Canyonlands

PREAMBLE:  I have been doing and co-leading Executive and All American Leadership expeditions for the National Outdoor Leadership (NOLS) for a decade.  This year, several alums from these expeditions over the years decided to do a reunion expedition, and though many had been on different expeditions in different years, we loved the idea of connecting…

TOTAL Immersion Wellness

I recently learned about a comprehensive total immersion health/wellness/fitness program, made available by the Navy SEAL Foundation to active duty and retired Navy SEALS and Special Boat operators.  Their assumption is that many Navy SEALs and Special Boat operators are frequently suffering the residual effects of years of physical and mental stress, of having been…

Custer & The Little Big Horn

My wife Mary Anne and I recently visited the Little Big Horn Battlefield in Montana, about 60 miles SE of Billings. In preparation, we both had read Custer’s Fall – the Native American Side of the Story, and I read most of the two other books below.  It was a powerful and moving experience for…

A Bias for Bold Action

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…

The Fifth Factor

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…