What's up, Last 10% listeners?
Just wanted to say, I bet you're wondering why we are releasing
not on Tuesday this week.
Well, it's a special week.
I mean, let's just be real.
It's America's 250th anniversary, so we thought we would make a
special release, on the Fourth of July for the 250th anniversary.
And so that's exactly what we did, and we have a great episode today.
Our guest today is a former military colonel.
we'll get into all his credentials in the episode.
But before we get into that, just wanted to tell you, for all those
who have served in the military, for all you veterans out there, we just
are so thankful for your service.
We're so thankful for your sacrifice, and that is the reason that we can
celebrate this week, 250 years.
So thank you again, veterans.
Thank you for your sacrifice.
Hope you enjoy the show today.
Uh, Ken is so gracious, and he was so vulnerable about some things that
he's experienced, not only in the military, but in his career as a host
and, and television, commentator.
And so we just, I just think you'll enjoy this.
he's in his 80s now, and he's coming out with another book.
I hope when I'm in my 80s I can actually come out and say that
I've got a book coming out.
So enjoy the show
Dallas Burnett: Hey, everybody.
We're talking to Colonel Ken Allard today.
What an amazing guy.
He is a retired Army colonel who rose from draftee to dean of the
National War College, served as a military analyst on NBC, MSNBC, and
CNBC, explaining wars in two minutes or less.
He's written powerful books like Warheads: Cable News in the Fog
of War, and Business As War.
He's got some incredible stories from protesting the Vietnam War as a
college kid, to rushing to the studio on 9/11, seeing the Pentagon burn,
to volunteering in Bosnia, distilling hard lessons from Somalia, and most
importantly, he says, he's a Texan.
So great new friend of mine.
You don't want to miss this incredible conversation
Ken Allard: a pleasure.
Thank you so much
Dallas Burnett: Welcome, welcome, welcome.
I am Dallas Burnett sitting in my 1905 Koch Brothers barber
chair in Thrive Studios.
But more importantly today, we have a great guest, a true soldier scholar,
leadership expert, and one of the sharpest minds on strategy, command under pressure,
and what it takes to finish strong.
Welcome to the show, Colonel Ken Allard
Ken Allard: God bless you for doing this.
Appreciate it very much
Dallas Burnett: That's absolutely, man.
This is such a cool episode.
I love, I, you know, we'll, we'll get into, you got a new book coming out.
and we're just so excited to be a part of that launch and release, and we'll
talk more about that in a minute.
But, we just are excited because it's the 250th anniversary of our country,
and not only that, but it's the week of the 4th, so everybody's getting
ready to go burn some chicken on the grill and shoot some fireworks off.
And so what better time than to have Colonel Ken Allen on the show?
So first of all, thank you for your service.
And, what is it like, for you, 'cause obviously with all that you've done and
seen all over the world, your service, what is it like to celebrate 250 and
the week of the 4th this year for you?
Ken Allard: this week is very special because we just recently had the,
coming to America of the Tartan Army.
Scots coming to watch the World Cup.
And you know what?
They're reminded of how great a country we really have.
to see all those guys come here and be absolutely amazed and enthralled,
love everything about America, love everything about, Boston, Massachusetts,
including the Red Sox, all that stuff was fantastic because they
realize how special we really are.
We tend to take that for granted a lot of times, but in this last couple of weeks,
we've been reminded of how great this country is, how unique our history is, and
what a privilege it is to be an American.
that simple.
Dallas Burnett: I agree with that.
I think it's been a cool phenomenon.
I've been seeing that online as well.
And, it was kind of surprising because, a lot of the Europeans coming over
for, the World Cup have been so vocal about all the funny things.
I saw one that just cracked me up.
It said, it was these two people from England, and it was a husband
and wife, and they're standing out front, of this, station.
They said, "Only America can make coming to gas station an experience." And
they're standing in front of a Buc-ee's.
They're like,
Ken Allard: We do gas
Dallas Burnett: "It's incredible."
Ken Allard: anyone else in the whole world.
Dallas Burnett: Yeah.
Ken Allard: Come on down
Dallas Burnett: I said, "That's so funny that we're gonna be known for
how well we, we do our gas stations in America." I said, "But hey, listen,
I'll take it 'cause that's great." But it's a true phenomenon that's been
really fun to watch, and I'm very glad that everybody that I've seen, or most
people that I've seen online have felt very welcomed, in our country, which
is what you wanna be, is a great host.
So these, folks that are coming in for this World Cup all over
the world, it's cool that it's all timing at the same time.
It's 250th anniversary and July the 4th, and then we've got World Cup
people coming in, and so they're experiencing… What a time to
experience, our culture and our country.
So yeah, that's awesome.
Ken Allard: me tell, let me tell you one
Dallas Burnett: I,
Ken Allard: because I had the great privilege in
Dallas Burnett: Yeah
Ken Allard: junior year of spending the entire year at the
University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
And to be there in midst of the Vietnam War, all the unrest that was going on
in Europe at that time, forget, I was then facing the likelihood of going
in the draft, then going to Vietnam.
