Narrator: Imagine it’s late November 2016. A man is on Thanksgiving break in his quiet hometown on the Columbia River, far from the centers of power. The phone rings. It’s the Vice President-elect of the United States, asking him to fly across the country to meet with the President-elect about becoming the next Secretary of Defense. The man, a retired Marine General, had no involvement in the campaign and had never even spoken to the candidate. Yet, he felt a profound sense of duty to answer the call. On the flight, a standard safety briefing from a flight attendant crystallizes his entire worldview: "Put your own mask on first, then help others around you." For him, this was a perfect metaphor for America—a nation that must first have its own house in order to lead effectively in the world.

This moment, blending duty, surprise, and profound insight, captures the essence of General Jim Mattis. In his book, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, co-authored with Bing West, he unpacks the lifetime of experiences that prepared him for that unexpected call, offering a masterclass in leadership forged in the crucible of conflict.

Narrator: At the heart of Mattis's philosophy is a simple but powerful framework for leading at the most personal, face-to-face level. He argues that direct leadership rests on three pillars: Competence, Caring, and Conviction. Competence means you must master your craft; you have to be brilliant in the basics. Caring means you must show genuine concern for your troops, a principle he borrows from Teddy Roosevelt: "Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care." Finally, Conviction means you must have the courage to stand by your principles and maintain high standards, no matter the pressure.

This wasn't just a theory; it was a practice he learned early in his career. As a young second lieutenant in Okinawa, Mattis inherited a platoon in a post-Vietnam era rife with discipline problems. One day, his most trusted NCO, Corporal "John Wayne" Johnson, brought a malcontent to him who had been muttering about killing his "hard-ass lieutenant." Instead of reacting with anger, Mattis calmly confronted the Marine and then took him to the experienced First Sergeant Mata. The First Sergeant, embodying the wisdom of the NCO corps, handled the situation swiftly and decisively, having the disruptive Marine discharged. The incident taught Mattis a critical lesson: a leader’s competence and conviction are magnified by the trust and care of his team. His NCOs supported him because they knew he was competent and cared about the unit’s integrity, and their actions reinforced his conviction to uphold standards.

Narrator: As Mattis moved from direct to executive leadership, commanding thousands of Marines instead of dozens, he realized that control was an illusion. Micromanagement stifles initiative, creating a timid "Mother, may I?" culture. The solution was to replace command and control with "command and feedback," built on the concept of commander's intent. This meant providing a clear purpose and end-state for an operation but leaving the "how" to his subordinates. He believed the details a commander doesn't give are as important as the ones he does.

This philosophy was put to the test when he took command of the 7th Marine Regiment. To force his subordinate commanders to think and adapt, he conducted training exercises where he removed the traditional boundary lines between his battalions. This created ambiguity and forced them to communicate and maneuver with aggressive initiative to avoid colliding. His actions were so unconventional that one of his colonels, John Toolan, jokingly wrote "CHAOS" on a briefing board, an acronym for "Commander Has Another Outstanding Suggestion." The name stuck, and "Chaos" became Mattis's call sign. It was a perfect, if ironic, tribute to a leader who believed that true order on the battlefield emerges not from rigid control, but from unleashing the disciplined initiative of trusted subordinates.

Narrator: At the strategic level, Mattis learned that the most critical currency is trust. This was never more apparent than in the days following the 9/11 attacks. As the U.S. planned its response, the conventional wisdom was that landlocked Afghanistan was not a place for the Marines, who specialize in amphibious assaults. But Mattis and his Navy counterpart, Admiral Willy Moore, saw an opportunity. They believed they could open a second front in southern Afghanistan by seizing a remote desert airstrip, codenamed Rhino, over 400 miles from the sea.

The plan was audacious and seemingly impossible. It required a level of inter-service and international cooperation that would normally take months to arrange. Yet, Mattis and his small, hand-picked staff made it happen in a matter of weeks. Why? Because, as Mattis explains, "operations occur at the speed of trust." He had deep, pre-existing trust with the Navy, the Air Force, and special operations commanders. He personally met with Pakistani military leaders to secure overflight rights, building a relationship of trust in a single meeting. This web of trust allowed for rapid, decentralized decision-making, bypassing bureaucracy and enabling one of the most daring amphibious-from-the-air operations in modern military history. It proved that in complex, high-stakes environments, relationships are more powerful than directives.

Narrator: Underpinning all of Mattis's leadership principles is a foundational belief in the power of history and relentless self-education. He argues that personal experience is never broad enough to prepare a leader for the complexities of the world. To not read is to be, in his words, "functionally illiterate" and professionally incompetent. For Mattis, reading is not a hobby; it is a solemn duty and a "conversation" with the great thinkers and warriors of the past.

He provides a powerful example from his own career. In the lead-up to the 1991 Gulf War, while commanding his battalion, he immersed himself in military history. He studied the German general Erwin Rommel to understand tactical cunning, the British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to learn about strategic planning, and the American general Ulysses S. Grant to grasp the importance of commander relationships. This deep study didn't just give him facts; it gave him vision. When the ground war began, he was able to anticipate enemy movements and maneuver his forces with a speed and decisiveness that overwhelmed the Iraqi army. He firmly believes this preparation, born from his reading, allowed him to destroy the enemy while minimizing casualties among his own troops and innocent civilians. For Mattis, the library is as vital a weapon as the rifle.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from Call Sign Chaos is that leadership is not a title one is given, but a responsibility one must earn through constant effort and a deep commitment to the people you lead. It is a craft built on a foundation of competence, a spirit of caring, and the courage of one’s convictions. From the muddy hills of Quantico to the halls of the Pentagon, Mattis demonstrates that whether you are leading a platoon, a division, or a department of government, the core principles remain the same: empower your people, trust them, and never, ever stop learning.

The book leaves us with a profound challenge. Mattis argues that in a democracy, politics is supposed to be a temporary contest, not a permanent state of tribal warfare. He asks if we, as citizens, have forgotten how to be our own best allies. In an age of division, his life of service poses a critical question: Are we preparing ourselves, through study, reflection, and a commitment to others, to answer the call when our finest hour arrives?