James Bond “Jim” Stockdale was the most senior naval officer held captive during the Vietnam War. While commander of Carrier Air Wing 16, Admiral Stockdale’s A-4 Skyhawk was shot down over North Vietnam on Sept, 9, 1965.  

After surviving ejection from his aircraft, Stockdale was captured and became a prisoner of war. He remained so until his release at the end of the war eight years later. He lived out the war without any rights, set release date or certainty he would survive to see his family again. He was tortured, but never gave in to his tormentors’ demands or the psychological trauma. 

Admiral Stockdale was once asked about his time as a prisoner of war and those who didn’t make it out. His reply, while at first shocking, resonates not only as to the condition later named for him, but also for the purpose of this column. To be great, companies must confront the brutal facts. 

As for those who didn’t make it out, Stockdale said, “The optimists. 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.

“This is a very important lesson. 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.”

Named for Admiral Stockdale, the Stockdale Paradox describes a situation in which productive change begins in confronting the brutal facts. In his book “Good to Great,” Jim Collins cites the Stockdale Paradox in stating good-to-great companies maintain faith they’ll prevail regardless of the difficulties. At the same time, they maintain discipline to confront the most brutal facts of their current realities.

What we do usually isn’t as critical or life-threatening as what Stockdale endured in Vietnam. Nonetheless, the lesson of confronting brutal facts while steeling your resolve you’ll eventually prevail is critical to individual and corporate survival.

Years ago, I worked with a vice president of operations who would almost gleefully retort we should celebrate our failures. I’m pretty sure Admiral Stockdale never celebrated the passing of another Christmas or Easter in captivity, but instead accepted the fact those holidays were going to come and go. He knew deep down, though, he’d ultimately prevail. And he did prevail. Admiral Stockdale received a Medal of Honor for the time he spent in the Hanoi Hilton.

Stockdale subsequently led an exemplary life as president of the Naval War College  until his retirement in 1979. He was president of the Citadel and a candidate for vice president of the United States in 1992 on the same ticket with Ross Perot.

In life and business, we’ll face daunting and even brutal situations. Our task as leaders is to steel our resolve we’ll ultimately prevail, not look through rose-colored glasses. We need to face those brutal facts, not run from them. And we need to rally the troops around helping each other find those relatively “unreachable solves” in not only surviving, but also thriving.