I had no idea what was gonna happen next my whole life.
we all faced those issues.
Everyone went through the, the, the incredible questioning that you had
to ask, "Am I willing to go? will I serve?" And I thought I was going
to, come down the right side of that question, but you don't know.
one day in my class, I had the great privilege of studying
with Professor H.V. Acton.
He was a classic Oxford don.
He lectured in gowns and the cap, the whole thing.
he said-- I'd taken very careful notes of everything the guy had talked
about the whole year, both semesters.
And finally, we're approaching the last several weeks of the course, he says,
"I'm saving the best till last because I want to read you something which
is the best statement of human rights ever designed by modern man." He began
reading the Declaration of Independence.
And I sat there-… I sat there in my
Dallas Burnett: Wow
Ken Allard: Scotland classroom, and came to my cheeks because
I thought, you know what?
is gonna happen here, I've got to go and do this.
I've got to go home.
I've got to meet the test.
Whatever that test is gonna be, I'm gonna meet
Dallas Burnett: Wow.
that's so amazing that you were inspired.
you're in a situation where, it's obviously a tough time in our
country, and there's a lot of people asking a lot of different questions.
I've talked to my dad about it as well and, and family
members about that time period.
And the, and like you said, there's some questions that, people had to
ask and answer and, it was just a complicated time in our country.
And so to be over in Edinburgh in a classroom and then be so moved by
your own, Declaration of Independence and be inspired, it's awesome
that, even in Edinburgh, you could, you could feel that inspiration.
So was it at that time after that experience in Edinburgh, that you
came back to the States, did you
Ken Allard: The, uh, by the way, the draft deferral will then be up,
whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen.
so I get to the last desk at Fort Holabird.
The s- the, the physician looks at me and says, "All your wounds apparently
healed fine. Good luck." Stamp my papers.
He says, "You're now inducted." The next desk to his was a sergeant sitting
right behind the me over, up one side, down the other, says, "You know what?
a, a smart-looking young man like you, you probably ought to to
think." Says, "Well, get him now.
should I do the best job for myself?
I can offer you that.
not sign up for an additional year to go to OCS, Candidate School?" I looked at
him and I said, "You know what, Sarge?
right.
me that paper." And so I signed, and only the Army could come
up with a term like this.
I became an obligated volunteer.
Dallas Burnett: An obligated volunteer.
How about that?
That's amazing
Ken Allard: So you things.
the first of many contradictions.
But at that moment, all I could do was say, "Thank you, Lord. Whatever's
gonna happen is gonna happen."
You make,
Dallas Burnett: you don't know.
Ken Allard: The best but that's it.
You really
Dallas Burnett: You make
Ken Allard: what you're doing.
Dallas Burnett: Wow.
so you kind of started out by g- you were given, you know, a, a couple choices.
It was either, I don't know, if you were looking at the Vietnam War, it
was, like, bad or worse, you know?
It wasn't, it wasn't like you had the optimal decision
that was presented to you.
and, but then you had a way that you could do, uh, OCS I think that is so
true that sometimes it's easy for us to look at other people in other situations,
and we can say, "Hey, I wish I was doing that," or, "How did they get that right?"
And it'll, at the end of the day, it's like you say, control does, there,
a certain amount of control is an illusion, is that we exert ourselves
by making decisions and moving through opportunities that are presented,
and hopefully we respond really well.
but a lot of times there's some things that happen we just don't
have control over, and some people don't like to accept that.
They wanna feel like we have this control over not only our
life, but our surroundings, and a lot of it is adjusting, right?
Ken Allard: illusions I did not have.
Dallas Burnett: Hmm.
Ken Allard: I point out in
I went to some length to write this because this happened to
me when I was five years old.
a preacher's d- my, my father was a storefront preacher, the
bottom chain of the food chain.
so we're there.
He's running this little tiny storefront church, Boston, Massachusetts.
And at age five, I suddenly am noticing I was having pains in my
legs, the pains began to get worse.
And, oh, by the way, there was a… They not dare talk about it, but there was
an epidemic going around poliomyelitis.
Mm. This is before the Salk vaccine.
So here I am, a young preacher's kid, thinking I'm, "Hey, listen, whatever
is my relationship with God's gonna be good because my father's a preacher."
Dallas Burnett: Right.
Ken Allard: All of a sudden, all of
these pains in my legs, and they took me to the hospital,
Boston Children's Hospital.
you've seen that in some movies.
Uh, and it's really kind of amazing because to me, walking into that
place, that was 73 years ago.
I'm now an old guy.
I remember that vividly.
It's impressed in my mind it w- like it, it happened yesterday.
There were all these kids in iron lungs, Mm …in crutches, these
things, in pain, all of a sudden, is this the cadre I'm gonna My Lord.
Mm. Scared me to death.
My father kept saying, "Don't worry. God's gonna take care of us. You'll
see." looking at all these other kids who he had not taken care of at all.
"Wow." The next day they did a spinal tap.
And Dallas, there are lots of things you forget about being a kid.
