Jocko Podcast - 54: How to Lead and Command Ultimate Respect. With the "Armed Forces Officer Manual"

Episode Date: December 28, 2016

0:00:00 - Opening "Uneasy Lies the head who wears the crown..." 0:09:27 - "The Armed Forces Officer" Military Manual  1950 Version (Limited) Critical Elements: Nobody's Perfect, Bragging Rights for Hard work, Unselfishness commands Loyalty, Write Well / Speak Well, Humility,  Physical Conditioning, Empower Others. 3:05:18 - The Take-away 3:07:18 - Cool Internet, Onnit, Amazon, JockoStore stuff along with Muster 002 and Jocko White Tea info. 3:27:08 - Final Thoughts and GratitudeSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/jocko-podcast/exclusive-content

This is Jocko podcast number 54 with Echo Charles and me, Jocko Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. You got some Shakespeare right there. You got some Henry the Fourth, part two. And that play is a play that came just prior to Henry V. the hero, the warrior,

the leader of that few, that happy few, that band of brothers. Well, his dad, Henry IV, was having a rough time in the kingdom, facing rebellion. And there's a point in the play where he, the old man, Henry IV, he can't sleep. Can't sleep because the pressure, the pressure and the weight of being a leader. And it's a great, it's a great chunk of the play.

And it starts with that line. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. And actually doesn't start with that line. That's the last line. It starts off a little different. It starts off here. How many thousand of my poorest, subjects are at this hour asleep.

So he's saying, hey, out there, you know, there's thousands and thousands of my subjects. They're out there sleeping right now. Oh, sleep, oh, gentle sleep, nature's soft nurse. How have I frightened thee that thou will, that thou no more will weigh my eyelids down and steep my senses in front. forgetfulness. So he's talking to sleep. Sleep is like a god to him at this point. And he said, what did I do to scare you off? What I do? How come you won't bring me that goodness? Way down my eyes. Going back, why rather sleep? Liest thou in smoky cribs upon uneasy pallets stretching thee and hushed with

buzzing night flies to thy slumber, then in perfumed chambers of the great under the canopies of costly state and lulled with sound of sweetest melody. So he's asking sleep. He's saying, look, sleep, you're there hanging out in these smoky, filthy houses and hovels and people are sleeping on boards. and to lull people to sleep in those situations, it's insects buzzing around their heads. Sleep's all there, taking care of those people.

But sleep doesn't come to him in the most beautiful, in the most luxurious estate rooms, where there's little gentle music playing. No bugs flying around. It's a little gentle music playing. Back to the play, Oh, thou dull God, why liest thou with the vile in lonesome beds and leavest thy kingly couch a watchcase or a common laram bell?

So same subject. He's saying, look, why do you dull God? So dull meaning sleeping, dull. Why are you hanging around the nastiest beds, but you, you know, this beautiful bed, you don't come near it. You leave it vacant like a watchtower, like a bell tower. Will thou upon the high and giddy mast seal up the ship boy's eyes? So now he's talking and start talking about even a sailor at sea high up on a mast, right? A giddy mast.

You seal up the ship boy's eyes and rock his brains in cradle of the rude, imperious, surge and in the visitation of winds who take the ruffian billows by the top curling their monstrous heads and hanging them with deafening clamor in the slippery clouds that with the early death itself awakes so he's saying this sailor there's a sailor at sea who's getting punished by the storm and the thunder is clapping And the ship is bounding back and forth. But guess what? He gets to fall asleep.

He goes to sleep, no problem. Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose to the wet sea boy in an hour so rude. And in the calmest and most stillest night with all appliances and means to boot, deny it to a king. So he's saying again, in an hour so rude, storms, mayhem at sea, he gives the sailor sleep. But in this calmest and most stillest night, with every available luxury to boot, yet sleep is denied to the king. And then he says, then happy low, lie down. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. So then happy low lie down.

He's saying, look, by low, he means the peasants. He's like, all right then, you happy, happy low, you peasants. Lie down. Lie down, sleep. That's what you get. But uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Doesn't get to rest. The leader doesn't get to sleep.

And that's another example of what we. know and that is that leadership is hard. It's a heavy burden. It's hard business. And it's part science and part art. And part of it is natural ability and part of it is learned. And the book that we're going to dive into today, it isn't Shakespeare. It's actually a military manual. military manual written by SLA Marshall, but guided by General George C. Marshall and Dwight D. Izenauer. This book was written just after World War II.

Now, if you remember Hackworth, if you've read about Face, Hackworth talks about Marshall, SLA Marshall, and he did some writing in Vietnam that Hackworth was a little bit not impressed with. And there's certainly some controversy about SLA Marshall and some of the things that he wrote and some of the things that he said that he lived through. There's some controversy, if not proven fact, that he fabricated some stuff.

But I think you're going to find, as we dive into this book, that from a leadership perspective, the experiences that he did bring back from World War I, the experiences that he got from Eisenhower and from the other Marshall, I think it's a really good reflection. in a good look at some leadership lessons learned that we can take something from. Now, the book is actually called the Armed Forces Officer.

Very simple title. And the version that I'm going through, because this book is still in publication, the version that I'm going through is from 1950. 1950 version. Like I said, it's written just after World War II, obviously, so the lessons are fresh. I guess that the new version has been cleaned up or something. There's, I guess that the 1950s version isn't fully politically correct. I don't know because, to be frank, I haven't read the new version because I got the old

version. I want the real deal. And I don't find anything offensive in this, in this one. So maybe someone else will. I guess there's some things that might be a little bit borderline, but yeah. I'm not, I'm not really feeling it. And this book was given to me a long time ago by a friend of mine that said, you might like this.

And he specifically said, this boy, they'll make this one anymore. But guess what? Everyone's in luck because they do. They brought it back. They brought it back. So the book is the Armed Forces officer,

and it really goes into how to lead. How to lead. So going to the book. To call forth great loyalty and other people, and to harness it to any noble undertaking, one must first be sensible of their finer instincts and feelings. Certainly, these things at least are among the gentle qualities which are desired in every military officer of the United States. So here's some basic things that the officers, the military, are supposed to have. One, strong belief in human rights. Two, respect.

for the dignity of every other person. Three, the golden rule attitude toward one's daily associates. Four, an abiding interest in all aspects of human welfare. Five, a willingness to deal with every man as considerably as if he were a blood relative. So pretty simple rules. Respect other people. The golden rule. you know, treat people how you want to be treated yourself.

These are the basis of what they're saying you need to be. And again, let's not actually I was going to go into this, but they're going to go into themselves. Here we go. Back to the book. These qualities are the epitome of strength, not of softness. They mark the man who's capable of pursuing a great purpose consistently in spite of temptations. He who possesses them will all the more surely be regarded as a man among men. Take any crowd of new recruits.

The greater number of them during their first few days in service will use more profanity and obscenity, talk more about women and boast more about drinking than they have ever done in their lives. Because of the mistaken idea that this is the quick way to get a reputation for being hard-boiled. But at the same time, the one or two men among them who stay decent, talk moderately and walk the line of duty will uniquely receive the infinite respect of the others. It never fails to happen. So, little contrary to what we might think. And there's definitely, when you get in the military, when you're going through boot camp,

there's all kinds of people acting like tough guys. All kinds of people acting like tough guys. And that happens. Let's hear one thing that happens in boot camp. I bet I met more potential. professional athletes when I was going through when I was going through boot camp everyone was I was about to go in the NFL I was about to be a pro baseball player I don't know why but they end up in the military yeah it is interesting is that kind of like the guy who's 500 and oh in the streets yeah

when he comes to the MMA gym that guy no that guy doesn't work out too well all right and obviously I'm abridging this book a little bit skipping through here we go back to the book men beget goodwill in other men by giving it. They develop courage in their following mainly as a reflection of the courage which they show in their own action. These two qualities of mind and heart are the essence of sound officership. One is of little avail without the other and either helps to sustain the other. So you got goodwill and you got courage and they help each other and they help each other and they

sustain each other. Back to the book, as to which is the stronger force in its impact upon the masses of men, no truth is more certain than the words once written by William James. Evident, though the shortcomings of a man may be, if he is ready to give up his life for a cause, we forgive him everything. However inferior he may be to ourselves in other respects, if we cling to life while he throws it away like a flower, we bow to his superiority. So I guess courage gets the stronger nod out of that situation. Back to the book, Theodore Roosevelt once said, if he had a son who refrained from any worthwhile action because of the fear of hurt to himself, he would disown him. Soon after his return to civilian life, General Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke of the

worth whileness of living dangerously. An officer of the United States armed forces cannot go far wrong if he holds these ideas. It is not the suitable profession for those who believe only in digging in and nursing a soft snap until death comes at a ripe old age. Who risks nothing gains nothing. Nor should there be any room in it for professional smugness, small jealousies, and undue concern about privilege. So you can't be hiding all the time. You got to step up, you got to lead, you got to take some risk, you got to live dangerously. Now, of course, young troopers out there,

especially guys out on the battlefield, this doesn't mean running to your death. That's not what it means. You will take risk. In business world, you'll take risk. In the military, you'll take risk. If you do either in business or in the military, you take risk stupidly, you'll die or you'll lose all your money. Neither one of those is good. But that doesn't mean you hide. And it doesn't mean you take no risk and you shy away. Now, the next part when he's talking about small jealousies and undue concern about privilege, this eats people up and destroys people.

In that light, here we go. Back to the book. Towards services other than his own. any officer is expected to have both a comradally feeling and an imaginative interest. Any army officer is a better man for having studied the works of Admiral Mayhan and familiarized himself with the modern Navy from firsthand experience. Those who lead seagoing forces can enlarge their own capacities by knowing more rather than less about the nature of the air and ground establishments.

The submariner can always learn something useful to his own. work by mingling with airmen. The airman becomes a better officer as he grows in qualified knowledge of ground and sea fighting. So you've got to learn. Working with other industries, learn about those industries. Learn as much as you can. Don't just stay in your own little, in your own little world because you're comfortable. That's what happens to a lot of us. You get comfortable in your own world, so that's what you want to stay in. You don't want to look bad. You don't appear to be ignorant. And Admiralman is kind of the, Well, he was a civil war admiral, as a matter of fact,

but wrote a book called The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, which the Germans and the Japanese both utilized against us in World War, too. So a little bit of a little bit of risk there, but it was also something that guided the thought and the building of the modern U.S. Navy. Now we talk a little bit about what life is like in the military. Back to the book, The Military Way is a long, hard road.

And it makes extraordinary requirements of every individual. In war, particularly, it puts stresses upon men such as they have not known elsewhere. And the temptation to get out from under would be irresistible if their spirits had not been tempered to the ordeal. So you've got to be ready for the hardness. You've got to do things in your life that get you ready for the hardness. Back to the book. If nothing but fear, and now we're getting into some leadership, If nothing but fear of punishments were dependent upon to hold men to the line during extreme trial,

the result would be wholesale mutiny and a situation altogether beyond the control of leadership. So if the only thing, the only reason that your people are falling you is because of fear of punishment, when the going gets hard, that's not going to work. So it must be true that it is the out, that is out of the impact of ideal. out of the impact of ideals, mainly that men develop the strength to fate situations, which would be normal to run away. Which it would be normal to run away. Also, during the normal routine of peace,

members of the armed services are expected to respond to situations that are more extensive, more complex, and take longer to reach fulfillment than the situations to which the majority of men instinctively respond. So things in the military take a long time when you're a big part of that, In a peacetime big bureaucratic machine, it can be really challenging. Even the length of the enlistment period looks like a slow march up a 60-mile grade. Promotion is slow, duty frequently monotonous. It is all too easy for the individual to worry about his own insignificance

and to feel that he has become lost in the crowd. Now, this is something that I hear a lot about on social media. More people send me messages on this. or Facebook messages, I guess, when they feel like they're kind of caught in the rut, you know, they're doing their job, they don't really like it, what should I do? And I think this next little section applies to that. Back to the book, what is the main test of human character?

Probably it is this, that a man will know how to be patient in the midst of hard circumstance and can continue to be personally effective while living through whatever discouragements beset him and his companions. Can you drive on? That's what it's asking. Those that job that you don't like? Good.

Good. It's a little test. Now, if you're in a situation that you don't like, you drive on in that situation and also you figure out what your exit strategy is going to be. You don't want to go through life miserable. You figure out, you start saving your money, you start getting another education, you figure out another job, you get yourself promoted, you do what you've got to. to do. But don't let that monotonous job that you're not into that day. Don't let that burden you down.

Yeah. That's kind of that key there where you drive on and it's like you drive on in life. You don't like necessarily have to drive on and keep doing that job. It's like you drive on as opposed to oh, start complaining or go into some thing where you get self-destructive or you seek some kind of, I don't know, escapeist outlet or something like that. But I'll tell you, you drive on, you have other. options, right? You work those other options. But whatever it is that your job is, and you'd kick ass at that job. That's what you do. The minute you start slacking, you're going backwards, don't do it. What benefit are you going to get from that? You're going to get zero benefit from that. You're going to work your eight hours a day. You're going to make your $12 an hour. Are you going to do it in a slack way? Or are you going to do it in an awesome way?

I'm going to do it an awesome way. That's what's going to get you promoted. That's what's going to get you, that's what's going to get you taken care of in the long run. If you or you, like you say this a lot where you, like even if you're going to do something, even if you don't enjoy, you still, you do it just the best you can. Like you said that like from the beginning. And for someone like me when I look at it like that, of course it sounds like a good idea. Do it that way. But after you do it, you kind of think back.

