Each month, “Anschuetz on Leadership” episodes will look at unique ways that business can approach leadership. Christian Anschuetz is an adventurer, entrepreneur, and United States Marine Corps Captain (not on active duty). He’s been the CIO of one of the world’s largest advertising firms, CDO of a global safety and supply-chain company, and founded a nonprofit to help connect military veterans with business leaders for mutually beneficial outcomes. He’s currently building his own house, teaching at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and starting a couple of new businesses. Today, we talk about failure and the lessons Christian learned during three moments from his past.
Episode 12
The Big Themes:
- Balancing conflicting responsibilities: Christian’s first story takes place during an operation by the Marine Corps when he was a young platoon commander.
- Reflecting and preparing for big life changes: The second lesson Christian learned came to him after he left active duty, and was struggling with the loss of community and camaraderie.
- Staying vulnerable and open to input: Lastly, Christian recounts a period in his business career when he got himself trapped in tunnel-vision on a project—and the results were quite bad.
The Big Quote: “I don’t always want people to hold my hands. When I make a mistake, sometimes I want somebody to go, you made a mistake. There’s something really powerful about direct and even near-immediate feedback, when delivered with good intent, with the purpose of correcting something that maybe needed to be corrected.”