I remember every point of that thing vividly This was a
spinal tap without anesthesia.
I remember the cold table, nurse who tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Be
brave, bud." I still remember that stab.
Boom.
And there it was.
They drew off the the spinal fluid.
Said, "Okay, well, we'll see what we're gonna… Come back tomorrow,
we'll give you the test results." night was the worst pain of my life.
I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, the only relief
I could have, I had my sh- my, I had my knees up around my elbows.
You
know what?
There's a phrase in Texas that somebody's praying you through.
It's a good friend, it's a parent, it's a family member.
But a good friend is someone who prays you through something, and
I got prayed through that night.
Because it was so intense, that pain, I couldn't sleep,
couldn't even relax my legs.
And the more I prayed to God, the the louder my father prayed.
Dallas Burnett: Wow
Ken Allard: screamed, and there it was.
And all of a sudden, Dallas, you need to take my word for this,
there were no lights, no angels, no heavenly host, none of that.
What happened next was a lot better.
The pain stopped if a light switch had been turned off.
All of a sudden,
Dallas Burnett: Really?
Ken Allard: of a sudden, I relaxed.
My parents were scared to death.
They could not imagine what was happening.
I simply said, "Hey, you heard Dad praying. God answered
prayer. What's the big deal?"
Dallas Burnett: Wow
Ken Allard: I was not, I was not, uh, up by all this excess knowledge.
All I knew was the f- such faith as I had, it had proven to be what it was.
That there was a God who intervened in human events as he
chose or not to, there it was.
I was one of the lucky ones.
And so I walked through that
Dallas Burnett: Gracious
Ken Allard: next day, the doctors were honestly shocked.
And to me, watching all these eminent people, these doctors, so educated, so
knowledgeable about everything, unable to understand what had just happened to
me, I've never forgotten that feeling.
all of a sudden, you what had happened, did it, and why.
why.
Dallas Burnett: Wow
Ken Allard: why, who had done it.
so all of a sudden, there it was.
And this is long before a Salk vaccine ever came out.
I was miraculously healed at age five.
And from that point on, I knew there was a God.
I knew he intervened in human events or chose not to, depending on whatever
it was that he felt was his will.
it was.
Dallas Burnett: And you had that experience at five years old.
and so, I mean, I can only imagine.
There's so many things when you're telling that story.
first of all, it makes me think, 'cause I had a friend, we've had friends that
had, even epidurals, not even spinal taps, but they'll, hit something and
they'll have the s- spinal fluid.
If it's draining, they just say it's the most excruciating pain
that they've ever experienced.
It's just similar to what you're describing now.
I just wonder if they didn't hit it when they pulled that out.
you had this leakage of whatever, and it's just causing all this.
And then for a five-year-old.
And not only that, they're on, epidurals, and they're still complaining about
it being so bad, and you're going on a cold table with no epidural,
no kind of deadening, no nothing, and just getting a spinal tap, bro.
that's hard living right there.
There is no doubt that is…
That's rough.
Especially when the nurse is "All right, son, be brave," and it's
"Oh, man, here we go." So I mean,
was your…
Ken Allard: in the the bravery that that moment demanded.
Dallas Burnett: Yeah.
Yeah.
At five years old, I mean, you do.
You have no choice.
You're, it, this is wheels in motion, and you're gonna experience it, you
better, you better pull it together.
That's incredible,
man
Ken Allard: bet you
good kid from that point on." Wrong.
Dallas Burnett: Yeah.
Ken Allard: Wrong.
Oh, everything they tell you about preacher's kids is true.
I was
Dallas Burnett: oh, that's so funny
Ken Allard: survive you-- I don't know what I thought, but all I was
aware of fact that, uh, there's a special relationship with God.
I knew that was there, but I didn't really take it all that
seriously from that point on.
Miracles
Dallas Burnett: Mm-hmm.
Ken Allard: The effects didn't with I never had anything remotely
like that I mean, I got drafted.
my physical.
I went in.
I did all these amazing things to go through OCS.
You would run for miles with five pounds of gear in your hands.
That's your rifle.
There's 50 pounds of gear on your back, and you're running until
the drill sergeant gets tired.
So we did all
Dallas Burnett: Golly
Ken Allard: did it, and did it very well.
But thank God for that.
My destiny was not to be, thank God, in a wheelchair for the
rest of my life, and I thank
Dallas Burnett: Man, that's, uh, that's amazing.
Now, how was that for your parents?
You initially the, when dad's, you praying and you're, you know, excruciating
pain, you're screaming and then all of a sudden you just said you just
kind of relaxed and just went cold.
I mean, just like, not cold, but just laid flat, you just spread
out and you're like, "It's gone."
Yeah.
So praise God and somebody … Like, what was your parents?
Were they as quick to, come to that as you were?
Or they were like, "Well, I'm glad it's, you're not hurting, but we, you
know, well, go to the doctor and kind of make sure on all this stuff." I mean,
did they respond to that situation?
Ken Allard: I think we told we told family and and friends
about that, but that was it.
