Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale was truly “A Man for All Seasons.” An exceptional athlete and scholar, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to become a test pilot flying Navy fighter jets. While earning a master’s degree from Stanford University, he developed an interest in philosophy, and he would apply lessons from the Stoic philosopher Epictetus throughout his life.
In fact, Stockdale credits Epictetus with helping him endure his time as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. In his book Good to Great, James Collins cites a conversation with Stockdale in which he explains how he survived his more than seven years in captivity:
You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.1
This is the Stoic ideal of acknowledging a situation without sugarcoating but taking action on what is within your control—a duality Collins terms “the Stockdale Paradox.” In other words, it is not enough merely to employ the power of positive thinking; one must actively work to make the situation better.
The Paradox Today
Most military leaders today will never be confined in a prison camp, but they can benefit from this simple but enduring concept. Collins notes, “The Stockdale paradox is a signature of all those who create greatness, be it leading their own lives or in leading others.”2 For those who lead soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen as they fight our nation’s wars, it is not enough to hope or to believe that you and your organization will succeed. Successful leaders take it to the next level and actively seek ways to improve the situation, even in the face of adversity.
Stockdale’s speech to his pilots on the flight deck of the USS Oriskany (CV-34)as they prepared for their initial combat missions into Vietnam in April 1965 illustrates the Stockdale Paradox in action. Stockdale knew some pilots were anxious about flying into combat, many for the first time, and confused about the concepts of “limited war” and “measured response.” He said:
Once you go “feet dry” over the beach, there can be nothing limited about your commitment. “Limited war” means to us that our target list has limits, our ordnance loadout has limits, our rules of engagement have limits, but that does not mean that there is anything “limited” about our personal obligations as fighting men to carry out assigned missions with all we’ve got. If you think it is possible for a man, in the heat of battle, to apply something less than total personal commitment —equated perhaps to your idea of the proportion of national potential being applied—you are wrong.3
Rather than merely parroting the rhetoric of “limited war,” Stockdale told his pilots they must give it their all. He went on to say, “When that Fox flag is two-blocked in the Gulf, you’ll be an actor in a drama that you’ll replay in your mind’s eye for the rest of your life. Level with yourself now. Do your duty.”4
Stockdale faced the harsh reality of combat and advised his pilots to commit to their assigned missions and do their duty. The short speech shows his ties to Stoicism and the lessons of Epictetus. It is a powerful guide for today’s leaders.
Putting It to Work
Jim Stockdale believed he would outlast his captors and survive one of the most brutal prisons of the Vietnam War, but he did not allow optimism to override action. He made every effort to unite his fellow POWs and to thwart the North Vietnamese interrogators and their efforts to gain intelligence. He lived the Stockdale Paradox every day in prison.
All leaders can all learn from his experience and put the Stockdale Paradox to work in their daily lives. To make the move from good to great, leaders must have faith they will succeed, but also take action to tackle the issues that stand in their way.
Optimism Is Not Enough
Asked by Collins about the men who did not make it home from the North Vietnamese prison, Stockdale responded “Oh, that’s easy, the optimists.”1 He went on to explain:
They were the ones who said, “We’re going to be out by Christmas.” And Christmas would come and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, “We’re going to be out by Easter.” And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.
Viktor Frankl highlighted this same issue in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, which deals with his experience in Nazi prison camps during the Holocaust. Frankl explained that when prisoners expected to be released by a certain day and were not, they eventually lost hope:
The ultimate cause of my friend’s death was that the expected liberation did not come and he was severely disappointed. This suddenly lowered his body’s resistance against the latent typhus infection.2
Frankl’s friend simply lost the will to live, allowing the virus to take over and eventually kill him.
As a psychologist, Frankl was keenly aware of the other prisoners’ mental outlook and criticized the optimists’ perspective. “Many times, hopes for a speedy end to the war, which had been fanned by optimistic rumors, were disappointed. Some men lost all hope, but it was the incorrigible optimists who were the most irritating companions.”3
1. Jim Collins, Good to Great (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2001), 85.
2. Collins, Good to Great, 86.
3. Martin Cook, “Remarks, Stockdale to Pilots, 1965,” Naval War College Review 70, no. 3 (2017): 142.
4. Cook, “Remarks,” 143.
Optimism is Not Enough
1. Jim Collins, Good to Great (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2001), 85.
2. Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006), 75.
3. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, 34.