Robert Gates
Robert Gates at Winsight 2019 – Changing the Mission
Robert Gates
WSB Exclusive Speaker
Transformational Leader; Secretary of Defense (2006-2011); Bestselling Author
"Core to leadership is the ability to relate to people – to empathize, understand, inspire, and motivate." – Robert Gates
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Robert Gates served as the 22nd Secretary of Defense (2006-2011). He is the only Secretary of Defense in U.S. history to be asked to remain in office by a newly elected President. Dr. Gates served eight U.S. presidents in total across both parties. He has led a distinguished career of service and institutional reform both in and out of government. On his last day as Secretary, President Barack Obama awarded Gates the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor.
Gates began his career at the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and spent nearly 27 years as an intelligence professional, including 9 years on the National Security Council. He is the only career officer in CIA’s history to rise from entry-level employee to director. He served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993 and, through the collapse of the Soviet Union, restructured the intelligence community for a post-Cold War world.
Gates next served as President of Texas A&M University, one of the nation’s largest universities, from 2002 to 2006. As President, he launched a successful campaign to make Texas A&M one of the nation’s top twenty research universities.
As Secretary of Defense, Gates reversed losing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while preparing the U.S. military for unconventional warfare and for dramatic reductions in federal spending. Among his many initiatives, Gates championed the production and deployment of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, saving the lives and limbs of thousands of U.S. servicemembers. Gates is fondly remembered as the “Soldiers’ Secretary.”
Currently, Gates is a principal in the strategic consulting firm Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel, LLC, with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and Aspen Strategy Group Executive Director Anja Manuel.
Gates serves as Chancellor of William & Mary. He is the first William & Mary alumnus in the modern era to serve as Chancellor. He is National Chairman of the Eisenhower Fellowships, having succeeded General Colin Powell in 2018. Additionally, he is Board Chairman of the Holdsworth Center, a Texas nonprofit institution dedicated to improving K-12 public education by supporting and developing education leaders. Gates is a member of the Board of Directors of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation and has served as National President of the Boy Scouts of America.
A native of Kansas, Gates received his bachelor’s degree from William & Mary, his master’s degree in history from Indiana University, and his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. In 1967, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and served as an intelligence officer at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Gates has been awarded honorary degrees from more than a dozen universities and colleges, including Notre Dame, Yale, Morehouse College, and all three of his alma matters.
Gates has authored four books – Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World, published in 2020; A Passion For Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service, published in 2016; Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, published in 2014; and From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, published in 1996.
Featured Videos
Robert Gates
China’s New Direction: Understanding Xi Jinping’s Aggressive Leadership Shift
Robert Gates
Adapting to Uncertainty: Insights for Organizations in a Changing World
Robert Gates
How Iran and China Bolster Russia Against Sanctions
Robert Gates
Robert Gates at Winsight 2019 – Courage/MRAP
Robert Gates
Robert Gates at Winsight 2019 – Inclusion
Robert Gates
Robert Gates on What Not to Put on the Table
Robert Gates
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Robert Gates
Robert Gates on North Korea And Nuclear Weapons
Robert Gates
Robert Gates on Growing Partisanship In Our Politics
Robert Gates
Robert Gates at Winsight 2019 – Changing the Mission
Robert Gates’ Speech Topics
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Strategic Analysis of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Secretary Gates provides a long-term perspective on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He examines Putin’s strategy and rationale for invading, the West’s immediate response, implications for China, and the need for a new US-led security strategy. As Secretary of Defense through Vladimir Putin’s early global aggression, with decades of experience handling Soviet affairs at the CIA, and as a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union, Secretary Gates is uniquely equipped to provide strategic analysis of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and of global security.
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Leading Through Change
Robert Gates believes there is no universal solution for effecting change. Instead, he says, leaders must understand their organizations thoroughly to find out how best to tackle their problems. One of the most respected leaders in recent U.S. history, Gates served under eight presidents and successfully led four very different organizations through turbulent change: the Central Intelligence Agency, Texas A&M University, the Department of Defense, and the Boy Scouts of America. In this talk, Gates offers bold and candid advice to help organizations create change and chart a course to success. With insights gleaned from real-life experiences helping large organizations navigate new paths, he shares how businesses can eliminate tunnel vision and prepare for the future – helping them take stock of what they are versus what they could be. Key to any change, says Gates, is to bring everyone on board and build a sense of camaraderie that the change is critical to the organization’s future. Companies have to change all the time to be competitive. How do you recognize and preserve the tradition and culture that made a company great, and determine the barriers preventing movement forward? Assessing the challenges of large institutions, Gates offers innovative and practical advice, sharing personal anecdotes and experiences as most pertinent to your audience. -
DUTY
According to former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, we face one of the most complex, dangerous, and uncertain international environments today.
From rising military tensions with Russia and China, to multiple conflicts in the Middle East and the threat of ISIS, and uncertain trade relations and economic challenges confronting Europe, he foresees a generation of conflict. He also predicts we will continue to face the most challenging international environment since the Cold War, and for some time to come.
In this presentation, Gates shares his views about the most pressing threats to global stability and America’s security. Drawing on his experiences as defense secretary under Presidents Bush and Obama, recounted vividly in his bestselling memoir, Duty, he reflects on the way America’s government works, and too often does not work. Without political spin or a partisan outlook, he shares with audiences his realistic and optimistic outlook.
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A Fireside Chat with Robert Gates
In this intimate speaking experience, audiences will hear from Robert Gates on the many facets of his long and storied career. From global politics and U.S. foreign policy to leadership challenges and conflict resolution, Gates offers his candid, measured perspective, laced with humor. Undergirding all his advice is the tenet that great leaders listen and respond to their teams and embrace the power of compromise. In this wide-ranging, unscripted conversation, listeners will benefit from the insight of one of the country’s most respected, and influential leaders.
Works by Robert Gates
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Robert Gates
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War
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Robert Gates Topics & Types
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