And I've done both. I've done it where I'm like, oh, I hate doing this. So I'm just going to basically. go through the motions until it's finally done, you know, and I can kind of be relieved or whatever. But when you think back of like, hey, I remember when I was doing whatever it is, that job or whatever, when you look back, you kind of have this fulfillment that you did it the best you can. You know, you never look back and be like, dang, I'm glad I phoned it in, you know, you always are going to, even if you didn't like it, like you, you're always satisfied that, that, yeah, I did it the best that I could.

So do it. Yeah. Do it the best you can. Now, here's a couple of the lists in this book. Here's another one. This is the one that's talking about the simple virtues that provide a firm foundation. So here we go. One, a man has honor if he holds himself to a course of conduct because of a conviction

that it is in the general interest, even though he is well aware that it may lead to inconvenience, personal loss, humiliation, or grave physical risk. So when he says general interest, he's talking about like the team. So you're going to hold that conviction. Even if it's good for the team, you're going to hold that course. Even if you're well aware that it may lead to inconvenience, personal loss, humiliation, or grave physical risk. Boom.

That's what honor is. You don't hear honor laid out that well very often. He has veracity if having studied a question to the limit of his ability. he says and believes what he thinks to be true, even though it would be the path of least resistance to deceive others and himself. So this is kind of in the same vein. If you look at something

and maybe you don't agree with it, but the easiest thing to do would just be agree with it? No, you don't do that. You step up and say, hey, no, I don't agree with this. Now, we could go into detail on that in the times when you do want to maybe not be the most truthful, and a person in the world.

For instance, we've talked about this before when your wife is making chicken and it's dry, right? It might not be the best thing to tell her the amount of water that you're going to need to drink. But in real things

and important things, tell the truth. Back to the book. Number three, he has justice if he acknowledges the interests of all concerned in any particular transaction rather than serving his own apparent interest. Look out for others. Number four, he has graciousness. If he acts and speaks

forthrightly, agrees warmly, disagrees fairly and respectfully, participates enthusiastically, refrains from harboring grudges, takes his reverses in stride, and does not complain or ask for help in the face of trifling calamities. Those are just solid. Those are just solid. I would say this, though, sometimes you've got to ask for help, right? That's one thing that I want to work with businesses.

There'll be somebody that's, you know, I'm extreme ownership and I'm going to own this. And all of a sudden you realize, hey, you're owning that, but you're not going to be successful at it because that's too much for you. You need help. You need to put your ego in check

and you need to be able to raise your hand and say, look, I need some help on this. I don't have this covered. this is too much for me. I wouldn't expect in this. Here's my hands in the air. Let me get some help. Sometimes seems like it's not necessarily even ego.

It's more like, oh, I guess in a way it's ego, but it's more like, shoot, I don't want to be the guy who has to be dependent on somebody or something like that. Which is what? Extreme ownership. Which is ego, actually. If you're the guy that doesn't want to be dependent on other people, that's probably your ego. But you are, I think what you're trying to say is that I don't want to be the guy that has to ask for help. I want to be that guy that carries my own load.

Yes. Like, you know what? I'd see this on seal patrols a couple times in my career where guys were overloaded and they didn't want to ask for help. Right. I got this. Because it's humiliating. You know, hey, can you carry my ammunition or hey, can you carry my radio? Yeah.

Can you carry my weapon? That's, I've seen it happen. I've carried some extra weapons from time to time. It's a bummer, you know? Yeah. And you know what? You know what? You take the weapon?

Hey man, okay, get some water in you, you know? Yeah. But that's what you're talking about. People don't want to be that guy. But what's going to be worse? If they don't take a load off and they get a heat casualty and now they're down, well, now we're, now I've got to carry him, not just his weapon, which is a bad situation. And we don't have them anymore. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And he can't fight. He can't even do anything. Dang. As opposed to the other guy who doesn't know the difference between needing help and wanting help. Yeah, yeah. He was just like, oh, help me. Yeah.

Because he don't want to work. I had a guy one time. We were on a long patrol. This is back in the day. Back in the day. This is pre-war. And my radio men, because I was a radio man when I was an assistant guy. And now I wasn't a radio man.

I was an officer. And we were on a long patrol. And my radio man was going down. Like he didn't have enough water. It was dehydrated. It was weak. And so he was bummed. You know, he couldn't keep up with us anymore.

and I said, okay, you know, let me get your radio. So I'm taking a 20-pound radio off his back, putting it in my back. I'm carrying it for, I don't know, half a day. And then we get to a lay-up point, so this is where we're going to, for a civilian, this is where we're going to camp out for the night. And when we get there, we get a resupply of water and, you know, gatorade or whatever. So all of a sudden now everyone's rehydrated. And while we're in there, we got to make a communications hit to, you know,

We've got to call headquarters and say, hey, this is our location. So he comes and takes the radio out of my backpack. You know, it comes over, hey, link of the radio so I can make this communication. I go, yeah, cool. Open up my bag, give it to him. And, you know, he makes the radio communications. And I'm out doing like a reconnaissance of the area to find out what route we're going to take. Anyways, I thought, you know, now he's rehydrated.

He's going to take that radio. And, you know, we'll be back in the game. So I come back and when I get back, the radio was sitting on my rucksack. I was like, oh no. But you know what I did? Put it back in my rucksack and carried it. Yeah, you just got to do it. But yeah, so you don't want to be that guy.

Yeah. Once you get rehydrated, man, get your weight back on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The difference between needing help and once. Yeah. And he did need help. Yeah. At one point, but once the Gatorade's come in, you know, you're good to go.

Yeah. You did you take that radio back? I was, I was chuckling inside when I saw that radio been placed back on top of my rod. Not inside, but just placed on top. Yeah, yeah, you got it from here. Yeah, you got it. But put it back in and we'll be all good here. Awesome, good times and the teams.

And the last one here, he has integrity. If his interest in the good of the service is at all times greater than his personal pride, and when he holds himself to the same line of duty, when unobserved as he would follow if all his superiors were present. This is the classic. What do you do when you're not? When people aren't looking.

Here's another point. The cause of much of the friction in administrative machinery is that at all levels, there are individuals who insist on standing in their own light. Now, this is a term to actually have to look up standing in your own way. It means getting your own way. It means you're preventing your, you're preventing your own success. And he uses the term a bunch of here, standing in your own light.

This is important. They believe that there is some special magic, some quick springboard to success. They mistakenly think that it can be won by bootlicking, apple polishing, yesing higher authority, playing office politics, throwing weight around, ducking the issue, striving for cheap popularity, courting publicity, or seeking any and all means of grabbing the spotlight. So this is the guy, everybody that's listening to this podcast right now knows who I'm talking about.

That guy. That guy. That's just always trying to kiss everyone's ass and make himself look good. And that's, you know, that's a shortcut, right? This is what Marshall's saying is a shortcut or a springboard. You think it's a quick springboard. Back to the book, any one of this set of tricks may enable a man to carry the ball forward a yard or two in some special situation. But at least this comment can be made without qualification of the men who have risen to supreme heights in the fighting establishment of the United States and have had their greatness proclaimed by their fellow countrymen.

There is not one career which provides any warrant for the conclusion that there is a special shortcut known only to the same. smart operators. True enough, a few men have gained fairly high rank by dint of what late Mr. Justice Holmes called the instinct for the jugular, a feeling of when to jump and where to press and how to slash in order to achieve somewhat predatory personal ends. That will occasionally happen in any walk of life. And I say this all the time. I've said this all on this podcast.

If you got that guy that we're talking about, sometimes they're going to get a better recommendation you but sometimes they're gonna get they're gonna get that promotion that you were wanting and you you just you just held the line and were a good person that person took the credit for something and no one really realized the next thing you know they get the promotion but I agree with what's being said here that does happen sometimes in every walk of life but in the long run that person's going down yeah that person's going down in the long run yeah and the more you kind of depend on that sort of thing the less likely for any kind of success anyway absolutely

yeah yep and he says here but from Washington, Wayne, and Jones, down to Eisenhower, Van de Griff, and Nimitz. The men best loved by the American people for their military successes were also the men with greatness of soul. During World War II, there were quite a few higher commanders relieved in our forces because it was judged for one reason or another that they had failed in battle. So relieved means you got fired. Of the total number, there were a few who took a reduction in rank, went willingly to a lower post and a fighting command,

uttered no complaint, kept their chins up, worked courageously and sympathetically with their commands, and provided an example of manhood that all who saw them will never forget. So if you get, I get asked this,

I've been asked this a couple times, I got demoted, or sometimes not demoted, but I got passed over. You know, someone else got promoted instead of me, what should I do? Get after it.

That's what these guys did. That's what these guys did. Hey, it screwed up. You know what? Check. All right, cool. let's let's here's what I messed up that was my fault I'm ready to rock and roll you put me down you put me in charge of less people I got it I'm going to do well though their names need not

be mentioned they were imprinted with the real virtue of the services even more deeply than many of their colleagues who had no blemishes on their records their character had met the ultimate test the men who had the privilege of working close to them realized this and the sublime effect of his personal influence health strengthen the resolve of many others. So it's actually inspirational to people around you when they see that. And there's been many guys that I've known

that have bounced back from some kind of career problem. They messed something up. They got fired. And they take it, they be humble about it, and they come back and turn it around. The person that complains and thinks that they're a victim, I'm not gonna work out for them. That's in the civilian sector and in the military sector.

sector. Now, start talking a little bit about being a recruit and the kind of the mental training, the mindset training that happens as a recruit to the book, his perseverance in the care of weapons in keeping his living quarters orderly and in doing his full share of work is best insured not through fear of punishments but by stimulating his belief that any other way of going is unworthy of a member of a fighting service precision in personal habits precision in drill and precision in daily living are the high road to that kind of discipline which best ensures cool and collected thought and unity of action on the field of battle Yeah.

I could tell you really like that. You know, it's just the, it's basically he's talking about the, the, the, the, the, the unmitigated daily discipline in all things. That's what it is. And that ensures cool and collected thought and unity of action on the field of battle. I got nothing to say about that other than yes, amen. Here's another little section. When men are well led, they become fully receptive to the whole body of ideas which they're leading. see fit to put before them.

Let's think about that. When men are well-led, they become fully receptive to the whole body of ideas which their leaders see fit to put before them. So what we're talking about here is when somebody's a good leader, the troopers around them, the people that are working for them, they believe the whole body, everything, right? They start to believe everything that you're saying. and that's powerful. That's obviously powerful.

Yeah, it kind of goes back to like what you're saying about, like if they fear your punishment, that's how you lead, you know, Iron Fits and they fear the punishment. So they're going to do enough to not get punished, but they won't do anything that, like, they don't have to. Yeah. So it's only what they have to do. So you won't get people doing their best.

No. You know what I mean? So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that punishment piece that I kind of breached through is, is not through fear of punishments,

but by stimulating his belief that any other way. So that's 100% right. And we've, you know, I say that all the time. If people are doing what you told them to do just because they're afraid of you, sure,

you can get, that's going to work for a little while. You know, oh, I'll fire you. Okay. What's that person doing when he gets home? Putting his,

putting his resume on monster.com, looking for another job. Doing the best not to get fired. Yeah, doing the best not to get fired. He's, all right. Going back to the book, though it has been said before, even so it can be said again.

It is paramount and overremoner writing responsibility of every officer to take care of his men before caring for himself. Yet many junior officers do not seem to understand that steadfast fidelity to it is required, not lip service. And of this, as Admiral Mahan would say, Mayhan would say, comes much evil. The loyalty of men simply cannot be commanded when they become embittered. by selfish action. So a minute your troops see

that you're being selfish or you're doing this for yourself, that's the beginning of, what he says, Admiral Mahan says, much evil. He says evil comes from that. When you start acting selfishly as a leader, evil comes from that. If an officer is on a tour

with an enlisted man, he takes care of the man. He takes care that the man is accommodated as to food, shelter, medical treatment, or other prime needs before satisfying his own wants. If that means that the last meal or the last bed is gone, his duty is to get along the hard way. Boom. Take care of your people. Now, again, this is written in 1950, but even in 1950, you might think this was the hard post-World War II.

Chapter 8 is actually called getting along with people. Boom. Now, here's a real, some of this stuff is so simple, so obvious. It's so simple and so obvious that they had to write a book about it so that people could do it because we all fail to do it So here we go if you like people If you seek contact with them rather than hiding yourself in a corner If you study your fellow men sympathetically if you try consistently to contribute to something to the success and happiness Or contribute something to their success and happiness if you are

reasonably generous with your thoughts and your time if you have a part reserve with everyone, but a seeming reserve with no one. If you work to be interesting rather than spend to be a good fellow, you will get along with your superiors, your subordinates, your orderly, your roommate, and the human race. That's all you got. If you want to get along with everybody. Now, one of the ones that I, you know, these are all pretty obvious, but one of the ones, if you have a partial reserve with everyone,

but a seemingly, but a seeming reserve with no one. So what that means is you're not just flying off the handle. You're just reserved a little bit. You're just, you show restraint, but the restraint doesn't come across as aloofness, right? It's not so much, you know,

if I come into a room and I'm going to show restraint, so I'm not going to say hi to you, I'm going to come across as aloof and you're not going to like me. But if I, but if I was walking and go, echo, my brother, give me a hug. Well, you're not going to like.

Like me either. Well, I will. Well, you're one of the few people. Well, that's the Hawaiian in you. Aloha spirit. Aloha spirit, you know. So it's that measured reserve, that measured restraint. It's balance.

