No Turning Back – Détails, épisodes et analyse

No Turning Back first began in April of 2020, originating as a video series where Stan McChrystal and Chris Fussell would speak with some of the world’s most consequential leaders about leadership and resilience through such unprecedented times. This video series served as a way to bring people together for a conversation and gave viewers a slight reprieve from the uncertainty in our world. We quickly realized there was a larger audience who were looking for impactful conversations like No Turning Back.

Since then, we’ve released over 75 conversations with leaders of all different backgrounds and industries, discussing their experiences facing the pressing challenges they and their organizations encounter every day. As we wrap up this series, we’re taking a look back at the favorite episodes from our team who helped create No Turning Back from behind the scenes.

This week, we are featuring an episode on leadership with a conversation between Stan, Chris, and Bill McDermott, the Chief Executive Officer of ServiceNow, a role he assumed in November of 2019. Bill has led innovation at the company as it has been at the forefront of digital transformation and shares his insights on company culture, leadership, and adaptation in business.

They discuss the characteristics of what makes a successful leader and how to navigate uncertainty when innovating. Bill details his experiences leading teams, what he envisions as the future of technology, and how it must improve people’s lives. Bill also shares his thoughts on the most pressing challenges facing leaders today, headlined by retention and creating a work environment that suits employees’ shifting needs.

As a part of the “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast” series of No Turning Back, Stan and Chris were excited to speak with Meg Gentle, the Executive Director of HIF USA. Meg has had an impressive 25-year career in the energy industry. A former oil & gas executive, she recently left the business to focus on decarbonization, with goals to return our planet to a CO2 homeostasis.

In this discussion, Stan and Chris ask Meg about the future of the energy sector: what leadership will look like, and how and when we should act during the ongoing challenge of climate change. It’s a timely, necessary conversation, and we think you’ll learn something useful.

We're officially in the "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast" series, with a special guest: Bruce Broussard, the CEO of Humana. As organizations jump into 2022, they are eager to start the year with energy and vigor and leave behind the challenges of the past two years. We know all organizations – especially ones in healthcare, like Humana – must be more intentional than ever before.

In this episode, we spoke with Bruce Broussard and how speed affects the healthcare system. Bruce speaks about how the healthcare system should adopt the "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast" idea by focusing on disease prevention, not just treatment. Stan and Bruce speak about why and how digital transformation is an evolution of the healthcare system, and even touch on the recent Theranos trial - considering how innovation will continue to affect the healthcare system.

This week, we are teasing the mini-series with a conversation with Carl Liebert. Carl currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of kwx of Keller Williams. A member of the United States Naval Academy’s basketball team, Carl went on to serve in the Navy, before navigating his way through a variety of positions in General Electric, Circuit City, Home Depot, 24Hour Fitness Worldwide, and USAA.

In this discussion, Stan and Chris learn more about how Carl navigates new industries and role positions. They get Carl’s take on the role that both truth, and curiosity, play in a board of directors meeting, and hear about how Carl thinks about his first 90 days at any position. We were really interested in hearing about the intentionality behind all of Carl’s decisions, as we start the “Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast” series of No Turning Back.

As we conclude this “Future Focused” series that looks to the future of work and our world at large, we were really interested in exploring how cities and businesses will grow together. Meet Maggie Hsu, the former Chief of Staff to the late CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, who was heavily involved in the Downtown Project. The Downtown Project aimed to build and revitalize the community of Las Vegas. Maggie has spent her career thinking ahead about ways to make our future world better.

In this episode, Maggie explains the intent and legacy of the Downtown Project, dives into holacracy and its connections to blockchain, how cities can be cryptofriendly, and how she thinks work, life, and play have fundamentally changed after the pandemic. It's one of our more thought-provoking discussions as we look ahead to 2022.

This wraps up our No Turning Back content for 2021 - we look forward to an exciting year exploring new topics, and mini-series, with you next year.

How should we think about the future of technology in the military? How will warfighters leverage technology, artificial intelligence, and new innovations to best react to the conflicts that await us?

These are the sorts of questions on Major General Heather Pringle's mind, as the Commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory. Major General Pringle serves as the Technology Executive Officer, whose work and research supports the Air Force and Space Force.

In this episode, we hear about Major General Pringle's team of 6,000 folks who aim to create an exhaustive portfolio of technology that predicts new fighting environments and challenges for the military. Major General Pringle speaks about the symbiosis between technology and humans, how the basic "to-do" lists for warfighters today are similar to how they've always been (though the technology applied will be different), and the role that ethics plays in her lab. Major General Pringle discusses how her team is pushing to the exciting edge of technology - and we think you'll really enjoy what she has to say.

What will "work" look like in 2022, and the years beyond it?

Meet Philip Ross, a futurist who specializes on how technology influences how we live, work, shop, and socialize. He's our guest today on No Turning Back in the next episode of the "Future Focused" series. He is the founder of UnGroup and Cordless Group, and aims to help organizations navigate the future workplace. He advises companies, runs workshops and conferences, and writes books about the Future of Work, generously giving his time to us as we look ahead to the work place awaiting us.

Welcome to the Future Focused series of No Turning Back. As we end 2021 and take the step into 2022, we will be having future-focused conversations: largely talking about the future of work, but also the human-AI experience, technological innovation in the military, drafting out and discussing what our world will look like in the years to come.

Bob Johansen, this week's guest, kicks off the mini-series. Bob is a self-proclaimed "futurist" who looks at life backwards, focusing ten years ahead as he makes predictions about the life waiting for him. Bob is a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future, where he helps organizations get ready for, and influence, the future. He has been doing this work for 30 years while also authoring or co-authoring a massive 12 books on the subject.

In today's discussions, Bob explains that all humans will be cyborgs in 10 years, why he dislikes the term "artificial intelligence," and why good leaders must be digital leaders. He shared one of the more interesting and important questions in the future is: what can humans do best? And what can computers do best? He challenges us to focus on the hopeful potentials of both the human and the machine.

This week, Stan and Chris conclude the Risk mini-series of No Turning Back, looking back on the six episodes, and looking ahead to the greatest risks facing our nation and world.

Our podcast, after all, is called No Turning Back, and Stan and Chris will leave you today with clear insights into the challenges that lay ahead. Our next mini-series, coming to you within a matter of weeks, is about the Future of Work.

If you've enjoyed the Risk mini-series and are looking for more, pick up a copy of Stan's latest book, Risk: A User's Guide, which is available everywhere books are sold. https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/library/risk-a-users-guide/