I was recently invited to provide a Navy SEAL’s perspective to a conference on risk management. As I was preparing my remarks, I realized that throughout my career in the Navy, “risk management” had been inherent in my duties as an officer and leader of audacious men in high risk operations, but I had never…
Ok, what’s the “Fifth Factor?” That is the question I frequently get when I tell people I named my company “Fifth Factor Leadership.” This simple question seems to deserve a simple answer, but I don’t have a simple answer, except my standard wise-guy response: It comes right after the fourth factor. Which of course leads…
This essay appears in the current issue (Issue 23) of Naval Special Warfare’s ETHOS magazine. It was inspired by a story a journalist friend of mine shared with me about a panel he moderated with a group of military veterans. When he brought up the subject of fear in combat, there was a reluctance to talk…
This post appears in Issue 18 of Naval Special Warfare Ethos Magazine, and hopes to inspire some of the SEALs and SWCCs (Special Warfare Combatantcraft Crewman – part of the Naval Special Warfare community wtih the SEALs) to dive a little deeper into the profession they’ve chosen, and read the experience and perspectives of others curently…
This is part 2 because I have already written on this topic for Naval Special Warfare’s Ethos magazine, and posted it in this blog in January of this year – just scroll down. I think it was a pretty good essay, but it didn’t get much attention when I wrote it – but it was…
I use this title partly in jest. ‘Mediocrity’ is, almost by definition, that which is not ‘praiseworthy.’ And yet in my comments that follow, I hope to point out that what appears to us as mediocre does not automatically warrant derision or embarrassment. There is an important place for mediocrity in this world, and often there…
I recently viewed the movie Act of Valor for the second time. I was invited by the Cinema Society of San Diego to view a pre-screening, and afterward, I and a few other SEAL veterans and an active duty Captain from Naval Special Warfare Command were asked to come forward and offer comments. Since the…
I am in transition. I am voluntarily leaving a good job, to move on to something else – I’m not sure what. I’ve been the Director of the Master of Science in Global Leadership program at the Universtiy of San Diego for six years. I’ve had fun, and I believe I’ve served this position well. It is time…
I submitted the below essay to Naval Special Warfare’s ‘Ethos’ magazine to be published this month. I wrote this as a member of the Naval Special Warfare community. In every generation, there are a few major events which divide our experience into “our lives before, and our lives after.” The attack on America on September 11, 2001, ten years…
The Seal community is justifiably proud of its Ethos. It describes high ideals and provides a beacon of values to guide Seals through the challenges of these difficult times. I fear however, that some Seals may not be getting regular exposure to the Seal Ethos , and without that regular exposure, some Seals may instead be falling…
