December 01, 2025
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General Stan McChrystal on Character, Discipline and Leadership
Watch the latest “Slice of Citadel” with Gen. Stan McChrystal, a retired four-star general, as he reflects on leadership, service and the choices that define character, the habits that shape who we are and how we lead.
As part of the “Slice of Citadel” series, colleagues gathered for a conversation with Gen. Stan McChrystal, the former commander of Joint Special Operations Command and allied forces in Afghanistan. The discussion, moderated by Jay Kramer, Director of Public Affairs, combined lessons in leadership with stories from McChrystal’s decades of military service and slices from Mariella Pizza, an Upper East Side favorite since 1987.
Attendees received copies of McChrystal’s new book, On Character: Choices That Define a Life, which explores how conviction and discipline combine to form integrity. His previous works include My Share of the Task: A Memoir, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World and Risk: A User’s Guide.
“Character equals convictions times discipline,” McChrystal told the audience. “It’s the essence of who we are. At the end of the day, character is reflected in what we do, not what we say, not what we write, not what we pretend.”
He described discipline as a practice learned through habit, from his years at West Point to his personal routine of eating one meal a day. “Integrity becomes a habit,” he said. “Over time, those habits define you.”
McChrystal illustrated his message with moments from combat operations, including the manhunt of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The success, he noted, depended on teamwork and humility. “Much of the credit belongs to people you don’t think about, communicators, logisticians, intel people. They’re just as important as anyone else.”
For McChrystal, leadership begins with service. “If you think you’re too important to do things like that, you’ve missed the point of what you’re there for,” he said. True leadership, he added, means enabling others to succeed and building trust across teams.
Reflecting on his time with the U.S. Army Rangers, McChrystal said great teams are built not by talent alone but by shared standards. “They had a set of standards that everybody decided to live up to,” he said. “That’s what creates cohesion and drives excellence, whether in a platoon or a financial firm.”
The evening closed with a reminder that character is not a slogan, but a practice, built through discipline, tested by adversity and strengthened by service to others.