And so for, for years after that, it was like it never
Dallas Burnett: Wow
Ken Allard: happened.
I knew it had.
Dallas Burnett: Really?
Ken Allard: it had.
And so, now the, I'm now-- My father by that point was an elder in a new church
that we went back to in Baltimore.
And so I'm a a normal regular kid other than being a preacher's kid.
so all these when you're, when you're on the inside of a church
relationship, you do all the things that other church people do.
And so in due course, learned the books of the Bible.
I can still recite them rapid fire, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings,
First and Second Chronicles, Ezra, and on and on and on through the New Testament.
you know what?
It was not really reaching me as a as a person.
And it got even worse when later on in life, I began to see things
differently than my parents.
Dallas Burnett: Hmm.
Ken Allard: Mm. My young-- my
as a young kid were John F. Kennedy, Douglas MacArthur, um, and Martin
Luther conservative Christians did not think much of any of those guys.
And they did MacArthur, of course, but not John, John Kennedy, and
certainly not Martin Luther King.
to me it was obvious, particularly Martin Luther King, who was
a prophet on this earth.
Y- I knew that even in the '60s.
Mm-hmm.
To, to me, that was
Mm-hmm.
Dallas Burnett: 嗯。
Ken Allard: see all those things,
became a d-differentiation point between my parents and myself.
And so it was all too easy for me to walk on my own path.
And gradually, by the time I'm ready to go to college, I'm on my own.
Dallas Burnett: yeah, you were ready to go.
And so it's time to spread the wings and, uh, leave home so,
so interesting
Ken Allard: at The best sermon I ever heard preached, I heard
preached from the pulpit of St.
Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Malcolm Muggeridge, a very famous, would I describe him?
was a combination of a savant, a wise man.
Dallas Burnett: Hmm
Ken Allard: And so he
a, a very controversial figure in Great Britain, but also very well known.
Dallas Burnett: Yeah
Ken Allard: And
I heard him preach from the, from the St.
Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
He was also the university rector for the University of Edinburgh,
and he took great umbrage when the students wanted him to do something
which he objected to on moral grounds.
And so he resigned from the pulpit on that day.
It was a huge story in Great Britain overshadowed exactly
what he was talking about.
He was actually talking about how he had come back to faith, how he
had said, "For me, there's only Jesus Christ," and that's it.
Mm.
Dallas Burnett: Wow
Ken Allard: the newspapers, they
and created, "Malcolm Muggeridge resigned from the University of Edinburgh.
Isn't that amazing?" And they missed the larger point, and so did I.
Dallas Burnett: Wow.
So you heard, d- were you there that, was that the day that you were
there and listening to his sermons?
Ken Allard: 50 in the pews of St. Charles.
Dallas Burnett: Good gracious day
Ken Allard: during Queen Elizabeth's
Dallas Burnett: Oh, yeah.
I totally, yeah, I've been there.
I've been to, I've been to Edinburgh a couple times and actually been
to that place, so that's amazing.
It's a beautiful…
Yeah, beautiful.
Ken Allard: that too
Dallas Burnett: yes.
That's amazing.
That's really amazing.
let's talk about this because I think this is a fascinating… So
you've kind of had this religious upbringing, then you get, life happens,
you find yourself in the military.
Was that a difficult transition for you to make when you go through and
you get through the training and stuff?
Because I like you've had to wrestle with these ideas of Vietnam
and then, but then you're in it.
So that difficult, a negative way?
Or was it difficult and you found yourself kind falling in love with it
like, "Oh, I'm finding my rhythm here.
I, this this is, these are my people," kind of thing.
Which one was it?
Ken Allard: the war, was not at all shy about voicing his opinions, I got
in the military and I found out to my amazement, I'm pretty good at this stuff.
I can do these.
I can march, I can command, I've got a loud As a young draftee, my platoon
sergeant said, "You're my training platoon guy. what your job is." his assistant
the whole eight weeks of basic training.
it was amazing to see that stuff because all of a sudden you realize, I'm now
in this and Actually, they recognize I'm really kind of good at this.
Wow, amazing was that?
"Well, I'm, uh, listen, sign me up for OCS." And I say even more
of a surprise, I survived OCS.
That was the toughest thing I've ever done in my life, ever.
Because every couple of weeks, we would do what were called bayonet ratings.
You would rate every other member of your platoon from one to 50,
you had to assign a rank one to 50.
They're either very good or very bad.
And guess what?
When those ratings were complete, two days, the bottom 10% were gone.
where?
Vietnam.
Mm. So that was instinct
Dallas Burnett: if you didn't, if you didn't perform at OCS, you went to
Vietnam, so the the bottom 10% was gone, and they were going to Vietnam.
Yeah.
Yeah, so you wanted to perform well.
So that was like, "I gotta get through this. This is, serious."
so I… that's very interesting.
What… As your career in the military progressed, 'cause you had,
you just obviously had a very long, successful career in the military.
If, you got a lot of listeners to The Last 10% that are leading
companies, organizations, leading teams, leading themselves.
