Enjoy monthly reads, reflections, and thoughts from our wisdom filled team.
“Bashert” is a Yiddish word intimating destiny, commonly used in the context of one’s soulmate.
The Platoon Commander tour for a Navy SEAL is the pinnacle for a young officer. It was for me. It’s the ultimate in operational leadership. While rank gets you professional courtesy, you must earn respect. As with many operational leadership roles, that happens through your experiences of shared misery - - in the trenches WITH them.
When I started my college baseball career, my primary position was as a catcher. However, I quickly learned that I did not have the skill set required to be an everyday catcher in college. To find more playing time, I took advantage of every opportunity to learn and play new positions. My senior year…
I was in Las Vegas, Nevada participating in medical currency training with a Las Vegas regional hospital, the city Fire/Rescue system and the contract ambulance service. This was around 1993, every two years our Paramedic, nationally accredited medical certification needed to be re-certified and certain performance and knowledge skills needed to be accomplished to reestablish our abilities endorsement. I am 28 years old, at the peak of my tactical game…
Most sports teams at the beginning of their season have lofty goals such as winning a national championship. Winning a national championship can be a daunting goal, and the path to reach that goal is long and arduous. To achieve such a lofty goal, you must break the journey down into smaller and more manageable steps. When my college baseball team won a conference title, we did so by focusing…
It seems like cyber threats and attacks only happen to larger companies and organizations (due to the fact the media outlets report these large-scale breaches and outbreaks). The truth is the most frequent threat(s) actually occur in small to medium sized businesses. We actually saw this first hand with a client recently, where they were down for 3 days, result of a virus similar to what impacted The Weather Channel recently…
In sports, the military, and business it is easy to go through the motions of a task mindlessly, and many people mistake activity for productivity. For example, during a typical baseball practice, it was easy for me to field hundreds of groundballs mindlessly. However, if I did not have a clear purpose to what I wanted to work on when fielding the groundballs, then the time spent fielding the groundballs was a waste of time. The best coaches are the ones who can…
Are you getting the most out of your team? Are you looking to enhance motivation and morale? Try giving your team more rest.
It was on my first combat deployment as the Special Forces team’s assistant detachment commander when I realized that one of my most important duties was understanding when my team needed to rest. We were living in an Afghan village, running missions day and night, and responsible for pulling guard on our compound. Fatigue leads to carelessness, carelessness leads to mistakes, and in combat mistakes can lead to serious injuries or worse.
Green Berets have a high degree of emotional intelligence and are great at training partner forces and building rapport. Green Berets are known as “the quiet professionals.” Their operations are designed to be done in secret, and for their work to go largely unnoticed and unrecognized. To operate this way takes a great deal of planning, cooperation, and, teamwork.
Motivating a team and aligning them against the same goal is a critical task for every manager. As a former Green Beret, I always think of the Commander’s Intent we used when planning missions as a great way to provide motivation and alignment. Green Beret and Army Commanders use the Commander’s Intent to sum up all the essentials of a mission with no extra fluff.
Failure was a regular part of my life both while playing college baseball and in the Navy. Failure was accepted as a part of doing business in both communities. Failure is embraced by the best athletes and F/A-18 aircrew because they see the value in failure as an opportunity to learn and a necessary step towards improvement. Every hitter in baseball will go through the humbling experience of a hitting slump where it seems like you can’t even remember the last time that you got a base hit. Rather than hide from my failures as a hitter, I learned to embrace…
Character, Commitment and Competence – just words or a very quick and accurate way to decide who you surround yourself with. Do you have a method or due diligence process of determining who you will let into your life, cross paths with, partner with, take on as clients, etc.?
In what I do for a living, it is critical that I developed such a system that is…
It starts in your youth. As a military guy and former special operator, it had a lot to do with thrill and adventure. It also has much more to do with your attitude in a bad situation. As I learned about and became a Pararescueman, the complexity of the duty made me take notice to more than gumption, our smarts and practice had to be honed daily. Our affect had to be one of confidence in any given situation.
So, I’ll share this short story…
Players and coaches often use military metaphors when discussing sports. For example, it is all too common refrain to hear coaches and players say that they are about to go to war before stepping out onto the playing field. While some may roll their eyes at the clichés athletes and coaches draw between sports and war, I believe that my time spent playing college baseball taught me lessons that were easily transferrable to my career in the Navy. Going a step further, the lessons I learned playing sports and flying F/A-18s in the Navy can benefit those in business. I am excited to share with you the lessons I learned in sports and Navy and how they can help you succeed personally and professionally.
Recently I had the opportunity to attend a pain management clinic. I've got the usual aches and pains that come with putting in some good "mileage" and I wanted to learn how to physically deal with them better. Turns out physically dealing with pain is one tool - but dealing with the pain with a mindful eye can make a much more dramatic difference in how one feels.
I get a chance to read and hear many startup pitches, see the inner workings (and challenges) small to mid-size companies of all industries face daily. It is clear to me that (and no coincidence) so many Navy SEALs start new businesses, help grow existing businesses, and succeed at a much higher rate than non-SEALs.