It's a little dichotomy there. Got to find a good spot in the middle. Again, getting along with people. Back to the book, by the scores of thousands, precepts and platitudes have been written for the guidance of personal conduct. The odd part is that despite all of this labor, most of the frictions in modern society arise from the individual's feeling of inferiority, his false pride, his vanity, his unwillingness to yield space to any other man. Unwillingness to yield space to any other man. And I get hit on this one a lot because, again, because of my personalities can be a little bit forceful, people think I'm just no compromise.

Eyes. My way or a highway. And this is what they're talking about. I'm not like that. I'm open to suggestions. I'm willing to say, you know what, that's a better idea. Or you know what? I like your idea. Could we make this adjustment to it?

Or yes, I can change my idea to fit with what you're saying because it makes sense. People that don't do that have unwillingness to yield space to any other man. Continuing on and his consequent urge to throw his own weight around. Right? These are just ways to not get along with people. And speaking of ways to not get along with people, here's the 13 mistakes. The 13 mistakes.

This is from the United States Coast Guard magazine. 13 pitfalls. Here we go. One, to attempt to set up your own personal, to attempt to set up your own standard of right and wrong. To try to measure the enjoyment of others by your own. to expect uniformity of opinions in the world. To fail to make allowance for inexperience.

It's a good one. To endeavor to mold all dispositions alike. Not to yield on unimportant trifles. Same thing we just heard. The things that don't matter, who cares? Let the guys do what they're going to do on that. To look for perfection in our own actions. to worry ourselves and others about what can't be remedied.

Why are you worried about that? Can't change it. Let's not worry about it. Let's just move on. Here's a big one, not to help everybody wherever, however, whenever we can. That's a big ask. That's a big request.

Hey, you know what I want you to do in your life? Help everybody, however, wherever, and whenever you can. That's asking a lot. That's a big one. To consider impossible what we cannot ourselves perform. I can you never do that. Right, right. To believe only what our finite minds can grasp.

Let's say that one again. To believe only what our finite minds can grasp. That's humility. To recognize that, you know what? I don't understand everything in the world. I don't understand everything in the world. It's okay. There's things beyond my comprehension.

and that's okay. You got to admit to that. Not to make allowances for the weaknesses of others. To estimate by some outside quality when it is that within, which makes the man. So, very simple. Interesting how you can make allowances for,

or according to the 13 things. You can make allowances for inexperience, of others, but not the weakness of others. No, it says, it says not to make, so this would be a mistake. It would be a mistake not to make allowances for the weaknesses of others. Oh, so he said, okay, inexperience and weakness. Yeah, you got to just say, oh, this guy's, you know, I got to, I got to make allowances. Gotta flex a little bit, be flexible.

And not fly off the handle. Yeah. Back to the book, it's suffice to say that when any officer has the inexcusable fault that he takes snap judgment on his own men, he will not be any different in his relations with all other people and will stand in his own light for the duration of his career. Again, there's that term. If you're making snap judgments of people, you're not going to do them justice. And that's something that I was always very careful about because I've talked about this before in the SEAL teams, your reputation is very, very important. And everybody that's done something stupid and

SEAL teams, every single person knows it. I mean, at a high level of stupidity. If you do something really stupid, everybody knows about it. And then minor stupid things, a lot of people will know about it. And so you develop a reputation over time and it's very easy to fall in that category. I heard this guy's kind of a turd or whatever and not give them a chance. But I always try to give people a chance and say, okay, let me see what this guy's really like. And I guess I would take a little personal challenge

If it was a guy that was going to be working for me Let's see if I can make this guy rock and roll You know, let me see if I can make this guy into a solid seal Can't always pull it off But sometimes you can Just need that second chance Some people go too far with the mistakes that they made though And they don't get a second chance

Okay, we've talked about this before Let's talk about it again Here we go The man who will not listen Never develops wits enough to distinguish between a bore and a sage and therefore cannot pick the best company the vacant stare the drifting of eyes from the speaker to a window or a picture or a passing blonde though greatly tempting in the midst of long discourse are taken only as signs of inattention many a

young officer called to the carpet for some trivial businesses managed to square himself with his commander just by looking straight and talking straight in the few moments that decided his future. So I guess this might be something that didn't make the politically correct version. If your eyes are wandering on a passing blonde that you're having this conversation.

So that might be one of those things where they changed that for the 2007 edition. Like what? Like that's chauvinistic? Yeah, I guess that would be chauvinistic. It said blonde. It didn't say girl. Okay, well, maybe a good point. Maybe it's maybe it's like racial. brown-haired people.

Yeah, yeah. Genetic. And this is important, though. You go into talk, you're in trouble. You get there, look straight and talk straight for a few minutes with the boss. Hey, this boss is what happened. This is what I did. This is the mistakes I made.

That's got infinitely better chance of you recovering from that situation. As when you go in there, go bub-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b. Don't be that guy. Don't be that guy. Elsewhere in the book, a great deal has been said about the importance of the voice and of developing one's powers of conversation. Not a great deal needs to be added there, but there's no excuse for the officer who talks

so that others must strain to hear what he is saying, unless he is suffering from laryngitis. It is simple enough to keep the chin up and let the words roll out. Many persons have the bad habit of letting the voice drop at the end of a sentence. The effect on the other party is like watching a man

run away from a fight. Notice I said fight really loud. Because I didn't want to be the guy that was dropping off on the end of a sentence. So you're just talking about speaking and how you speak and speaking clearly and not mumbling and not fading off on the end of your words.

This thing is a goldmine this book actually. This should be issued to 13-year-olds nationwide, in my opinion. Maybe we could start a campaign to make that happen. Back to the book. Carefulness in the little things counts much. Men develop an aversion to the individual who cannot remember their names,

their titles, or their stations, but they will warm to the person who remembers, and they will overlook most of his other shortcomings. Likewise, they are won by any words of appreciation or of interest in what they're doing. So, again, how do we get along with other people? Remember their name. I know, and that's hard.

You know, bro, that's hard. There's tricks for that. Yeah, I know. See, you need tricks for it even. I mean, I'm not saying everyone needs, but I'm just saying it's understood that that's hard. And there's tricks out there. Yeah. Because people know that that can be hard.

And they also know that it's impactful. Yeah. It's impactful. Yeah, man. But you forget a guy's name literally two seconds after you tell you. Unless you make it a point to command yourself to remember it. Right. It's tricky

Yeah It's tricky I knew a guy that was a Really good leader But he would go into a room of 25 people And he would go Over the top

And when he got done He would say I know all your names now Yeah Yeah Hennar does that sometimes It's pretty impressive Yeah

It's legit I bet Henner's got some little trick To do it Yeah You remember You know you Oh Your name is Echo

Cool I look at you And I see big E On your face Right, right. Something crazy. Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting.

But, man, sometimes you can be like, hey, I'm going to make it a point to remember. One guy. I'm going to make it a point to remember this guy's name. He'll be like, hey, my name's John. You'd be like, hey, Josh. You'll forget it quick sometimes. It's weird, man.

Not good. Got to remember those names. Got to lock them in. I think if you take a certain amount of pride in doing that, I think that helps a lot. Step number one, yeah. Yeah. Take pride in your job.

Okay. I'm going to try that. Now, this is an interesting little. dig here. It's actually kind of funny. He's basically going back and saying that all this information about getting along with other people. He's saying he's kind of recapping the whole thing to close it out. Back to the book, it isn't lengthy advice which is needed on this subject. Since a man commissioned is considered to have graduated from at least the kindergarten of good manners, what counts is simply caring about it and not not to be ingratiating to other people

but for the sake of one's own dignity and self-respect. None of the oracles on winning friends and influencing people have said it in those few words, and if they had, there would have been no books to sell. So there's a little shot, a little shot on winning friends and influencing people. Wait, when was that one right, dude?

Oh, that was written. I don't know where the dates, but that's written a long time ago. Dang, okay. Some of the time ago. No, that's turn of the century. It's old school. Yeah, old school. Talking about, now we're going to leaders and leadership

and what type of men are leaders. Those who come forward to fill these same places and to command them with equal or greater authority and competence will not be plaster saints. So if you remember in the beginning, he goes on this thing about how you're not going to swear and you're not going to be not going to talk bad about women, he's given some leeway now to that.

He's saying they're not going to be plaster saints, laden with all human virtue, spotless in character, and fit to be anointed with a Superman legend by some future Parson Weems. They will be men with a human quality and a strong belief in the United States and the goodness of a free society. They will have some of the average man's faults

and maybe a few of his vices. But certainly they will possess the qualities of courage, creative intelligence and physical fitness in more than average measure. So again, there's not as, it's not quite as strict as he laid out in the beginning. Yeah, because it's like, remember on training, you watched training day? Remember that Denzel? I saw part of it. Yeah, so there's, the little concept is in there where he said, you got to have a little dirt on you so they can trust you.

Okay. So basically if you're too squeaky clean Well, you know, like There's all kinds of heroes that are not squeaky clean Well, in training days I would say there's more heroes that aren't squeaky clean Yeah, they're real person There's plenty of leaders that aren't squeaky clean

And they're great leaders Yeah, and that's what they're giving that up in this book It's saying, look, not going to be a plaster saint You're going to be a person Going to have faults, going to have weaknesses, going to have vices, going to have dirt Yeah, just a little bit. A little bit dirt.

Yeah, for the record, the training day guys were all corrupt So I'm saying it's maybe not that. Yeah, they had a little too much dirt. Yeah, exactly. All right, so now we're talking about Grant, General Grant, Civil War General and beset by human failings.

He could not look impressive. Average though he was in many things, there was nothing average about the strong way in which he took hold, applying massive common sense to the complex problems of the field. That is why he is worth close regard. His virtues as a military leader were of the simpler sort

which plain men may understand and hope to emulate. He was direct in manner. He never intrigued. His speech was homely. He was approachable. His mind never deviated from the object. Though a stubborn man, he was always willing to listen to his subordinates.

And I love this one right here. He never adhered to a plan obstinately, but nothing could induce him to forsake the idea behind the plan. So look, I'm not going to, here's my idea, and I'm going to hold to that idea because it's good. But the plan that's going to get us there, I'm not too worried about that. I'm not going to hold onto that and let it drag me into the ground.

Back to the book, in the military services, though there are niches for the pedant, Character is at all times, at least as vital as intellect. So, Padant is like overly educated type scenario. Yeah, pedantic, right. And the main rewards go to him who can make other men feel toughened as well as elevated. Here's some traits here. Quiet resolution.

The hardihood to take risks. the will to take full responsibility for decisions, the readiness to share its rewards with subordinates. This is obviously extreme ownership, and part of extreme ownership is when something goes well, you don't own that part, you give that away. An equal readiness to take the blame when things go adversely, boom.

The nerve to survive storm and disappointment and to face towards each new day with the score sheet wiped clean neither dwelling on one's successes

nor accepting discouragement from one's failures like I said this book should be issued to 13 year old Yeah This is a really good book

By the way Yeah I figured you dig this one I used a lot of highlighter on this one I've had this book for a long time I couldn't It's funny when I read it this time, I hadn't read it in so long that it was almost like I was reading it again.

I pretty much had forgotten most of it. And a lot of it, you know, I subconsciously, was probably part of my game for a long time. I can't tell, though. I can't tell what I just, what I buried, what was a seed that grew. Yeah. Probably there's some ideas in here that were seeds of my thought. Yeah, I would imagine so that that's not the kind of book where it's like, oh yeah, let me memorize all this, you know? It's more like, oh, shoot, I got it, I got it kind of ingest this idea.

And here's the straight up truth. When somebody gave me this book, I probably read 10 pages of it and said, oh, this is pretty cool. Put it in my locker and then went out and worked out and forgot about it for the next 15 years. So it's not, I didn't, you know, this, this, this current jocco, we'll call it, where I can overlay and bring in, it's like jiu-jitsu when, you know, when you're good at jihitsu, If you're a brown belt, a purple belt, a black belt and jiu-jitsu, somebody can show you a move and you can assimilate it really quickly. And you go, oh, yeah, all I need this do is this. Well, I was a white belt before in this stuff.

And so when I'd read it, it kind of made sense, but it didn't make as much sense as that when I read this stuff now, it's like I totally understand it at a deeper level. And so it's way more impactful for me. People always asking me about this one as well. Back to the book, to speak of the importance of a sense of humor would be unavailing.

If it were not that what cramps so many men isn't that they are by nature humorless, but that they are hesitant to exercise what humor they possess. Within the military profession, it is as unwise to let the muscles go soft and to spare the mind the strain of original thinking. Great humor has always been in the military tradition.

People ask, for some reason people ask me about humor a lot. Hey, isn't it good for an officer or isn't it good for a leader to tell, like, yes, it is. And that's why I always, whenever there's something funny in the war books that we read, I always try and capture that. So that people realize that these guys are out there and they keep that sense of humor going all the time. Yeah. And I guess it doesn't really necessarily mean telling jokes all the time. No.

But just like. Levity. Yeah, I feel that's funny. I'm going to, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Just having a good time making light of these miserable situations, for sure. Said Admiral, this is going into the next chapter, which is called Main Springs of Leadership.

Said Admiral, Forest P. Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations. I concur that we can take average good men and, by proper training, developing them the essential initiative, confidence. confidence and magnetism which are necessary in leadership. I believe that these qualities are present in the average man to a degree that he can be made a good leader if his native qualities are properly developed. Whether or not he becomes a great leader depends upon whether or not he possesses that extra initiative, magnetism, moral courage, and force, which makes the difference between the average man and the above average man.