You talk about, living well and finishing strong.
What… If you were to boil down, 'cause you've written multiple
books and much of that is, is military and leadership focused.
If you were to boil down a couple principles that you took away, either that
were given to you, or you distilled from your time in the military as it relates
to leadership and developing people, what would you say was the most valuable
things that you were able to glean from that time and, uh, would think would be,
valuable to others?
Ken Allard: Number one, make sure you know what the mission is.
Make sure you understand that personally.
What does it mean to you?
Because if you can't explain that to yourself, you will not be able
to explain it to anyone else either.
Second thing,
Dallas Burnett: That's great
Ken Allard: to make friends with the lowest possible level of any tr- any
organization I was pr- I was in charge of.
down and talked the guys at the very very bottom.
The bottom, the lowest rank, foreman, whoever that was.
And guess what?
you talk to those people "I'm interested in what you do.
Would you explain that to What-- When you're weapon or you're, or you're zeroing
that weapon in, how do you do that?
Look, I'm I'm really kinda dumb, so put that in dumb nut talk
for me." And they were always,
how amazing to see a young officer to say those incredible things to
me. I'll take you under my wing."
Dallas Burnett: Yes.
Ken Allard: so
Dallas Burnett: Yeah
Ken Allard: at the
level.
Mm. learned early on, guess what?
If you take care of them, they will take care of you.
And guess what?
I taught those same skills, not only the units that I commanded, but when
I got out, at West Point, Georgetown.
Oh, by the way, UTSA here in San Antonio.
I taught those same lessons to those kids.
I said, "Look, when you get out of here, go back to your companies,
and you make friends with the lowest-ranking foreman on the job to
him, your help." They'll be shocked.
by the way, once you-- once they give you that help, you take care
Dallas Burnett: think that's think that's so true on both levels.
I mean, number one, I think knowing the mission is so important, and I think
sometimes, have friends, I have a lot of friends that's in the military, family
that's been in the military, and it is, it's interesting to see them transition
from the military to private life.
And some of the conversations that I've had, especially with men, I
don't know why, but like, there's a, there seems to be a real struggle a
lot of times, specifically for men.
It can be for anybody.
It's not just men, but definitely for men that find this loss of the spirit
of the Corps and this mission thing.
And so it's like it takes a little bit of a time for them to reengage in a way that
they feel like they have this mission.
Because it's there in the military, at least at some level, if you
just need to understand it.
And I think sometimes in the private sector, we gloss over that.
love the you know, I love the vision, mission, values.
I even go back and say purpose.
Like, why does this organization exist?
What is it here to do?
How is it gonna do it well?
And let's really dial that in.
'Cause just like you say, if you're leading a team,
you've gotta be contagious.
You gotta be the one that sharing this a way that able to be caught by
others, and you can't be contagious if you ain't infected, right?
And so I think that, your point of that, if you're leading a team, you're leading
an organization, leading kind how well, not only do you… are you able to repeat
and regurgitate the mission statement on the wall, but how well are you living
it and how many ripples are i- impacting those people around you, or how strong are
you able to pull that, and push that out of your being to the rest of the people?
And I think that's, I think that's a great point.
I think that leaders, that's challenging leaders, all over with.
And the second thing is, you were talking about, being able go down
to the absolute bottom of the hierarchy and gain information.
But what you're doing, I love it because there's so many organizations that you're
just going one step down, and you're talking and just getting reports, and
you're just saying, "Well, you know, what is this?" like the game of telephone.
The larger the organization, the more bureaucratic the organization, less
accurate that information is going to be.
Just play a game of telephone.
You get four people down, you're done.
You're done.
yeah.
Ken Allard: it shapes the way you do any task.
So when I get to West Point, I'm now a professor, I'm now teaching cadets.
By purely the luck of the draw, I have a West Point quarterback
in my class, Rob Haven.
Dallas Burnett: Oh, wow
Ken Allard: so season goes on, and I feign him with that.
We would always talk, 'cause I love football, talk a great game.
But I got the kids in when they're all sitting in the position of
I want, I wanna say something.
As you folks know, I didn't go here for an undergraduate degree.
So frankly, Army-Navy leaves me a little bit cold.
But Mr. Haley, play Harvard on Saturday.
I did go to Harvard.
If you lose to them, don't even bother coming in here And we beat Harvard to six.
I'm really proud of Rob Rob comes in and says, "Surge a life at?"
"Oh, yeah, I did." Boy, fantastic.
Well done.
Good job.
So
Dallas Burnett: Good.
That's so good
Ken Allard: in handy, and some of the weirdest times
Dallas Burnett: Yeah.
Yeah, no, I love that, and I think that,
Ken Allard: show, took Army to a bowl game as the quarterback, not go to the pros.
He flew guns in he he
Dallas Burnett: Wow
Ken Allard: Amazing guy.
I'm
Dallas Burnett: Wow.
Good for him.
Yeah, that's awesome.
think that's so true, and I love that, and I love that motivation that you were able
to give your students to, to be Harvard.
