No Fear of Failure: Real Stories of How Leaders Deal with Risk and Change

Chapter Five

LIEUTENANT GENERAL FRANKLIN L. “BUSTER” HAGENBECK: COMPASSION

Visiting the United States Military Academy, even for just an afternoon, you feel its storied past that dates back to General George Washington. A long military tradition means discipline—physical, mental, and moral—and expectations of excellence for each of the one thousand or so cadets who graduate each year as second lieutenants serving in the United States Army. The legacy of the institution is leadership, which is what brought me here to interview the superintendent in charge: Lieutenant General Franklin L. “Buster” Hagenbeck, a man with nearly four decades of military experience, including as a general commanding troops on the ground in Afghanistan.

Facing the lush ...