Said General C.B. Cates, commandant of the Marine Corps, leadership is intangible, hard to measure, and difficult to describe. Its qualities would seem to stem from many factors, but certainly they must include a measure of inherent ability to control and direct, self-confidence based on expert knowledge, initiative, loyalty, pride, and sense of responsibility. Inherent ability obviously cannot be incessive. instilled, but that which is latent or dormant can be developed. Other ingredients can be acquired.

They are not easily taught or easily learned, but leaders can be and are made. The average good man in our service is and must be considered a potential leader. So there you go to that question. It's the same answer that I give basically all the time when people ask me if leaders, leaders are born or made, there's the answer from these two guys. They agree with me. Or should I say I agree with them since they're senior to me? But look, you got certain traits.

You can take, I always say, look, you can take someone that's an okay leader and make them a better leader. You can take a good leader and make them an outstanding leader. You can make an epic leader. Because you can improve these things. You can learn about these things. The one person that you can't make any better is the person that's not humble. They're not going to get any better because they can't. be coached. Standing in his own light. Because he's standing in his own light. Maybe we'll bring

that back. Yeah, man. Bringing that back back to the book. And before I go back to the book, this is another thing I get asked about a lot is people ask me because they know that I work a lot. Yeah. They know that I get after it, right? And they ask, and they ask me about, you know, how do you, how do you do with your family? You've got a family because I got four children and a wife. Sure. And a goldfish. Okay. Sweet. Icicle.

That's the name. That's the name. I know. So I got to give, you know, to the family, right? So people say, hey, how do you balance? So here we go. Back to the book. Personal advancement within any worthwhile system requires some sacrifice of leisure and more careful

attention to the better organization of one's working routine. But that does not entail. heroic self-sacrifice or forfeiting of any of life's truly enduring rewards. It means putting the completion of work ahead of golf. Yeah. So so often you see people that, you know, you're just, I'm not going to work myself to death. Oh, okay. Are you going to play golf to death?

Because that's apparently what you're trying to do here. Right. But yeah, you got to find balance. You got to find balance, especially, you know, when he's talking about life's truly enduring rewards, that's talking about your family and the things that you achieve outside of the work world. Abby Dimnet, and Abby, Abby Dimnet was a priest, I'm pretty sure a priest, and wrote a book called The Art of Thinking. And he's quoted here in this book. He said, concentration is supposed to be exceptional only because people do not try.

and in this as so many things starve within an inch of plenty oh i like that quote starve within an inch of plenty you're almost there almost there almost got plenty but you're going to starve to death right there within an inch why because you you fail to concentrate you fail to focus and that's what happens oh and well this is this is just awesome here we go there is of course that common of excuses for rejecting the difficult and taking life easy. I haven't time. But for the man who keeps his mind on the object, there is always time. Figure it out.

About us in the services daily, we see busy men who somehow manage to find time for whatever is worth doing. While at the adjoining desks are others with abundant leisure who can't find time for anything when something important requires doing is usually the busy man who gets the call haven't got time for that huh there's always time yeah always time and how can you ever have time if you don't take time that sounds cool but i don't know what it means expand ah who has time ah but how can you ever have time if you don't take oh so you're gonna take okay okay okay The Matrix.

Is that where it's from? Like part two or something like that. There was a part two to that movie? I think there was like a part three. Two. Anyway, that was a good one. It's true though.

You know how like guys would be like, hey, I want to get in like really good shape or something like this. I want to get like real strong or whatever. I was like, okay. You're a workout like this mini. I don't have like time to,

well, then you don't have time then. Then you can't get in shape. It's like saying I don't have the inclination. It's not. more or less the same thing. I don't have that time. Yeah, I was with one of my buddies, and we were counseling someone,

and my buddy said, you don't care about this. And the guy says, no, no, I do care. And he said, well, why can't you show up on time? If you cared, you would show up on time. Case closed. You're fired. That was that.

I was like, you know what, let's just stop talking. because we're done. We're done because that's 100% accurate. So true. So true. So as you probably know, I come from a long line of late people. Yes, we've discussed that before. So I kind of analyzed it where there was a time where I felt like,

dang, I just, I don't know, I just can't be on. It's like almost like this like a mentor physical block almost. That's what it felt like. But then when I really analyzed it, this is. When you really realized it, you were just lazy. No. I'm not lazy. It wasn't important.

Just like what are you saying. And this is what, so let's say work, for example. I was late literally more times than I was on time at work. I went to fire you so many times. Well,

I did a good enough job. I would have fired you and then rehired you so I could fire you again just so I could take pleasure in it. It probably would have been a good idea. Nonetheless, so when I analyze it, I was like,

wait, why am I late? Why don't I get prepared the night before or whatever it takes to be on time every single time? And just like it's not important. Like, Why would I spend my off work time preparing to go be at work?

Yeah. I should be resting or that's my off time. Watching a little bit more television. TV or yeah, whatever. Not working. I think I can squeeze in another episode of this program. Exactly right. Not working.

Why should I spend off work time doing work stuff? Like I'm not getting paid kind of thing, you know? It's not important. And that goes back to this whole book starting off with the attitude of trying to do a good job all the time. And actually somebody brought that up and somebody sent me a direct message. And this was a great point that I didn't think about. We got asked another question on the podcast about, hey, if you're getting told to go to a meeting that you're not going to get paid for. Remember that conversation?

This guy wrote me and said, hey, you know, legally, that's illegal. If you're on an hourly rage. So that's a great point that I didn't think of it from a HR perspective. But that's a good point. Now you've got people that you're breaking the law. So I kind of assume that these guys were not being specifically compensated, but that they, they were maybe salaried employees that they were. But I could be wrong.

And if those people are hourly, now you got to go to the boss and say, hey, boss, I want to get this meeting going, but what you're doing to us and what you're doing to these guys is illegal. Yeah. Maybe the manager,

a lot of times managers are salaried and the workers are hourly. So he would need to go, look, I'll come to the meeting because I'm on salary. It's all good with me. I'm here to win. But the guys,

I can't bring them in here unless you want to be looking at a labor lawsuit. you in the game for that boss because I'm not yeah that's gonna cost our company money it's gonna make us look bad let's let's do this another way yeah boom but that is a different element to the whole like the point as far as what you're talking we're what you're talking about like if something's like not important versus if it is important like it doesn't necessarily go for just work that's it goes for anything like if you're late to anything like if you if you like this podcast

I'm rolling in late every single time it's it's obviously because being on time is not important and that leads into this podcast. And one way or another, what we're about to do isn't important enough. That's why you're on time because it is important to you. There you go. I'm glad because it's important to me too.

And I will spend off my quote-unquote free time doing stuff to prepare for, you know, the on-time stuff. Well, that's good. Otherwise, you'd be getting fired. I'm just using this as a hyper. Give me another echo, Charles. You got a twin brother, right? Don't even know the difference.

Yeah, good point. Although he probably genetically has the same problem. Yeah. I told you we come from a long line. He knows the importance of, you know. And it's a sign of disrespect, too, by the way. Yes. It's like saying not only do I not think what we plan to do or agreed to do and all this time stuff,

not only do I not think that's important. I don't respect how much you think it's important. That's what you're saying. And you don't respect my time. Nope, not at all. Not at all. Beyond time. Well.

and make time. Take time. Yeah, if you want to have time, you got to take time. Yeah, and that's what's so I like about. This guy is actually making fun of people that say I haven't got time. Because for the man who keeps his mind on the object, there is always time. Next section says, much is conveyed in few words in Army Field Forces brief on practical concepts of leadership. It is stressed therein that the preeminent quality, which all great commanders have owned in common,

is a positiveness of manner and of viewpoint. The power to concentrate on means to a given end to the exclusion of exaggerated fears of the obstacles which lie a thwart the course. Every word of that should be underscored. and above all what it says about the need for affirmative thinking and concentrating on how things can be done. You always hear about this. You always hear about this person, the person that says, when you go to them and say, hey, can we do this? They're always looking for a way to say no, a reason why something can happen instead of, no, we can do that. We can make that happen.

We can figure out a way. That's what we're looking for. Next section. those oh in this section is actually the same topic of what this podcast is the topic of and that is human nature those who had the chance to study American men under the terrible rigor of Japanese imprisonment during World War II gave an analysis that in certain of the prisoners character and sanity with it held fast against every circumstance In others, some of whom had been well educated and came from gentle homes, the brute instinct was as uppermost as in an East African cannibal. And when they say brute instinct, that's the person that just loses and goes to the animal instincts. From such crucibles as these, even more than from the remittant stresses of combat and war, comes the clearest like.

on the inner nature of man insofar as it needs to be understood by the officer who may someday lead a force into battle. Human nature. One of the things that he says about human nature in here is goodwill and weakness may be combined in one man, bad will and strength in another. High moral leading can lift the first man to excel himself. It will not reform the other. But there is no other sensible rule than that all men will be approached with trust

and treated as trustworthy until proved otherwise beyond reasonable doubt. So he's thrown out the trust. This is a little bit opposite. I've talked about it. Actually, I should take that back. Remember one time on the podcast I said, look, I don't have a high expectation of people when I meet him. And I hold that true to this day.

But I don't straight up not trust them as a human. Yeah. There's a difference there. Yes. I think there's a difference. I think I feel that way. There is a difference. Yeah.

And it's not an obvious difference, but it's like the difference between I don't have an high expectation of somebody versus I have a low expectation of person. Got it. Somebody. So yeah. But it does sound the same though. It sounds the same. You know, if you don't have a high expectation, then what kind of expectation do you have? Oh, obviously a low one.

Right. Exactly. Right. Maybe just a, maybe just a neutral one. Right. Like I'm not going to put any expectations. I'm not expecting you to do a bunch of. Hero, you know, I don't have any expectations.

Just neutral. Yeah. I think I come in with a neutral attitude on that one. Yeah. Back to the book. Men do not achieve a great solidarity or preserve it simply by being together. Their mutual bonds are forged only by doing together that which they have been convinced is constructive. The absence of a common purpose is the chief source of unhappiness in any collection of individuals.

individuals, lacking it, and the common standard of justice, which is one of its chief agents, men become more and more separate units, each fighting for his own rights. This is why you've got to have that common purpose. This is why that commander's intent is so important. This is why it's important that everyone has to understand why they're doing what they're doing. They have to understand the strategic goal that you're trying to meet as a company, as a business, as a team, as a platoon. And as a person And like a lot of people

They go into straight up depression Because I mean apply to a grander skill If they don't see a purpose in their life Yeah that is true Back to the book Whatever his rank It is impossible for any man to lead If he is himself

Running behind This bespeaks the need of constant study The constant use of one's personal powers and the exercise of the imagination. As men advance, that which was good soon ceases to be good simply because something better is possible. You got to evolve. You got to continue to evolve.

You've got to continue to improve yourself. History confirms and a study of the workings of the human mind supports one proposition which many of the great captains of war have accepted as a truism. There are no bad troops. There are only bad leaders. Yeah. Interesting. It's here.

Napoleon said, Napoleon said there's no bad colonels, only bad regiments. Hackworth said the same thing. No bad team. I think he said no bad troops, only bad officers. In the book that Laf and I wrote, no bad teams, only bad leaders. So very common and very true. stands the test of time. You know, there's a reason

why Napoleon thought that. There's a reason why SLA Marshall said that. There's a reason why Hackworth said that. There's a reason why Laf and I put that in the book because that is true. And the minute you, if you're in a leadership position, the minute that you accept that fact is the minute you step forward

to becoming a better leader. Because as soon as you're blaming it on other people, you're just not going to make it back. Oh, my team sucks. You suck. Right. So it's like, I don't know if you call this irony or what, but, okay, no bad team is only bad leaders. So if you're like, wait, that's not true.

Oh, guess what? You're bad leader. Yeah. It's like a catch-22. Yeah, yeah. Or what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Actually, I don't think that's it. All right, this is awesome.

Here we go. Back to the book. And this, actually, this section here has gone to group nature. So we've gone from human nature to group nature. Back to the book, Among the Commonest of Experiences in War is to witness troops doing nothing or worse doing the wrong thing without one commanding voice being raised to give them direction. In such circumstance, any man who has the nerve and presence to step forward and give them an intelligent order in a manner indicating that he expects to be obeyed will be accepted as a leader

and will be given their support. Did you hear that? I did. That's all it is. Who's going to step up? Who's going to have the nerve and the presence to step up and give an intelligent order that you believe in and that you believe will be followed on? And that you expect will be obeyed.

You'll be obeyed. So again, I hear all these people say, well, you know, I'm not in the senior position, therefore I can't do anything wrong. Actually, you can. Step up and lead. Back to the book, for this reason, under the conditions of modern battle, the coherence of any military body comes not only of men being articulate all down the line, but of building up the dynamic power in each individual.

It is a thoroughly sound exercise in any unit to give every man a chance to take charge and give orders in drill or other limited exercises once he has learned, what the orders mean. By the same token, it is good practice for the junior leader to displace a file, that means just one of the guys, to displace a file in a training exercise

and become commanded for a time to sharpen his own perspective. So it's good for the junior guys to step up into leadership positions and lead. It's good for the leaders to go and be one of the boys in the platoon. And I got really lucky

because I was a prior of what's called the prior enlisted guy, a Mustang officer. So I spent my first eight years in the SEAL teams as a, I was a guy in the, I was one of the files. So I knew what it was like when a leader didn't tell you know what was going on. I knew what it was like when you had a good leader. Yeah. So when I stepped up into those leadership positions, I could, I knew at least what not to do.