Also, I think that other point that you were making, it really goes
beyond just getting information.
I think if you're listening to The Last 10 Percent, don't gloss
over what the practical realities of what, Ken just said is.
Number one, going to the lowest person on the hierarchy is going to get you
granular information and give you that, literally, transparency to the bottom
of the, where the data's coming from.
Good, bad or ugly, you're gonna get it from that.
the second thing, I think, and it's to your point, Ken, you, made a comment.
You're like, "Hey, me exactly how you do this.
Like, I'm, you trying to learn.
I'm not the smartest.
You know what?" that right there, that shows such humility that I think that
people that are just working and doing their craft, whatever that is, appreciate
because it's putting you not on the same plane, it's actually putting you
below them when you're approaching them.
And I think, number one, it shows that you're putting them on a
pedestal of being an expert, so that makes them feel really great.
And number two, you're actually having humility, and they can see
that if you're being honest and, you're being authentic with that.
and you should be because you may not know how to do that machine, so why go
in there and act like you do, right?
So you can show that humility, you instantly do a couple things.
You not only show the humility, but you start building trust because the more
they talk to you and the more you actively listen, you just get that trust from them.
And man, it's this it's this like perfect reinforcing positive loop, you cycle where
you've instilled this, trust in them.
They give you back that trust in return.
You're getting data from them where you can make good decisions and changes which
impact them in a positive way, so they continue to give you that information.
So it's this positive loop.
So just in those, just in that one single piece of advice, go go to the
bottom of the hierarchy and insert yourself in a way with humility and
with time and listening and all.
Just that is gonna create a positive loop.
I think that's so packful, so impactful
Ken Allard: Be-- again, you've done answered the question, how does a draftee
get to be special assistant to the Army Chief of Staff, dean of the National War
Because of the ability to go to those lower levels, make friends with the
people, and get them to tell you things.
that became a lifelong Mm. When I was working for General Carl Vuono as the
Army Chief of Staff, I was telling him things which no one else would tell him.
And guess who he was?
was the four-star general, the Army's CEO, maybe you haven't heard of Carl Vuono,
but I'll tell you who you have heard of.
You've heard of Norman Schwarzkopf.
You've heard of General Colin Powell.
put them in their jobs.
Yeah.
Dallas Burnett: Wow.
Ken Allard: And
With General Vuono, what I did for him, mostly, my most important
job was telling him things that no one else would tell Hmm.
Because, A, I was stupid, B, I was a bruiser, I didn't have-- I did not
have the tact gene to say, "Sir, I shouldn't tell you this," 'cause he knew
I was gonna tell him the story anyway.
He was living with a barn roof.
Dallas Burnett: Wow.
Ken Allard: what
Dallas Burnett: That's awesome
Ken Allard: All of a
we did not know that Saddam Hussein was going to invade Kuwait, yet he did.
suddenly that army was tasked at this incredible moment in history
to come across-- Oh, by the way, this is not a pretend war.
This is the real thing.
You're going to have to go over to Iraq.
You're gonna have to invade the country.
You're going to beat their armed forces, and by the way, do that
without killing a whole bunch of folks.
And so there was,
my amazement, that's what we-- exactly what we did.
And I mentioned Schwarzkopf and Powell.
As Powell said, gonna go there, we're gonna cut them off, and
kill them." That's what we did.
Dallas Burnett: That's what Powell said?
That's what Powell said?
Ken Allard: a press conference.
Best press conference I've ever seen.
Amazing.
And by the way,
Dallas Burnett: How about that?
Ken Allard: became and I often tease him about that comment.
I said, "That was the most politically incorrect statement
you've ever made, far the best."
Dallas Burnett: That's, that's very interesting.
that's so cool.
I were friends with… That, that's some amazing, that's amazing
company to keep to be in the room and having conversations with,
those,
those people
Ken Allard: other.
knew what I was doing, and I think he respected that, and I sure
respected everything he ever did.
was a friend to me when a lot of other people were not.
remembered me, counseled me, kept me in the loop, all the things you do
with a general officer if you've got So he was he was practicing on me
what
Dallas Burnett: That's cool.
That's cool.
Man, that's so cool s-
Y- y- oh, s- say that again Oh, right.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, that's, uh… I mean, yeah, he definitely… I, wonder,
I don't know if he considered it or not, but, I mean, that was,
he did.
Okay.
That's interesting.
Oh, wow.
I didn't know that.
Oh, that's interesting.
Oh.
Well, I hey, she gets a vote, right?
You We're not moving, buddy.
We're not moving.
Ken Allard: gives it good.
Dallas Burnett: that's really funny.
Well, that's, uh, that's so interesting.
So if you were to say, 'cause I, I do think your experience, I
taught at West Point, you've taught at the National co- War College.
I what… If you were to look back on, uh, history, 'cause, you you're a student
of war, you're a student of the military.
ob- obviously, have had tremendous experience in that
and been a commentator on that.
Who would you say is the m- the person, it can be any time in military
history, that is most intriguing to you, that you find most fascinating?
