The Leadership We Need in a Time of Crisis

Subscribe to the Podcast

  

At a time of profound national crisis, we are seeing new models of leadership emerge. What are the lessons for the future?

The federal government’s vast resources have traditionally made it a central source of leadership in a crisis – and its national leader, by default, the main figurehead. But in the face of a complex, far-reaching pandemic and America’s system of decentralized government, new models of leadership are emerging. Governors and mayors have stepped up to the plate. Partisan rivals like Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi overcome deep divisions to work together on a vast government bailout package. General Wesley K. Clark talks about how this profound national crisis is reshaping models of leadership in American – and what lessons this can hold for our future.

Read the Episode Transcript

Ep. 2 – The Leadership We Need in a Time of Crisis

General Wesley K. Clark, (ret.)

Wesley K. Clark is a businessman, educator, writer and commentator who serves as Chairman and CEO of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a strategic consulting firm. Clark retired as a four star general after 38 years in the United States Army, having served in his last assignments as Commander of US Southern Command and then as Commander of US European Command/ Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. He graduated first in his class at West Point and completed degrees in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University (B.A. and M.A.) as a Rhodes scholar. He worked with Ambassador Richard Holbrooke in the Dayton Peace Process, where he helped write and negotiate significant portions of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. In his final assignment as Supreme Allied Commander Europe he led NATO forces to victory in Operation Allied Force, a 78-day air campaign, backed by ground invasion planning and a diplomatic process, saving 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing.  His awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Defense Distinguished Service Medal (five awards), Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. In 2019, Clark founded Renew America Together, a nonprofit organization designed to promote and achieve greater common ground in America by reducing partisan division and gridlock.