And I knew what I would try and do to be a good leader. Yeah. It's like the curse of knowledge, right? Like you don't curse of knowledge is when like you can't see it from some inexperienced person's point of view. You know, and so you don't really have that, you know, because you've been the inexperience. You can just draw on those memories, you know, to have that perspective, that full perspective. I know what it's like to be one of the worst things. You're at the end of a 16-man seal platoon patrolling through the night and you just have no idea where you are.

You have no idea how far the target is away. You have no idea when you're going to stop. You have no idea of anything. You're just walking like a miserable boots, boots, boots. That's what you're in the zone of. it's just the worst. So when I was a platoon commander, when I was a squad leader,

I tried with everything I had to make sure everyone knew what's going on. Yeah. All the time, because I never wanted my guys to be thinking, what is happening? What are we doing? Yeah, yeah. Progress comes of making the most of our strengths

rather than looking for ways to repair weaknesses. This is true in things both large and small. The platoon leader who permits himself to be bedeviled by the file who won't or can't keep step cannot do justice to the ambitions of the 10 strongest men beneath him upon whom the life of the formation would depend come an emergency to nourish and encourage the top rather than to concentrate effort and exhaust nerves and trying to correct a few least likely prospects is a healthy way of growth within military organization take care of your top people put your folks in

energy in them. And I was, you know, going to give some time to the guys that are struggling, try and help them out. But let's not focus on them. They're not going to make or break you. So those leaders that you want to develop. You want to, you got a good seed that's starting to grow. Water that seed. Don't worry about that thing over there in a corner that's not doing anything. It is a good, this is classic. It is a sign of a good level of discipline in command when orders are given and faithfully carried out. But it is a sign of a vastly superior condition when the men are prepared to demand those orders,

which they know the situation requires if it is to be helped. No competent subordinate sits around waiting for someone else to give impulse to movement if his senses tell him that things are going to pot. He either suggests a course of action to his superior or asks authority to execute it on his own, or in the more desperate circumstances of the battlefield, gives orders on his own initiative. Decentralized command.

Everybody's a leader. Everybody steps up and makes things happen. Back to the book, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was thinking on these things when he said during World War II, there is among the mass of individuals who carry rifles in war a great amount of ingenuity and efficiency. If men can talk naturally to their officers, the product of their resourcefulness becomes available to all. So as long as your guys feel comfortable talking to you, you're going to have access to all their ideas and all their ingenuity.

Back to the book, but the art of open communication requires both receiving and ending and the besetting problems to get officers to talk naturally to men. develop the relationships with the troops is what you've got to do. Another section here at all training, all training at all levels has a dual object to develop us all as leaders of men and as followers of leaders. Dicotomy. Gotta be a leader,

got to be a follower. It's like your Twitter thing. You know, your Twitter bio, leader, follower. Oh, yeah. Speaker, listener. Mm-hmm. A lot of dichotomy. Writer, reader.

Righter, yeah, exactly. That is, that is, there's a dichotomy there. Back to the book, the paralysis, which comes of fear, can be lifted only through the resumption of action, which will again give individuals the feeling of organization. So this is interesting. We remember that Joe Owen, when he was in Korea,

in the coldest war, in colder than hell, he's freezing and there's shooting starts and he's got his own procedure of how he's going to overcome the fear he's going to do he's going to take action and it's something that I've said on here a bunch of times you're afraid of something take action step into it

so what this is saying is the same thing but not on an individual level but on a group level because we're talking about group nature here and it's the same thing as you do with an individual you do with the group so listen to this again the paralysis which comes of fear can be lifted only through the resumption

of action which will again give the individual's feeling of organization. This does not mean ordering a bayonet charge or firing a volley at such and such a clock. It may mean only patting one man on the back, talking it up to a couple of others, sending someone out to find a flank or turning oneself to dig in while passing the word to others to do likewise. This is action in the real. sense of the term. Out of reinvigorating men

toward the taking of many small actions develops the possibility of large and decisive action. The unit must first find itself before doing an effective job of finding the enemy. Out of those acts which are incidental to the establishing of an order, the leader reaffirms his own power of decision. So, those are beautiful advice, beautiful advice.

Just like you do with yourself. You're afraid of something, take action, step into it. You got your group and everyone's starting to get scared and overwhelmed. Let's take some action. Hey guys, dig in. Hey, guys, online. Whatever that order is going to be, that's that free. It may not solve the problem, but it regains your stability as a team.

And now you can move forward. This next section is subtitled environment. back to the book, it is only to the man who is burdened with unnecessary and exaggerated fears and who mistakes for fancied security, the privilege of sitting quietly in one place that the uprooting which comes with war is demoralizing. The natural officer sees it as an hour of opportunity. And though he may not like anything else about war, he at least reliant. He at least reliant the strong feeling of personal contention, which always develops when there are many openings

inviting many men. As one World War II commander expressed it, during war, the ball is always kicking around loose in the middle of the field. And any man who has the will may pick it up and run with it. That's true about life. so many opportunities out there, who's going to pick it up and run with it, becomes the question. Now we get into touching back a little bit onto some discipline.

Back to the book, when men are given absolute freedom with no compulsion upon them but to eat and sleep, as with a group of South Sea savages, there can be no strong uniting bond between them. Absolute freedom doesn't get you what you want. There's got to be a counter to that and that counter is discipline. I suppose that's another politically incorrect thing that we've run into the book a couple of times.

The South Sea Savages. Who's that? Technically. Probably natives from the South Sea. In fact, that is who it is. Okay, all right, there you go. No offense intended. Back to the book.

In officership, there is simply no substitute for personal reconnaissance. nor any other technique that in the long run will have half its value. So when he's talking about personal reconnaissance here, he's not talking about going to reconnaissance of an enemy position. He's talking about going down and recognizing, doing reconnaissance within your own element, talking to your people is what he's talking about here.

He's talking about that habit of personal reconnaissance. Once formed the habit of getting down to the roots of organizance, of organization, of seeing with one's own eyes what is taking place, of measuring it against one's own scale of values, of ordering such changes as are needed, and of following through to make certain that the changes are made becomes the main spring of all efficient command action. In battle, there is no other way to be sure.

In training, there is no better way to move towards self-assurance. So get down there, get in the weeds sometimes, see what's going on on the front lines, talk to your people. This section talks about the mission. When an order is given, what are the responsibilities of the man who receives it? In sequence, these, to be certain that he understands what is required, to examine and organize his resources as promptly as possible, to fully inform his subordinates upon these points, to execute the order, without waste of time or means. To call for support if events prove that his means are inadequate.

To fill up the spaces in the orders if there are developments which had not been anticipated. When the detail is complete, to prepare to go on to something else. Straightforward. Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Morgan, who planned the invasion of Normandy, put the matter this way. When setting out on any enterprise, it is as well to ask oneself three questions. To whom is one responsible? For what precisely is one responsible? What are the means at disposal for discharging this responsibility?

Nothing so warms the heart of a superior as that on giving an order, he sees his subordinate salute and say, yes sir then about face and proceed to carry it out to the hilt without faltering or looking back this is the kind of a man that a commander will choose to have with him every time and that he will recommend for first advancement on the other hand clarification of the object is not only a right but a duty and it cuts both ways So if you don't understand, you have the duty to ask for clarification. Orders are not always clear and no superior is on firm ground when he is impatient of questions which are to the point or resentful of the man who asks him. I say this all the time.

If you're a subordinate, it says, hey, why are we doing this? And you get angry, you're wrong. You should be happy that your subordinate is asking why. but it is natural that he will be doubtful of the man whose words show either that he hasn't heard or is concerned mainly with irrelevancies. The cultivation of the habit of careful, concentrated listening and of collected thought in reading into any problem is principal portal to successful officership. From the pen of General Eisenhower comes these words.

the commander's success will be measured more by his ability to lead than by his adherence to fixed notions. Thus, in the conduct of operations, not less than in the execution of orders, it is necessary that the mind remain plastic and impressionable. Again, the idea of the military man is this person that can't change and is closed mind. It's wrong. Now, there are military leaders like that. And it's unfortunate.

They're not good. You've got to have the flexible mind. You've got to have the plastic mind. Obedience is not the product of fear, but of understanding. And understanding is based on knowledge. So you've got to make sure that your troops understand what's going on. So they know what's going on so they can obey properly, not out of fear. To grasp the spirit of orders is not less important than to accept them cheerfully and keep

faith with the contract. But the letter of an instruction does not relieve him who receives it from the obligation to exercise common sense. You get told to do something, you still got to hold common sense. In the Carolina maneuvers of 1941, a soldier stood at a road intersection for three days and nights directing civilian traffic, simply because the man who put him there had forgotten all about it. Though he was praised at the time, he was hardly a shining example to hold up to the troops.

In the next chapter, which the name of the chapter is discipline. You're going to recognize this one. Once a man condones remisses, his own belief in discipline begins to wither. The officer who tolerates slackness in the dress of his men soon ceases to tend his own parents. And if he is not called to account, his sloppy habits will shortly begin to inflict his superior. There is only one correct way to wear the uniform. When any deviations in dress are condoned within the services, the way is open to the destruction of all uniformity and unity. It's not what you preach. It's what you tolerate. You condone remisses. You're opening. Now,

this might be a little bit extreme when he says that when you're out of you. You're out of You allow these units so the way is open to the destruction of all uniformity and unity I'm not sure I 100% agree with that and I was always very pro Uniform and making sure that guys were squared away in their uniforms I was probably the one of the most Stringent in the SEAL teams in the SEAL teams is not uniforms are not We're not real good at wearing uniforms and looking good in uniforms and being squared away in uniform So it's kind of hard for me to agree that that opens up the way for the destruction of all uniforms but the lesson here is

is more about the uniforms, it's more about just, it's not what you preach, it's what you tell, right? Yeah, that's slippery slope situation. Yes, it is. Well, opening the way isn't necessarily ensuring something.

True, true. True, I'll give it to you. Technically. You get me on the technicality sometimes, that's fine. I'm okay with that. I'm plastic in my mind. I can accept that.

Plastic, you know, Some people say plastic like, oh, that guy's plastic, meaning like he's fake or something like that. This is more like plasticity. Yes, absolutely. Written in 1950 before plastic was everything that we used. Yeah. I used to have this theory that anything that was made of metal was better. It just made everything of metal.

I wanted to make everything that was made metal. Right. Don't they say stuff, that same thing about like food and bacon, like anything bacon is better? Similar. Similar. the same kind of thing. Could be correct. Bacon's good.

Back to the book. No leader ever fails his men, no they fail him, who leads them in respect for the disciplined life. Between these two things, discipline in itself and a personal faith

in the military value of discipline lies all the difference between military maturity and mediocrity. A salute from an unwilling man is as meaningless as the moving of a leaf on a tree. It is a sign only that the subject has been caught by a gust of wind. But a salute from the man who takes pride in the gesture

because he feels privileged to wear the uniform of the United States having found the service good is the epitome of military virtue. Until men are severely tried, there is no conclusive test of their discipline, nor proof that their training at arms is satisfying a legitimate military end. Military forces remain relatively undisciplined until physically toughened and mentally conditioned to unusual exertion. Consider the road march. No body of men could possibly enjoy the dust, the heat, the blistered foot, and the aching back.

But hard road marching is necessary if a sound foundation is to be built. under the discipline of fighting forces, particularly those whose labors are in the field. And the gain comes quickly, the rise in spirits within any organization, which is always to be observed after they rebound from a hard march, does not come essentially from the feeling of relief that the strain is passed, but rather from the satisfaction that a goal has been crossed. It must be accepted that discipline does not. break down under the strain of placing a testing demand upon the individual.

It is sloth and not activity that destroys discipline. Think about that one. So it's not the strain. It's not the pressure that you put that breaks down the discipline. It's the laziness. It's the sloth that breaks discipline. Troops can endure hardgoing when it serves an understandable end. This is what they will boast about.

Mainly when the fatigue is ended. A large part of training is necessarily directed toward conditioning them for unusual hardship and privation. They can take it in stride, but no power on earth can reconcile them to what common sense tells them is unnecessary hardship, which might have been avoided by greater intelligence in their superiors. So if you're telling people to do something,

they realize that there's an easier way to do it, they're going to be angry. when they are overloaded they know it when they are required to form a parade two hours ahead of time because their commander got overanxious or didn't know how to write an order again they know it and they are perfectly right if they go sour because this kind of thing happens a little too often within the command within our system that discipline is nearest perfect which assures to the individual the greatest freedom of thought and action while at all times promoting his feeling of responsibility toward the group the great do you hear about the greatest form of discipline is the

one that gives the greatest freedom of thought and action that's what we want we want the discipline to equal freedom that's interesting his take on like when you go through some hard stuff the satisfaction isn't that it's over. It's the fact that you did that. Absolutely. Yeah, it's like, you know, I told you, my whole sleep thing. Well, you used to be where if I didn't get my half hours, I was done for the day. But so now, let's say I get two hours sleep.

And I'm like, hey, I'm going to still do this workout, whatever, this conditioning, something hard. Sure, it's going to be hard. Sure, I'm not looking forward to it. But yeah, the satisfaction is afterwards, I'll even go, how it's a, you're going to have something to brag about or something like that. Bro, that's true. You go and tell your friends, hey, I did this. I only had two hours sleep.

Got after it anyways. Yeah, you do kind of have that feeling like you want to brag about it. No doubt. Like I did some hard stuff. You know, we shouldn't be surprised. We're kind of getting excited when these things completely make sense. Yeah. These are, these are generals that knew and understand human nature.