Like, you could sit down and have a conversation with this
military personality, you would just be just blown away.
Is there anybody that comes to mind for you, prot- p- personally?
Ken Allard: from that I, I really, really love and respect, uh,
is George Washington, because he was a man of character if
ever was one, and a man of character that we needed that successfully at that time.
Dallas Burnett: Yeah
Ken Allard: the if you will, would be George Washington.
But
Dallas Burnett: Yes
Ken Allard: you someone known to, uh, your audiences because
they're more familiar with him.
Uh, fact, he's just go- he's just done something really remarkable.
That's Mike Co- Governor Mike Huckabee, our ambassador to Israel.
gave a speech in Israel this
which reminded Americans of why do Americans have a stake
in what happens in Israel?
Mike stood up and told them.
if you think the Judeo-Christian ethic is important, right.
It is.
It's fundamental." And where was the Judeo-Christian ethic invented?
Israel.
where it took place.
That's
us.
every one of our forefathers.
if you look back at the
again, we don't teach history all that well anymore, but if we did, you'd
realize what really happened back then.
were shaped by, guess what?
What happened in their Bibles or what they were literate in reading those things.
And because the Bible shapes you, if you read it, you make better
decisions than if you don't.
You live a better life than if you don't.
by the way, as I've proven many times, you ignore what the Bible says,
you're simply writing for a fall.
simply a
Dallas Burnett: That's right.
That's right.
That's right
Ken Allard: growing kid, when I got on TV, I ignored all that stuff.
One, you ignore those basic things, not long before have cause for regret.
And so all of a sudden, I'm on TV, I'm recognized going in airports.
People see me on TV and, "Oh, he's ex-governor." Suddenly
I was no longer anonymous.
And all of a sudden I began to believe my own publicity.
What, more destructive fate can you face than doing that?
And all of a sudden I began to realize every mistake I
knew not to make, I'd made.
the only mistake I'd not made was coming back to Christ and saying,
doing what every sinner does.
You're a great sinner, you need a great savior.
that's where it begins from, that's where it ends up.
And so what happened was I went through divorces.
I was very lucky to survive that whole experience.
And all of a sudden, today, coming up on 20 years of , my anniversary with my wife
Betsy, and she's my hero of the book.
is the heroine who you're gonna read about if you pick up that book.
You read a lot about Ken Ott.
You won't-- you might have heard about before, but you've not heard about Betsy.
You read that book, you'll know why.
Dallas Burnett: so I just, uh, that's very fascinating because,
uh, I appreciate your, vulnerability in, in really, talking about your
time while you were, on television, recognized as a, national person on
TV and the news things like that.
It's interesting because I think when people see people, they're a analyst
on the news or, influencer on social media, they just automatically put
this kind of, don't know, they have assumptions that they make about them
that they're living a certain type of life and that they've kind made it.
It's movie stars or, recording artists or whatever.
you, you alluded to that, that what may not have been the best time, you you in
terms of whether it was, you personal life, it wasn't as, it wasn't quite as, it
was quite where you wanted it to be, like, your professional, you image, you know?
So I think that I appreciate your honesty on that.
Ken Allard: you something, okay?
The one thing, you might think that those people you're seeing on TV,
they're up in-- Uh, they have all kinds of money, they have all kinds
of prominence, honors, all this stuff.
The only thing you have in common with them, that they have in common with
you, is we're both living this earth
at
Dallas Burnett: That's true
Ken Allard: time.
You will then stand before this
Jew give an account for your life and whether or not you listened
to Him and did what He said.
Not whether you did it on TV.
Did you do what He said to do?
Did you read that book?
Did that make any sense to you?
Do you-- More to the
Dallas Burnett: Yeah
Ken Allard: apply And so I have 20 years record
that in my life.
What a huge difference it makes.
I I don't have to make these If you read the book, you'll see all those adventures,
Betsy's adventures, my adventures.
And Betsy's a hero of mine because she did this thing as a very young lady who
had no ties at all to the educational establishment beyond high school.
At age 40-something, she went back to Abilene Christian University, three
years, summa cum laude, both Victorian.
Amazing.
Dallas Burnett: Wow.
Wow.
So now let's talk about your new book because it's coming out.
When is the book, when is your new book coming out?
Ken Allard: uh, middle part of August
Dallas Burnett: Middle part of August.
So we're just a few weeks away from the launch of your new book, and I'll say
that we have taken it, we have taken… You, supplied a copy and we've taken a
look at it, and man, you start off the book, it's just a, it's an amazing story.
think one of the things is that you're You share about, you your experience
early on, a health emergency that you had and how Betsy comes in.
I us a little bit about that because I mean, that was a, that's
a s- that's life-changing for you, especially being on television.
You know, that's kind big deal.
So tell the listeners kinda what you had to deal with, they can
read about it more in your book.
Ken Allard: experience of dealing with polio, okay, where you have
no hope, where there is no cure,
Dallas Burnett: Yeah
Ken Allard: absolutely
This is before Salk vaccine.
