Risk

A User's Guide

By: General Stanley McChrystal, Anna Butrico

Narrated by: General Stanley McChrystal

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the best-selling author of Team of Teams and My Share of the Task, an entirely new way to understand risk and master the unknown.

Retired four-star general Stan McChrystal has lived a life associated with the deadly risks of combat. From his first day at West Point, to his years in Afghanistan, to his efforts helping business leaders navigate a global pandemic, McChrystal has seen how individuals and organizations fail to mitigate risk. Why? Because they focus on the probability of something happening instead of the interface by which it can be managed.

In this new book, General McChrystal offers a battle-tested system for detecting and responding to risk. Instead of defining risk as a force to predict, McChrystal and coauthor Anna Butrico show that there are in fact 10 dimensions of control we can adjust at any given time. By closely monitoring these controls, we can maintain a healthy Risk Immune System that allows us to effectively anticipate, identify, analyze, and act upon the ever-present possibility that things will not go as planned.

Drawing on examples ranging from military history to the business world, and offering practical exercises to improve preparedness, McChrystal illustrates how these 10 factors are always in effect, and how by considering them, individuals and organizations can exert mastery over every conceivable sort of risk that they might face.

We may not be able to see the future, but with McChrystal’s hard-won guidance, we can improve our resistance and build a strong defense against what we know - and what we don't.

This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF containing a chart and diagram from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Gen. Stanley McChrystal (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

“An absolute masterpiece on the subject of risk! Brilliant and highly entertaining, this book is essential reading for every leader, regardless of age or experience.” (Admiral William H. McRaven, US Navy (Retired)

“General McChrystal is swiftly becoming our most important leadership voice. Measured, meticulous, and filled with practical, pragmatic wisdom from both war and peace, his clear-eyed, unsentimental guidance cuts to the heart of our precarious existence. A must-read leadership bible for troubling times.” (James Kerr, best-selling author of Legacy)

“A brilliant user’s guide that demonstrates how managing risk is about how we lead, rather than getting mathematical equations right. Fundamental reading for any leader looking to understand and strengthen their team’s Risk Immune System.” (Annie Duke, best-selling author of Thinking in Bets and How to Decide)

Good nuggets however wants no risk

There are good things to pull out of this book, however when Gen. McChrystal uses examples of good responses to COVID he exults complete totalitarian lock downs like New Zealand and praises CA response. This would work. We can take away all risk by locking everyone up and becoming bubble boys. The real risk is trusting people with their own freedoms while doing all you can to reduce risk. Disappointed.

Good Book About Risk by a Man That Knows About it

Truth in lending, I have the utmost respect for Stan McChrystal. This was a good book and covers multiple aspects of risk and mitigation. Some will not appreciate his commentary on modern events or even military culture and strategy, but it is hard to find flaw with the logic. Overall, an excellent book.

Definitely a worthwhile read (listen).

An excellent look at how individuals and organizations prepare or do not prepare for the unexpected. McChrystal looks at a number of military actions, often applying his critique of military leadership to individual or organizational behavior in the face of uncertainty in a civilian setting. I spent 5 years as a medical section sergeant in a national guard battalion in the 90s. I commonly worried about how "ready" we were to support our battalion and struggled to find metrics to accurately evaluate our abilities. I wish the General's book would have been available for us during those years. The strategies he proposes would have greatly helped us evaluate our strengths and weaknesses prior to a critical event. I taught for years at the college level as well as employment as on occupational therapist in a number of health care facilities. Again, his suggestions would have allowed us to more accurately evaluate our students at the collegiate level and to become better prepared for large scale events in the medical field. I also found McChrystal's voice and style very easy to listen to.

A lecture of politics.

Got this book as I believed the author has a great understanding of the concept of risk and how the military works to de-risk missions as much as possible. This book as just become a lecture of politics and fails to address the nature of risk. Would not recommend this book.

Lacks depth in content

Superficial storytelling with little real content and depth around risk. Bounces around military stories, historic battles and very high level corporate examples to make up for lack of real experience. Hugely disappointing.

Interesting from a system engineer view

The authors view of the risk immune system is an interesting view, similar to control theory. I liked how he broke down the different points of failure to control loops (communication is how he named feedback loops), and his analogies were fun to listen to. His political views were pretty obvious, but the stories were still interesting to compare to control theory, if somewhat short-sighted.

Mediocre overall.

Will probably be the last book that I buy from this author. His military experience is becoming stale (if you’ve read his other books) and his political biases becoming more overt.

Couldn't even finish

Very biased and subjective right from the start. Unfortunately, I thought he would be different.

comprehensive guide to riak

A holistic guide to identifying, assessing, and responding to risk. Many examples and anecdotes provides. The chapter on solutions is valuable

Solid work, average premise

Stan is a legend. Book has great nuggets as is typical of his books. Some of his analogies miss and the concept of risk immune system is just strange. Not as good as his other books but still worth the read.