Yeah. And these are things that we look at and we learn. and we've experienced. So it shouldn't come as a surprise. Yeah, I know. It's crazy. It's like tunnel vision, you know, where it'll happen and you almost like you don't even realize it'll happen.

Like everyone does that. Everyone does something hard, gets through a hard work day, did something under these circumstances that they hate. They might even be complaining about it. Like, oh, this was going on. So such a stressful day. But when you get it actually done,

you brag about it. At the very least you feel like you want to brag about it. And keep that good person. that you know keep that up now there's some counter to that here we go if back to the book if the man is cramped by monotonous routine or made to feel that he cannot move unless an order is barked he cannot develop these qualities and he will never come forward as a junior leader so if you put too much discipline on somebody they're gonna you're gonna crimp their their leadership of capabilities say that all the

time in the words of dupeak who saw so deeply to the hearts of fighting men if one does not wish bonds broken one should make them elastic and thereby strengthen them that's a guy he wrote he wrote a thing called battle studies well actually he didn't finish writing it because he got killed in action fighting the fighting Napoleon with he was with he was French fighting again the in the I want to say fighting the Prussia but another great quote from him that I wrote down nothing can be nothing can wisely be prescribed in any army without exact knowledge of the fundamental instrument of man and his

state of mind his morale at the instant of combat so the you know to peak is a guy that really started looking at the the mentality of guys I'd have to get it we might have to dive into him at some point. Now, speaking of morale. Next section is about morale. A World War II Blue Jackets said it this way. Blue Jackets are a term for Navy, guys. Said it this way.

Morale is when your hands and feet keep working when your head says it can't be done. The handiest beginning is to consider morale in conjunction with discipline. Since in military service, they are opposite sides of the same coin. When one is present, the other will also be there.

Morale and discipline. Morale and discipline. They go together. This is a familiar story. It was repeated by the United States forces in World War II during the Normandy Hedgerow fighting and the invasions of the Central Pacific atolls. Troops had to learn the hard way how to hit,

how to survive in moving through jungle or across mountains and the desert. When that happened, the only disciplinary residue which mattered was obedience to orders. The movements they had learned by rote were of less value than the spiritual bond between one man and another. The most valuable lesson was that of mutual support. So this is awesome. The moves, the battle moves that they learned, that they trained, that were hard and put them through this hard war, you know, getting ready to deploy overseas.

when they got overseas, they were fighting in a hedgerow. They never did that before. They're fighting in a mountain. They never did that before. So they had to take these drills that they had learned and kind of throw them out the window. So all they had left and the most valuable thing of all that training

wasn't the movements themselves. It was the spiritual bond between these men. That was more important than the tactical maneuvers was the fact that they did hard training together and they worked together and they knew each other and they had that spiritual bond. Back to the book, in its essentials, discipline is not

measured according to how a man keeps step in a drill yard or whether he salutes at just the right angle the test is how well he willingly willingly responds to his superiors in all vital matters and finally whether he stands or runs when his life is at stake history makes this clear there are countless examples of successful military forces which had almost no discipline when measured by the usual yard sticks yet had a high battle morale productive of the kind of discipline which beats the enemy in battle. So that's another little dichotomy, you know what he's talking about.

You might not be the most disciplined on the parade field. But if you've got that bond, you've got that disciplined bond, you can still come up with the victory. This is important. Back to the book, man is able to recognize a right and reasonable discipline as such. even though it causes him personal inconvenience because he has acquired a sense of military values. But if it is either unduly harsh or unnecessarily lax, he likewise knows it and wears it as a hair shirt to the undoing of his morale. Though the man like the group can be hurt by being pushed beyond sensible limits, his spirit will suffer even more sorely if no real test is put upon his abilities and moral powers.

The greater his intelligence, the stronger will be his resentment. That is the law of nature. The enlightened mind has always the greatest measure of self-discipline, but it also has a higher sense. of what constitutes justice, fair play, and a reasonable requirement in the performance of duty. If denied these things, he will come to hold his chief, his job, and himself in contempt. So if you get the, if you're a military leader,

or if you're a civilian leader, and you get the idea, okay, Jockel's talking about discipline. Discipline's key, so you're going to come in and just throw discipline on your people and burden them with this heavy realm of discipline, It's not going to work out because everyone knows that it's unjust, unfair, unnecessary. We don't want that unnecessary discipline, but we embrace, we might not outwardly, but we deep inside, we embrace the hardcore discipline if it makes sense and has meeting.

Admiral Ben Mareal has stated a formula in understanding terms by his explanation of what made the C.Bs notable for competence and devotion to duty during World War II. What he said is this. We used artisans to do the work for which they had been trained in civilian life. They were well led by officers who spoke their language. We made them feel that they were playing an important part in a great adventure. And thus they achieved a high standard of morale. The elements underscored by Admiral Muriel deserves special note.

Satisfaction in a work program, mutual confidence between leaders and ranks, conviction that all together were striving for something more important than themselves. Talk about the C.Bs, the construction battalions and the Navy that do engineering work overseas. And I actually had CBs with us in Ramadi that were awesome, awesome guys that did everything for us. They kept everything going, kept everything running, kept everything working, built everything that we used. Awesome guys. and every CB I've ever worked with has been just a beast. They have that attitude.

Like they know they're going to make, their motto is can do. And believe me, when you tell them to do something, they're 100% into that motto right there. They're going to make it happen. Here we go back to the book, talking about morale.

Under training conditions or in combat, the mental ills and the resulting morale, moral and physical deterioration, which sometimes beset military forces, cannot be cured simply by the intense, of disciplinary methods. Can't just turn it up. It is true that the signs of recovery will sometimes attend the installation of a more rigid

or less rigid discipline. You can't just go up or down. The onset is in fact usually due to the collateral influence of an increased confidence in the command, whereby men are made to feel that their own fortunes are on the mend. then discipline and morale are together revitalized almost as if by throwing an electric switch in army history there's no better example of the working of this principle than the work of brigadier general paul b malone he took over this is world war one nineteen nineteen he took over a command where slackness and indiscipline were general the men were suffering terrible privation and too

many of their officers were indifferent to their needs. Many of them had been battle casualties. Some had been discharged from hospitals before their wounds were healed. The mess was abominable. The camp was short of firewood and other supply. In freezing weather, men were sleeping on the ground with only a pair of blankets apiece. The death toll from influenza, pneumonia, and the aggravation of battle wounds rose daily. Despair and resentment over these conditions began to express itself in semi-violent form. Every fresh breath of discipline was counted with harassing punishments until an air of wretched stagnation hung over the whole camp.

General Pershing visited the base. The men refused to form for him. The men refused to the generals coming and the men were not going to form up for him. When he tried to address them at a mass meeting, they wouldn't hear him out. instead of taking any action against the men, he sent for General Malone. The new commander arrived without any instructions except to determine what was wrong and correct it. With soldierly instinct, he recognized that the indiscipline of the camp was an effect and not a cause. But even as he gave orders for relieving the physical distress of the men, he demanded that they returned to orderly habits.

He walked around the areas, already on his orders, on his orders, duckboards were being laid throughout the mud. And the whole physical setup was in a process of reorganization. The men grown listless from weeks of mistreatment paid no heed. Get on your feet. I'm your general. I respect you, but I want your respect were his words. They restored the whole situation.

The first impact of this one man on the camp that was never forgotten by anyone who saw it. It is a point to remember. A firm hold at the beginning pays tenfold dividend of the timid approach, followed by a show of firmness later on. Within 48 hours, the physical condition of the camp was showing improvement, and 60,000 men were again doing their duty and bearing themselves in a military manner. The lessons from this one incident stand out like beams from a searchlight battery. Leadership.

One man is able to accomplish a miracle by an active, will accompanied by good works. The morale of the force flows from self-discipline of the commander, and in turn, the discipline of the force is re-established by the upsurge of its moral power. Another example here, when the redeployment period which followed World War II threatened a complete collapse to the morale of the general military establishment, the remedy attempted by some unit leaders was to relax discipline, and their work requirement all. around. Other officers met this crisis by improving the conditions of work, setting an example

which proved to the men that they believed in its importance and paying sedulous attention to the personal problems of those within the unit. They found that they could still get superior performance in the midst of chaos. Organic strength materializes in the same way on the field of war. However adverse the general situation, men will stick to the one man who knows what he wants to do and welcomes them to a full share in the enterprise. Leadership, leadership, and leadership. Most important thing on the battlefield. In the words of Colonel G.F.R. Henderson, it is the leader who reckons with the human

nature of his troops and of the enemy, rather than with their mere physical attributes, numbers, armament, and the like who can hope to follow in Napoleon's footsteps. Got to know your people got to know human nature Got to know human nature It's more important than physical It's more important than people you got Number of people you got is more important than their weapons Human nature

There are a few governing Principles And before considering their application in detail We should first think about the file So now we're talking about a guy A troop, a soldier He is a man He expects to be treated as an adult

Not a schoolboy He has rights, they must be made known to him, and thereafter respected. He has ambition. It must be stirred. He has a belief in fair play. It must be honored. He has the need of comradeship. It must be supplied.

He has imagination. It must be stimulated. He has a personal sense of dignity. It must not be broken. He has pride. It can be satisfied and made the bedrock of his character once he gains assurance that he is playing a useful and respected part in a superior and successful organization. To give men working as a group the feeling of great accomplishment together is the acme of inspired leadership. You could basically, if you're going into a leadership position, just read that to yourself every morning.

just what your subordinates are, what they are. A man. Be treated as an adult, not a schoolboy. Those are just so important the way you view your troops. And some people have a hard time with that. Some people have a hard time with that. Next section is called Knowing Your Job. In one of his little known passages,

Robert Lewis Stevenson. That's the guy that wrote Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island. did the perfect portrait of the man who finally failed at everything because he just never learned how to take hold of his work. It goes like this. His career was one of unbroken shame. He did not drink. He was exactly honest. He was never rude to his employers. Yet he was everywhere discharged. Bringing no interest to his duties, he brought no attention. His day was a ten. tissue of things neglected and things done amiss. And from place to place and from town to town, he carried the character of one thoroughly

incompetent. That's how we started this conversation today. We started talking about doing your job. Now, this is important. Just as a rough approximation, any officer's work week should comprise about 50% execution and the other half study if he is to make the best use of his force. The woods are loaded with go-getters who claim they are men of action and therefore have no need of books. We're talking about studying.

We're talking about reading and studying. And these guys that say that there's no need for books, they are of the same bone and marrow as the drone who is always counseling half speed. Don't sweat. Just get by. Extra work means short life. better off if they don't notice you. This chant can be heard by anyone who cares to listen. It's the old American invitation to mediocrity.

But not all wisdom is to be found in books. And at no time is this more true than when one is breaking in. What is expected of any novice in any field is that he will ask questions. Smart ones if possible, but if not, then questions of all. kinds until he learns that there is no such item as revely oil and that skirmish line doesn't come on spools so revely oil revely is when you wake up in the morning it's the in revely oil is something that doesn't actually exist but you'd say to a new guy hey we need to get some revely oil for tomorrow can you go down

to supply and get it for me or skirmish line a skirmish line is when you get online to engage the enemy get online and put your guns in the same direction that's called a skirmish line. Well, he said, hey, we need a spool a skirmish line. Echo, can you run down to the supply department and get a roll of a skirmish line? So these are just kind of like little practical jokes. But his point is hearing people ask me,

it's all the movie, oh, I just checked in. I'm just taking over his leader. I'm just, you know, I'm a new officer. I'm getting commissioned. What should I do? How should I lead? Ask questions. There's nothing wrong with it.

There's nothing wrong with it. Back to the book, wisdom begins at the point of understanding that there is nothing shameful about ignorance. It is shameful only when a man would rather remain in that state than cultivate other men's knowledge. Boom. There is never any reason why he should hesitate for it is better to be embarrassed from seeking counsel than to be found short for not having sought it. Ideally, any officer should be able to do the work of any man under him. However, it is obviously absurd to expect that any officer could know more about radial repair than his repair.

more about mapping than his cartographical section more about moving parts than a gunsmith more about radar than a specialist in electronics and more about cipher than a cryptographer the distinction lies in the difference between the power to do a thing well and that of being able to judge when it is done well a man can say a book is bad though not knowing how to write one himself provided he is a student of of literature. Though he has never laid an egg, he can pass fair judgment on an omelet. So this is another thing, you know, you're not going to know everything as a leader. You know, that I know as much about sniper,

sniping as my snipers, didn't even know? Close. You know, that I know as much about, just like he said, as much about the radios as my radio men did?

No, no close to what they knew. You don't need to know everything, but you have to have an understanding of it. And you have to at least be able to understand when something is being done right or wrong. This is another good point. We can ponder the words of William Haslett. A man who shrinks from a collision with his equals or superiors will soon sink below himself. We improve by trying our strength with others, not by showing it off.

So you can't be afraid to bring stuff up to your superiors. Do you got to be respectful? Yes, you do. But instead of just being a yes man, Don't be that. Now this next section, this is called writing and speaking. Other things being equal, a superior rating will invariably be given to the officer who is preserved in his studies of the art of self-expression. While his colleague, who attaches little importance to what may be achieved through working with the language, will be marked for mediocrity.

So we're talking about reading and speaking, writing and speaking. As the British statesman, Disraeli put it, men govern with words. Within the military establishment, command is exercised through what is said, which commands attention and understanding, and through what is written, which directs, explains, interprets, or informs. Battles are won through the ability of men to express concrete, ideas in clear and unmistakable language. Battles are won through clear and unmistakable language.

