Beyond Custer’s Last Stand: Leadership, Followership, and Risk at Little Bighorn
Runtime: 53:50
Featured Guest: Dr. David Leitner
June 24, 2026
What happens when leaders stop hearing uncomfortable truths? What responsibilities do followers have when they recognize dangers that those above them do not? And how do organizations become trapped by their own assumptions? Drawing on letters written by George Armstrong Custer and his soldiers in the months before the Battle of Little Bighorn, host Gil Troy and leadership expert Dr. David Leitner explore enduring questions of leadership, followership, risk, dissent, and organizational blind spots. Together they examine the difference between command and leadership, the role of courageous followership, and why institutions are often most vulnerable when confidence is at its highest. As America reflects on Little Bighorn 150 years later, this conversation moves beyond the battlefield itself to consider lessons that remain relevant to military institutions, businesses, governments, and democratic societies today. To read the texts and learn more about the manuscripts discussed in this episode, visit:
