Leadership Lessons on Resilience from an Afghan Freedom Fighter

SHOW SUMMARY


In this episode of the Revenue Builders podcast, our hosts John
McMahon and John Kaplan talk to Afghan freedom fighter, poet, and
diplomat, Ambassador Massoud Khalili.


 


By all counts, Masood has lived a life in service of his people
and country. In this episode, Masood talks about his experiences
of war and its aftermath. He also shares the many lessons that he
learned from his time in the resistance against the Soviets and
the Taliban, specifically those he learned his father, the great
Persian poet and diplomat Ustad Khalilullah Khalili and from his
friend, the late Ahmad Shah Massod, also known as the Lion of
Panjshir. 


 


Additional Resources:


Get Masood's Book:
https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-War-Freedom-Fighters-Invasion/dp/9386062771

Website: https://www.masoodkhalili.com/

Improve Forecasting by Helping Your Salespeople Prioritize
the Right Opportunities: https://forc.mx/3QDTn4v

Listen to More Revenue Builders: https://forc.mx/3bfW5Od



 


HIGHLIGHTS


How Masood Khalili became a freedom fighter for his country

Meeting the Lion of Panjshir and fighting for love of country

If you win the war but lose peace, you lose both

Remembering Ahmad Shah Massod and the assassination

How 'Whispers of War' came to be



 


GUEST BIO


Massod Khalili is the son of the famous Dari language and Afghan
poet laureate, Ustad Khalilullah Khalili. 


He studied BA and MA in Political Science in New Delhi University
at Kirorimal University, India. 


In the war against the Soviets from 1980 to 1990, he was the
political head of the Jamiat-i-Islami Party of Afghanistan and
close advisor to Commander Ahmad Shah Masood. 


In the internal conflict that followed, he chose to be the
Special Envoy in Pakistan to President Burhannudin Rabbani.
Deported from the same country for his high rank in the Northern
Alliance, he went to New Delhi in 1996 as the Ambassador of the
Afghanistan (Anti-Taliban) where he stayed for many years. He was
non-resident Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Nepal at the same
time. 


 


On September 9th, 2001, Ambassador Khalili was sitting next to
the hero of Afghanistan, Commander Massoud, when two men posing
as journlists set off a bomb placed in their camera. Commander
Massoud was assasinated and Ambassador Khalili survived. Two days
later, Al Qaeda Attacked America. 


 


After his recovery, he was made the Ambassador of Afghanistan to
Turkey and he is currently the first Afghan Ambassador to
Spain. 


 


QUOTES


Masood's conversation with his father at the start of
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: "He said, 'Go to
Afghanistan, son. The war has started.' And I said, 'What about
my PhD?' He said, 'Take your PhD from the mountains of your
country, from the university of your people who are fighting for
their freedom.'"


 


Masood on why you need vision to retain peace after
war: "When we were fighting against the Soviets, we
did not have the vision to see when we reached Kabul what we
would do and what would happen. We reached Kabul and we won the
war. People applauded, people appreciated. People were happy. But
we lost peace. And until now, we have lost that peace."


 


Masood on the need for international
solidarity: "We are all one body. If a part of the
body is painful, the other parts feel it too. I'm in California
but I think of Kabul. I think of Africa."


 


Check out John McMahon’s book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064