That's how battles are won. Back to the book, all administration is carried forward along the chain of command by the power of men to make their thoughts articulate and available to others. There is no way under the sun that this basic condition can be altered. Once the point is granted, any officer should be ready to accept its corollary. That superior qualification in the use of language, both as to the written and the spoken word, is more essential to military leadership than knowledge of the whole technique of weapons handling. So when people ask me why I studied English in college, this is why I studied English in college.

Some men will take refuge in the excuse offered by the great majority. I'm just a simple fighting file with no gift for writing or speaking. That is the mark of an officer who has no ambition to properly qualify himself and is seeking to justify his own laziness. And the reason he's saying that is because he thinks that you can become a good writer. Back to the book. Writers are self-made. But it is a reasonable speculation that history might never have heard of the greater number of these men had they not worked sedulously to become proficient with the pen as well as with the sword. Men who command words to serve their thoughts and feelings are well on their way to commanding men to serve their purposes.

all senior commanders respect the junior who has a faculty for thinking an idea through and then expressing it comprehensively in clear unvarnished phases. So your young leader out there, young trooper, think about improving your method of thought. Think about making your speech more clear. Any man who has the brain to qualify for commission can make of himself a competent writer. because of natural limitations, he may never excel in this art, but if he has had average schooling, knows how to open a dictionary, can find his way to the library, and is willing to commit himself to long study and practice, particularly in non-duty hours, and will finally free himself from

the superstition that writing is a game only for specialists, he can acquire all the skill that is necessary to further his advance within the military profession. but where should work begin? How about a little practical advice? The only way to learn to write is to write. That's it. There is no other secret other than hard, unremitting practice. Most writers at the start are mentally muscle-bound and poorly coordinated.

They have thoughts in their head. They think they can develop them. clearly, but when they tried to apply a largely dormant vocabulary to the expression of these thoughts, the result is stiff and self-conscious. Self-conscious. The only cure for this is constant mental exercise with one's pen or over one's typewriter. The discipline through which one learns to write adds substance to thought, whereby one's ideas are given body and connection. Such common faults as worryiness, overstatement, faulty sentence structure, and weak use of words are gradually corrected.

With their passing, confidence grows. This does not mean, however, that the task becomes easy. So you can get better at this game. you just got to practice. Kind of like getting better at pull-ups. How do you get better at pull-ups? Do pull-ups. Now this is interesting.

Speaking of reading or speaking of writing, now we get into reading a little bit here. This is good. It is a good habit to underscore passages and books which have contributed something vital to one's own thought. So break out the highlighters. I kind of laughed when I read that

because I have a lot of highlight. letters. Yeah. I think you went Winchester on a couple of others. Yeah, that's right. Now this is talking, going back to writing again, as a practical matter is better to concentrate

on a few elementary rules of thumb, such as are contained in the following list, than to bog down attempting to heed everything that the pendants have said about how to become a writer. So here's some advice on writing, and you'll notice that these are good advice on life. The more simply a thing is said

the more powerfully it influences those who read. Plain words make strong writing. There is always one best word to convey a thought or a feeling. To accept a weaker substitute, rather than to search for the right word, will deprive any writing of force. Economy of words invigorates composition. In all writing, but in military writing particular,

there is no excuse for vague terminology or phrase, which do not convey an exact expression of what was done or what is intended. Just think about how you communicate with your subordinates. You think about these rules. So impactful. This is a good one. It is better at all times to rein in. The strength of military writing, like the soundness of military operations,

does not gain through overstatement and artificial coloring. The bigger the subject, the less. it needs embroidery. Now, he's going to start talking here, go from talking about writing to talk about speaking. A majority of the world's most gifted writers would in all probability be dumbstruck if put before an audience. Though dealing confidently with ideas, they lack the confidence when dealing with people. The military officer has need of both talents and as to where the accent should.

be placed, it is probably more important that he should speak well than his writing. Prose should be polished. A unit commander may permit a clerk or a subordinate to do the greater part of his paperwork, either because his own time is taken with other duties or because he is awkward at it. But if he permits any other voice to dominate the councils of the organization, he soon ceases to exercise moral authority over it. so you gotta be confident in your speaking it's a little bit more important than the writing

because you can have your guys do some writing I'll sign it looks good to me this guy one else one of the bosses I had we'll see that so he'd always misuse words almost to the point where you know how some comedians

will do that they'll miss you like Hinoch does that a lot of time but this guy would for real do it So because he didn't, but you know what it was is you know the kind of guy who's They want to try to sound smart basically and not a good idea Like so he would use the word like irregardless he would say irregardless as opposed to regardless And then there's another one that it's so funny because it was so counterproductive because when he would talk and we'd all be holding in our laughter and I'd work with this other guy He was the kind of relentless jokes you know when you're gone so if you're You did something, and in this case, you'd misuse words.

When he leaves, brother, jokes would come, and it'd be just so funny. But nonetheless, he would use behoof. You know, behoo, like, it would behoot. Yeah, he would say behoof? I think it is behoof. It's behoof. That's what I thought. Anyway, that's a whole other thing.

But anyway, behoove then. So he would misuse that word. He would say, he thought it meant what, he thought it meant baffling. Like, you know what really behooves me is that they do it this way, but he'd keep doing it you know and um so anyway the the point there is where you kind of you got to know how to talk right so and in this case this was this wasn't like some high level like speeches he was making or address the it was just like normal stuff so right i thought that that was kind of critical in the way like we regarded him as a boss that was one of the main like major things

where it's like bro we can't even take this guy seriously yeah because he'd be behooves me with everything he says. It was really behooving that he did. Oh, Lord. Wrong usage. It's okay, people. Yeah. It's not okay.

I guess the point there, an or a separate point is learn the words before he started trying to throw them out, I guess. And that goes back to what you were saying. That would be very, yeah, that would behooved.

What you're saying about, it's better to seek the knowledge or be, seek the knowledge and be embarrassed because you got to seek, rather than get it called out when you don't know it or whatever. Anyway, that's what he was doing. Back to the book, the matter of nerve

is a main element in speaking. When an officer is ill at ease, fidgety, and not to the point, the vote of his command for the time being is no confidence. And so long as he remains that way, they will not change,

no matter though his goodwill shines forth through in other acts. So this is what you just said. Someone's jacked up when they're trying to talk to you and talk to the group, your vote is no confidence. Yeah, that's a confidence. That's a confident.

As for, this is a good, good, back to the book, as for how an officer should talk to his men, his manner and tone should be no different than if he were addressing his fellow officers or for that matter, a group of his intellectual and political peers from any walk of life.

If he is stuffy, he will not succeed. If he affects a, superior manner. That is a mark of his inferiority. If he is patronizing and talks to grown men as a teacher might talk to a class of adolescence, the rug, figuratively, will be pulled out from under him. His audience will we put down, will put him down as a chump. It is curiously the case that the junior officer who can't get the right pitch when he talks to the ranks will also be out of tune when he talks to his superior. This failing is a sign mainly that he needs practice in the school of human nature. By listening a little more carefully to other men, he may find, he may himself in time attain maturity. Another good way to get better at speaking is by listening. When you're speaking, sometimes you're instructing in one of the pieces here is called the art of instruction because you spend so much time when you're in a leadership position.

You're instructing people, whether you realize or not, you're instructing people. Here's the rules that they say to follow. Keep it simple. Have but one main object. Stay on the course. Remain cheerful. Be enthusiastic. Put it out as if the ideas were as interesting and novel to you as to your audience.

Now this is a story, which is really done. You know what has to do with instruction, but it's a cool story. So I'm going to read it anyways because it's just badass. In World War I, an American major, name now long forgotten, was given the task of making the rounds and talking to all combat formations and convincing them that the future was bright. No Boy Scout Aaron. So you imagine you World War I.

We've talked about that. It's a nightmare. And his job is to go around and ensure people that the future is bright. But wherever he went, morale was lifted by his words. In substance, what he said was this. None of us cares about making a living with any individuals who wants every break his own way. But when the odds are even, the gamble is worth any good man's time. So let's look at the proportion.

You now have one chance in two. You may go overseas or you may not. Suppose you do. You still have one chance in two. You may go to the front or you may not. If you don't, you'll see a foreign country at Uncle Sam's expense. If you do, you'll find out about war, which is the toughest chance of them all. But up there, on the front, you still have one chance in two.

You may get hit, or you may not. If you breeze through it, you'll be a better man for all the rest of your life. And if you get hit, you still have one chance in two. You may get a small wound and become a hero to your friends and family. or there is always the last chance that it may take you out altogether. And while that is a little rugged, it is at least worth remembering that very few people seem to get out of this life alive. Classic. Classic.

Now, talking about reading, Napoleon once said that the problem with books is that one must read so many books. is that one must read so many bad ones to find something really good. True enough, but even so, there are perfectly practical ways to advance rapidly without undue wasted motion. Consider this. Among one's superiors, there are always discriminating men who have adopted a few good books after reading many, many bad ones. When they say that a text is worthwhile, it deserves reading and careful study. So, what books do somebody you respect read? They said it's a good book, read it. Now you've got to be careful because of this.

The well-read man need not have more than a dozen books in his home provided that they all count with him. And he continues to pour over them and ponder the weight of what is said. On the other hand, the ignorant man is frequently marked by his bookshelf stocked with titles, not one of which suggests that he has any professional discernment. Now, I can tell you right now, I'm building a library of books that's kind of crazy because every time somebody calls, every time somebody hits me up on social media and says, hey, you got to check out this book. I used to like go on to Amazon and kind of look and read reviews. Now I just order it. I basically order it because I don't have time and it's hard to tell from the reviews and it takes as much time.

It's easier just to press click, buy now Amazon. I'm clicking through the Jocko Podcast Store website. So we're giving back to the podcast. But the thing is, a lot of people might think this book is great. Oh, this will be a great book. But it doesn't quite work, you know. So I'm probably getting, I'd say one out of every five books that I order. Do I say, yeah, this one's game.

Yeah. What he's saying there about the difference between somebody who has a huge stock of books, is he's saying like a variety of different books that does. It said something about not indicating any kind of expertise or something. It just shows that he doesn't have any discernment. This guy just buying a bunch of books. He might not know anything about him. It doesn't mean, don't judge a book by its cover, pun intended.

You know, just because this guy's got a bunch of books doesn't mean that he's read them all, doesn't mean that he actually, they're all great books. Really? I can tell you right now, they're not all great books in the world. Yeah. A lot of books are not good. And you shouldn't waste your time reading them. But if you walked into a guy that was smart that you respect,

He had 12 books. Right, right. I would just write them all down and go buy them all. Yeah. And you're probably going to be 10 for 12 for 12. Yeah. Or at least 10 for 12. Yeah.

Whereas if I go into your room and you've got 570 books in there and you go, yeah, these are all great books. There's something wrong with your discernment. You don't know what a good book is. Yeah. So get some discernment. Or I'm just trying to make like I read so much. It's my 5, 570 books. This section.

your relationships with your men. And I had to break, I had to say this part. An officer is not expected to appear all wise to those who serve under him. So often guys feel that pressure that they think they should know everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh my guys think I should know. If I admit that, I don't know this, I'm gonna look bad. Bluffing one's way through a question when ignorant of the answer is foolhardy business. I'm sorry, but I don't know. It's just as appropriate from an officer's lips is from any other.

And it helps a little more to add, but I'll find out. rank should be used to serve one's subordinates it should never be flaunted or used to get the upper hand of a subordinate in any situation save where he has already discredited himself in an unusually ugly or unseemingly manner when suggestions from any subordinate are adopted the credit should be passed on to him publicly when a subordinate has made a mistake but not from any lack of goodwill it is common sense to take the rap for him rather than that he should be passed on to him publicly when a subordinate has made a mistake, but not from any lack of goodwill. It is common sense to take the rap for him rather than make him suffer doubly for his error. An officer should not issue orders which he cannot enforce. He should be as good as his word at all times and in any circumstance. He should promise nothing which he cannot make stick.

An officer should not work looking over his men's shoulders, checking on every detail of what they're doing and calling them to account at every furlong past. This maidenly attitude corrods confidence and destroys initiatives, so don't micromanage. On the other hand, contact is necessary at all times, particularly when men are doing long-term work or operating in a detachment at a remote point. They will become discouraged and will lose their sense of direction unless their superior looks in on them periodically. ask them whether he can be of any help and so doing gets them to open up the discussion and the problem. The Navy says, this is another good, another good one right here.

The Navy says, it isn't courtesy to change the set of the sale within 30 minutes after the relief of watch. Applied to a command job, this means that is a mistake for an officer on taking a new post to order sweeping changes affecting the other men. in the belief that this will give him a reputation for action and firmness. The studying of the situation is the overture of the steadying of it. The story is told of General Curtis E. LeMay of the Air Force, taking over the 21st Bomber Command and the Marianas. He faced the worried staff officers of his predecessor and said quietly, you're all staying put.

I assume you know your jobs or you wouldn't be here. Pretty simple. Then people always ask, coming to a needle, what do I do when I take over? Relax, be humble, listen, observe. Don't need to jump in there and change the set of the sale.

All right, echo's gone now. I'm in charge. Change everything. No, wrong answer. This next section, your men's moral and physical welfare. When men are moral, the moral power which binds them together

and fits them for high action is given its main chance for success. Now listen to these To be temperate in all things To be continent and refrain from loose living of any sort Are acts of the will They require self-denial And a foregoing of that which may be more attractive

In favor of the thing which should be done Granted there are a few individuals Who are so thin-blooded that they never feel tempted To digress morally men and the majority are not like that. So there's some guys that are just all in the straight and arrow. They're so thin-blooded that they just, they get no temptations. Most men, they get temptations.

