GUTS -- Leading with Radical Courage

From the moment Colonel (Ret.) Christopher Kolenda, PhD, takes the stage, he connects the audience to powerful stories that challenge us to get the BiG things right -- Leadership, Culture, and Strategy.

Drawing from a storied career as an internationally renowned combat leader (see CNN Jake Tapper’s bestselling book, The Outpost), strategist, author, scholar, and entrepreneur, Chris delivers a timeless message of courage, hope, and resilience in life, war, and business.

A singular event on July 27, 2007, had a dramatic impact on Chris, his unit, and in the war in Afghanistan. He was leading a major military operation near the Pakistan border in a remote valley of the Hindu Kush mountains. The mission began well. His team was taking the fight to the enemy. And then everything went wrong. Deadly wrong.

Colonel Kolenda gives us a spellbinding account of that day. He takes us into combat, loss, and the discovery of a painful truth: that the vast majority of people in that area -- the very people he and his paratroopers were trying to help -- were united … in trying to kill them.

To make matters worse, they were up against a brilliant enemy commander -- one who had annihilated powerful offensives into the valley during the Afghan-Soviet war -- who had the people on his side against the Americans and the new Afghan government.  

Chris recounts his team’s efforts to find a way to win overall while fighting for their lives each day. He discovers the importance of empathy to overcome misunderstanding, the courage to design a new strategy that broke conventional wisdom, and why leadership and culture played the pivotal role in reorienting 800 paratroopers and their Afghan Army counterparts into a revolutionary new approach.

He shares how his team overcame deep mistrust to gain the support of the very people who had been trying to kill them. He explains perseverance in the face of criticism -- potentially career-ending criticism -- with the unconventional strategy.

Chris takes us inside the dramatic encounter with his wily adversary ... and how his team’s efforts led the insurgent group to stop fighting and eventually join the government -- the only example of such success in the 17-year history of the war.

These efforts would lead to major changes in US strategy and operations in Afghanistan … and to Chris becoming the only American who has fought the Taliban as a commander in combat and engaged them in high-level diplomacy.

Now a highly successful business management entrepreneur, Chris draws from 30-years of experience leading organizations, research from his critically acclaimed book on leadership (Leadership: The Warrior’s Art) that has sold over 50,000 copies, and his PhD thesis on American strategy in post 9/11 wars, to help small businesses and nonprofits get the BiG things right -- Leadership, Culture, and Strategy.

He has synthesized this deep experience and scholarship into a clear and concise philosophy called GUTS: Leading with Radical Courage. The result is a highly practical approach to Leadership, Culture, and Strategy that helps businesses and nonprofits thrive.

Attendees will learn:

• Why Leadership, Culture, and Strategy are the keys to success

• Why the biggest breakthroughs emerge when you study your challenges from a different perspective

• The 15 Habits of GUTS and practical ways to use them

• The 4 elements of Radical Courage

• Powerful stories of tragedy, resilience, and hope that help your team journey from adversity to winning.