So all I knew was I'd been healed miraculously of polio, I was
gonna do was try and enjoy life.
Well, guess what?
Eventually you learn to come back to where you began realize- Mm-hmm hey,
Dallas Burnett: Mm.
Ken Allard: God
you about who you are.
And oh, by the way, you can't ignore say.
Mm-hmm.
If you try to,
Dallas Burnett: Hmm.
Ken Allard: this is not gonna work.
You eventually will find this is not the way to go.
And all of a sudden I began to realize how true that was in my life, and I began to
say, "Listen, you come with open hands."
You say, "Listen, screwed this thing up as badly as I can.
All I can do is surrender to you, but here it is.
Mm-hmm.
Dallas Burnett: it.
Yeah
Ken Allard: is the backdrop for that book, Mm-hmm.
Dallas Burnett: Hmm
Ken Allard: about and it's amazing to see steps that we took.
We were two people-- We grew up 1,500 miles apart.
She's a in Texas.
Um, I lived in Towson, Maryland, we knew nothing about each other.
When did we get together?
We get together 50 years later Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas.
Bravest thing I've ever done was not in the Army.
Was walking in the singles class at Oak Hills not knowing who was gonna be there.
And I saw Betsy, and that's all there was to it.
I saw her.
We were together.
And you know what?
We've been together for 20 years, and it's been amazing.
Dallas Burnett: wow, that's- that's unbelievable.
So it's- it's similar to your polio story where it's a definitely an interesting
situation you find yourself in.
So I'll let our le- listeners pick this up.
we'll put a copy of it in the show notes in August when it releases, but it, the
book is titled God Kept His Promises, I think for, it's interesting to me
because as I've been, talking with you today and, and, uh, just experiencing,
you book a- as well, it's interesting because, you have been on both sides.
Y- you've kind of woven ideas from both sides of the political spectrum
into the conversation today and, and I think that's very interesting
because, you're, you've been in the military, you're a decorated soldier,
you've been colonel, you've been…
You only that, you're a f- a, a, a student of the, you know, the art of war.
You've been teaching at the National War College in West Point.
You've been steeped in this, and yet you've written multiple books about
war and military and all these things.
and yet this book, is, more, more of your personal perspective and
personal story with you and your wife and, and it has that to it.
I think it's really good because I think our culture right now has
a hard time talking to each other.
Like I, I appreciate, people on podcasts.
is not a political podcast, but I do appreciate people on podcasts on either
side of the political spectrum that can sit down and have a conversation
'cause I feel like that's just something that's so lost in our culture right
now, to be able to, be able to have a conversation and come to some
agreement without getting violent.
It's just crazy.
. So I appreciate your, perspective on all of this and your advice and wisdom.
And I just like your humility in sharing your story with vulnerability, especially
in the book, and, having r- risen to the level of prominence you have in your
career, whether that be in the military or on, commentating on TV, to still come out
and say, "Hey look, I'm a guy just like everybody else and this is how, this this
is what I've experienced and how I moved through that and what gives me hope."
So appreciate you for that.
Ken, we always ask our guests, number one, how can listeners, get in touch
with you if you, if they want to have and find out more information on any
of your books, any of your m- first books, uh, first I guess three or
four books or this new one coming out?
How can people find out more about Colonel Allen?
Ken Allard: gonna take full advantage of your position at uh, at the press and
say to you that we'll have on the press site by the time that the new book comes
out, have a site, we'll have a whole page
me as an author.
We'll see, make sure that happens so people can get in touch with me,
get information about the books.
the way, there are four previous ones, but this one's my favorite
Dallas Burnett: Oh, really?
Wow, that's awesome.
Well, know the readers will love it, and, uh, listeners will love it,
and I just, just appreciate that.
So the last… Oh, and it's funny, yeah.
Ken Allard: because you can't
Dallas Burnett: Oh, so we've-
Ken Allard: without value of humor.
It's amazing.
Dallas Burnett: Ah,
awesome.
That's really good.
know she's
Ken Allard: And the reason I wrote the book was all people said, "You've
written all these other books and they're boring. wrote a book about
Betsy, we'd love to read that."
Dallas Burnett: Oh, that's so funny.
Well, she is an amazing woman, and so, last question, ask every guest on The
Last Ten Percent, if there was one person that you would like to hear as a guest on
The Last Ten Percent, who would that be?
Ken Allard: I would say now probably, uh, probably our Secretary of State.
he's one of the more interesting people I've heard
I've always admired and respected Marco, but these days it's him
above almost everyone else.
He's really an amazing guy.
He's also Mike Huckabee's boss, so I respect that too.
Dallas Burnett: Oh.
Ken Allard: Secretary of State
Dallas Burnett: That's awesome.
Well, I mean, he's definitely had his hands full, with, things going on
all over the world at the same time.
Thank you, Ken, for being on the show today.
This has been great.
I think you've shared some really great wisdom for our leaders
that are listening out there.
I appreciate you sharing, being , , vulnerable about
your own story and experiences.
And we just, man, we wish you the best in this book launch, and
we'll be cheering for your success