Ambassador Douglas Lute: Making Decisions Amid the Chaos of War
This episode marks our first with an individual who has made decisions regarding our military, in times of war: Decisions that impact the safety and well-being of millions of people, potentially for years to come. How exactly does one navigate such extraordinarily high stakes situations?
Ambassador Douglas Lute is a retired three-star general and the former US Ambassador to NATO. In 2007, then-President George W Bush appointed him to oversee the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a role that earned him the title —one that doesn’t exactly thrill him— of war czar. Ambassador Lute additionally served as Director of Operations on the Joint Staff, where he oversaw U.S. military operations worldwide.
Listen in as Ambassador Lute discusses what it means to be an effective leader in the military, the lessons he thinks we have —or, for that matter, haven’t— learned from our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and even the unexpected details of his first meeting with the second President Bush.