deter the aggression.
Towards the end of the evening, General Petraeus was asked what’s next for him. If you’re not familiar with his current work, General Petraeus is involved on several college campuses as well as in the business world. However, he was very quick to point out he is not political, even stating he took a page from General Marshall’s book and stopped voting when he became reached 2 Star rank. He mentioned that he wanted to remove politics from the situation so that he could get approval for his plans without having to fight those battles in Congress. He has no plans to run for office and I don’t see that in his future at all. General Petraeus closed the program by reminding us to deal with the world the way it is, not the way you want it to be. Assess your situation, plan your response, and communicate well.
Have you read Conflict yet? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick
- Current audio book: Wild, Cheryl Strayed
- Book I’m most looking forward to: The Woman in Me, Britney Spears
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