Everyone knows Ash Carter is one of America's most respected leaders, but I know firsthand that he is also one of the great technologists of our time. He adeptly used both gifts to make the Pentagon as innovative as possible, in turn making us all as safe as possible. This book tells us how he did it, and what he thinks needs to happen in the future.

What does it really take to run, reinvigorate, and reform the largest, most complex organization on Earth? Ash Carter’s lessons from four decades in the Pentagon are an essential guide to leadership for anyone who wants to serve a cause larger than themselves.

What happens at the Pentagon can feel mysterious to those outside its walls. No one knows more about how it works than former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, an extraordinary leader and public servant of the highest caliber. This book should be required reading for every citizen who wants to know more about how our country stays secure.

Ash Carter draws lessons that are useful for anyone who wants to be a great manager or leader or innovator. A tale of creativity in the face of bureaucracy, the book is both informative and inspiring.

Unusually candid and compelling insights…a tour de force on making high-stakes decisions under pressure and uncertainty, managing people whose expertise you don’t share, and innovating in the center of a bureaucracy.

As Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter was both an ideal public servant and also a model any manager can learn from. Read this book and you will see why the Department of Defense awarded him its highest civilian medal five times.

Ash Carter is a distinguished public servant and an exceptional student of strategic affairs. This book should be essential reading for anyone concerned about the evolution that technology and political upheavals around the world impose on us.

A must-read for any citizen who cares about our military and how it works … not a book about a bureaucracy but a vivid account of the flesh-and-blood defenders of America. It is a unique story, by a uniquely qualified former Secretary of Defense.