Project Description
Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton: Six Characteristics of High-Performance Teams
Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton: Six Characteristics of High-Performance Teams
Why were the American POWs imprisoned at the “Hanoi Hilton” so resilient in captivity and so successful in their subsequent careers? This book presents six principles practiced within the POW organizational culture that can be used to develop high-performance teams everywhere. The authors offer examples from both the POWs’ time in captivity and their later professional lives that identify, in real-life situations, the characteristics necessary for sustainable, high-performance teamwork. The book takes readers inside the mind of James Stockdale, a fighter pilot with a degree in philosophy, who was the senior ranking officer at the Hanoi prison. The theories Stockdale practiced become readily understandable in this book. Drawing parallels between Stockdale’s guiding philosophies from the Stoic Epictetus and the principles of modern sports psychology, Peter Fretwell and Taylor Baldwin Kiland show readers how to apply these principles to their own organizations and create a culture with staying power.
Originally intending their book to focus on Stockdale’s leadership style, the authors found that his approach toward completing a mission was to assure that it could be accomplished without him. Stockdale, they explain, had created a mission-centric organization, not a leader-centric organization. He had understood that a truly sustainable culture must not be dependent on a single individual.
At one level, this book is a business school case study. It is also an examination of how leadership and organizational principles employed in the crucible of a Hanoi prison align with today’s sports psychology and modern psychological theories and therapies, as well as the training principles used by Olympic athletes and Navy SEALs. Any group willing to apply these principles can move their mission forward and create a culture with staying power—one that outlives individual members.
There is no better example of high-performance leadership than in the incredible story told in Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton. The heroes in this story demonstrate how communication, honesty, courage, and a hyper focus on mission can enable any team to overcome any odds to complete the mission.
[Jim Stockdale’s] servant leadership under duress likely will be studied and emulated for generations to come. He was a one-of-a-kind American war hero who made his country proud.
I can think of no better lens on leadership than the lessons of Adm. Jim Stockdale and how he built a sustainable high-performance culture in the most extreme circumstances. Stockdale epitomized the very highest levels of integrity, honor, discipline, and love; I continually draw strength, resilience, and practical guidance from his inspired example. Learn his lessons, employ them, and you will be better.”
I’m inspired by Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton. It’s succinct and deep. It’s logical, yet it will touch your heart and lift your spirits. If you incorporate these lessons into your own style and life story, you will be greatly blessed at work and at home.
What is your tap code? Any leader or organization should ask that question about the way they communicate. Peter Fretwell and Taylor Kiland lay this out for us as they describe the leadership characteristics of true American heroes. Honor and mission focus should be embedded in everyone’s ‘tap code.’
I have had experience in a range of public and private sector organizations. In every case a handful of leadership qualities were critical to the success of the organization, and the qualities displayed by the POWs were similar: culture, sustained focus, teamwork, adaptability, and communication. These qualities were evident in the Hanoi Hilton and integral to high-performing commercial organizations everywhere.
Bring your organization the leadership and organizational principles that were forged in the crucible of a Hanoi prison.
“Let this sink in for a minute: approximately 30 percent of Vietnam veterans came home with PTSD; this same percentage is true for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Yet, only 4 percent of Vietnam prisoners of war returned with PTSD. What if I told you that PTSD may be a leadership problem? Don’t take my word for it. Read this book and hone your EQ!”
— Ken Falke, Founder and Chairman, Boulder Crest veterans’ wellness retreats
What you can expect to learn about this “Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton”:
- Learn how the Vietnam POWs held in the Hanoi Hilton were a sustainable, resilient, high-performance organization and why.
- Learn how to become more personally resilient—through the practices of the Vietnam POWs.
- Learn how resilient individuals can best effect resilience in an organization—just like the Vietnam POWs did.
Taylor has spoken about “Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton” to military and veterans groups, emergency management professionals, business executives and students around the country, including the United States Naval Academy and the Naval Academy Museum, the United States Air Force Academy, the Naval War College Museum, Frederick Community College, Delta Gamma Fraternity, the Union League of Philadelphia, the Library of Congress, the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Wisconsin Emergency Managers Association, and the International Association of Emergency Managers.
She will customize her presentation for the audience.