What they renounce in the name of self-discipline at the cost of a considerably and considerable inner stress, they endeavor to compensate by gains in their personal character. Making that grade isn't easy, but no one who is anyone has yet said that it isn't worthwhile. In the armed services, they're an old saying that an officer without character is more useless than a ship with no bottom. In summing up, the strength of will,

which enables a man to lead a clean life, is no different than the strength of purpose which fits him to follow a hard line of duty. There are exceptions to every rule. Many a lovable rounder has proved himself to be a first, class fighting man. But even though he had an unconquerable weakness

for drink and women, his resolution had to become steeled along some other line or he would have been no good when the payoff came. So this is, you know, saying that the strength of will that it takes to stay strong in all these

situations, all these temptations, that will is real and that can transfer over. Now, I can tell you that this one is, there's all, the military is filled. Like he says,

many a lovable rounders proved himself to be a first class fighter man. Of course. Guys, they're badass guys throughout the ages that were, even Henry V had a wild man reputation. Going back to Shakespeare. And so,

but he's saying that, you know, these, these, staying on the straight and narrow in forces you a way. is what he's saying. Back to the book,

putting aside for the moment the question of the vices and regarding only the gain to moral power which comes of bodily exercise and physical condition. So he's talked about vices, okay, we got it. Stay clean.

Stay clean is what he's saying. But now he's saying there's something else there's something called exercise and physical conditioning. It should be self-evident that the process which builds the muscle must also train and alert the mind. How could it be otherwise?

every physical act must have as its origin a mental impulse, conscious or unconscious. Thus, in training a man to master his muscles, we also help him to master his brain. He comes out of physical training, not only better conditioned to move, but better prepared to think about how and why he is moving, which is true mobility. So you want to strengthen your will? Yes, stay clean, stay on the moral path. And then get your physical conditioning on because that's going to make you mentally tougher.

Back to the book, in the United States Service, we are tending to forget because of the effect of motorization that the higher value of the discipline of the road march in other days wasn't that it harded the muscles. But that, short of combat, it was the best method of separating the men from the boys. This is true today, despite all the new conditions imposed by technological changes. A hard road march is the most satisfactory training test of the moral strength of the individual man.

At the same time, dissentously overload men for road marching hurts them in two ways. There's a dichotomy to everything. So you can hurt them with a road march. Here's the two ways. It weakens their faith in the sense of the command, thereby impairing morale, And it breaks down their muscle and tendon. So you overload them, you're going to crush them, you're going to break them, and you're going to ruin their spirit.

There is another not infrequent cause of breakdown. The leader who makes the mistake of thinking that every man's limit is the same as his own. So, oh, I can, I can, I can do this. I can hump in 20 miles or 20 clicks. Everyone can do it. Wrong answer. When an officer does this kind of thing thoughtlessly, he shows himself to be an incompetent observer of men.

When he does it to show off, he deserves to be given 10 days in the electric chair. Hey, there you go. Get in the electric chair, 10 days. That's like, how many times do you die in 10 days in the electric chair? I don't know a lot. But don't show off. Is the point.

Yeah. Otherwise, you're going in the electric chair for 10 days. But isn't that like an old classic thing in the movie where it's usually to like combat like a situation where the guys are complaining? You know, like, oh, this is unrealistic, I don't know, obstacle course, something like this. And then the drill sergeant or whoever, he does it, you know, he's like the older guy. Well, yeah, he's proving that, look, I'm not asking you do anything that I wouldn't do myself.

Yeah. That's all that that is. Right, but in a way, he's like, hey, I can do it. So you should be able to do it. That's true. Guess what? A young recruit should be able to do it. Watch out.

Otherwise, not reaching the standards. You've got to have standards. Yeah. But if he was saying, hey, you should be able to do this with one arm time behind your back like I can, then it'd be wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see the difference there? Oh, yeah. Because I make sure, because otherwise you can get me on the technicality.

Don't want that to happen over here. Speaking of athletic accomplishments, in the nature of things, the officer who's been an athlete can fit himself into this part of the program with little difficulty and with great credit, provided he acts with moderation that here is suggested. By the same token, the officer who has shunned sports in school, either because he didn't have the size or coordination or is more interested in something else, will frequently have an understandable hesitation about trying to play the lead hand in anything which he thinks will make him look bad. Just talking about the benefits of the sports. If he has not kept himself in good physical shape, his nerves will not be able to stand the strain of combat to say nothing of his legs. It can be said again and again, the highest form of physical training that an officer can undergo is the physical conditioning of his own men. Nothing else can give him more faith in his own ability to stay the course, and nothing else is likely to give him a firmer feeling of solidarity with his men. Study and an active thirst for wider professional knowledge have their place in an officer's scheme of things, but there is something about the experience of bodily competition, of joining with,

and leading men in strenuous physical exercise, which uniquely invigorates one's spirit with the confidence, I can do this, I can lead, I can command. The body and mind are connected, everybody. Know it. Back to the book, the really good thing about the gain and moral force deriving from all forms of physical training is that it is an unconscious gain. Willpower, determination, mental poise, and muscle, all march hand in hand with the general health and well-being of the man, with results not less

decisive under training conditions than on the field of battle. A man who develops correct posture and begins to fill out his body so that he looks the part of a fighter will take greater pride in wearing of the uniform. In doing so, he will take greater care to conduct himself morally that he will not disgrace it. He will gain confidence as he acquires a confident and determined bearing. The same presence and the physical strength which contributes to it will help carry him through the hour of danger. Strength of will is partly of the mind and partly of the body. In combat, fatigue will beat down men as quickly as any other condition for fatigue inevitably carries fear.

fear with it. Tired men are afraid. There is no quicker way to lose a battle than to lose it on the road for lack of preliminary hardening in troops. Such a condition cannot be redeemed by the resolve of a commander who insists on driving troops an extra mile beyond their general level of physical endurance. So if you got guys that aren't ready, just because you're fired up doesn't mean it's going to work. You can't push them hard now. Here's what happens. Extremes of this sort make men rebellious and hateful of the command and thus strike at tactical efficiency from two directions at once for when men resent a commander they will not fight as willingly for him and when their bodies are spent their nerves are gone physical conditioning now on top of that

we got the physical conditioning you also have to keep your people informed in war in the absence of information, man's natural promptings alternate between unreasoning fears that the worst is likely to happen and wishful thought that all danger is remote. Either impulse is a barrier to the growth of that condition of alert confidence, which comes to men when they have a realization of their own strength and a reasonably clear concept of the general situation. You got to keep your people informed. That's what I was talking about earlier, being at the end of a platoon. Next section is about counseling your men.

Nothing more unfortunate can happen to an officer than to come to be regarded by his subordinates as unapproachable. For such a reputation isolates him from the main problems of the command, responsibility, as well as its chief rewards. How do you become approachable? The too formal manner, the over rigid attitude, the dispensual. position to deal with any human problem by the numbers as if it were one more act in an organizational routine can have a chilling effect upon men. So that idea that you're just going to be

buy the book on everything, that's not going to make you approachable. That being said, back to the book, it is not necessary that an officer wet nurse is men in order to serve well in the role of counsel. His door should be open, but he's not play the part either of father confessor or of a hotel greeter. Neither great solemnly or a fuchsiness are called for but mainly serious attention to the problem and then straightforward advice or decision. According to the nature of the case and provided that from his own knowledge and experience, he feels qualified to give it.

If not, it is wiser to defer than to offer a half-baked opinion. So it's okay if you don't know. Hey, look, I don't know. I've never dealt with this before. Maybe you should go talk to. Echo, he deals with these computers all the time. Come to me with your computer problems. Back to the book,

World War II officers had to abide by this standard dealing with the general malaise, which rose out of redeployment. When a man came forward and said that he couldn't take it anymore, and the commander knew that he'd always been a highly dutiful individual, it became the commander's job to attempt to get the man home. but when a second man came forward with the same story and the record showed that he always shirked his work the question was whether he should be given the final chance to shirk it again

to favor the first man meant furthering discipline his comrades recognized it as a fair deal to turn back the second man was equally constructive to the same end so those that's just classic and we've seen that in just about every book we read you know when some Some guy, World War II, we saw a bunch of it. Some guy would just lose it. And we even saw it the Korean, you know, some of the Korean books we've covered. The guy loses it, but they're a good guy. Remember the guy walking around and his sleeping bag?

Look, dude, we're just going to take care of this guy. You know, he's been a good guy. We'll get him off the front. He's got a few days left. But then when you get a guy that's weak and scared and doesn't man up and do his duty, and then he wants to go home, they're not giving that guy the slack. Doesn't deserve it. Didn't earn it.

Now, this is interesting. There are officers who hold every subordinate like grim death, seeing no better way to advance their personal fortunes. So this is what we're talking about here is, and this happens a lot in the military, but it happens in every business I work with where you got people that are being moved around. So like, oh, Echo works.

You got this guy, Billy that works for you. Hey, I need Billy to help me with this project. What do you say? No, you can't have him. He's my guy. Well, what do you have them working on right now? I got some projects coming up. Well, I need them right now.

Don't think I have projects. You know what I'm saying? So people go into that mode. where they hold everyone like a grim death. There are officers who hold every able subordinate like grim death, seeing no better way to advance their personal fortunes. This is a sign of moral weakness, not of strength, and its inevitable fruit is discontent within the organization.

The sign of superiority in any officer at whatever level is his confidence that he can make another good man to fill any vacancy. The other time I don't like that is when somebody, you know, if you're going to give me Billy and it's actually a promotion for Billy, it's like a step up, but you don't want to give him to me anyways. You're hurting him because you're just trying to help yourself. Yeah. No, give the guy up. Find somebody else new. Find a better person.

Find something that's going to mold and make better. Yeah. I had that happen to me before. Were you the guy? Were you the guy? The guy that got, didn't get promoted? Correct. Somebody held on to you.

Yeah. And it was less about if I did or didn't. get promoted it was that he was just holding on where you know to kind of negate any chance of that he was clear he actually even told me to well that was at least straightforward of him yeah not good how'd that work out for your morale it didn't help put it that way back to the book some of the ablest commanders in our service have abided by this rule they never denied the man who had a legitimate reason for transfer and they never ever shuffled off their lemons and gold bricks under a false label.

So that's another thing that happens in businesses. Hey, you got Billy, he, Billy's a bum. And I say, hey, Echo, I need a guy over here to help me with this. Oh, yeah, you can have Billy. Great guy. Yeah. You give me Billy, he's a disaster. That's a gold brick.

It's a lie. Here's a few common sense rules, which, when followed, will enable any officer to play as part more effectively in the counseling of men. An excess of expression is a failing. So when you give away your facial expression looks all, that's a failing. To listen well is the prelude toward pondering carefully and speaking wisely. Listen. You got to listen.

To refuse with kindness is more winning than to acquiesce ungraciously. That's a good one. Just, hey, you know what? I don't think that's going to be rather than, all right. Yeah. That's like something you've got to deal with with your wife. You know, your wife wants to go do something. You'd be better to say, you know what?

I think, let's not do that tonight. Let's do this other thing instead. Right. As opposed to, all right, fine, we'll go to your friend's house. Don't want to do that. Yeah. Then act like a dick when you get there. Yeah.

To note another man's mood and become congenial to it is the surest way to engage his competence. Decisions which are wholly of, of the heart and not of the mind will ultimately do hurt to both places. Use your logic, don't get emotional. No man will talk freely if met by silence, but an intelligent question encourages frankness above all else. When a man loses possession of himself, it is the more reason that the other should tighten his reserve. Legit.

This is a good one. To express pity for a man does not serve to restore him and put him above pity. When a man is so burdened by a personal problem that it shuts out all else, he must be led to something else. And the last one here, imprudent tactics can undo the wisest strategy. And that happens at every level. It happens in war. it happens in business. Got a great strategy, but the guys on the ground are really not doing it tactically well.

It doesn't matter the strategy. You're going to fail. Finally, in counseling, like all else in military life, has a combat purpose. Other things being equal, the tactical unity of men working together in combat will be in ratio to their knowledge and sympathetic understanding of each other. whatever the cause aloofness on the part of the officer can only produce a further withdraw on that part of the man lufness last section of this book was really devastating on my highlighter it's called americans in combat the command and control of men in combat can be mastered by junior leaders of american

forces short of actual experience under enemy fire. It is altogether possible for a young officer his first time in battle to be in total possession of his faculties and moving by instinct to do the right thing provided that he has made the most of his training opportunities. Exercise in the maneuvering of men is only an elementary introduction to this educational process. The basic requirement is a continuing study first of the nature. of men, second of the techniques which produce unified action, and last, of the history of past

operations, which are covered by an abundant literature. That's how you've got to get ready for combat, those things right there. Now, there are a few simple and fundamental propositions which the Armed Services subscribe in saying to Officer Corps what may be expected of the average man of the United States under battle conditions. generally speaking they have held true of Americans in times past from Lexington to Okinawa the fighting establishment builds its discipline training code of conduct and public policy around these ideas believing that what served yesterday will also be the one best way

tomorrow and for so long as our traditions and our system of freedom survives these propositions are when led with courage and intelligence an American will fight as willingly as and as efficiently as any fighter in world history I concur with that his keenness and endurance and war will be in proportion to the zeal and inspiration of his leadership he is resourceful and imaginative imaginative and the best results will always flow from encouraging him to use his brain along with his spirit. Under combat conditions, he will reserve his greatest loyalty for the officer who is most resourceful in the tactical employment of his forces and most careful to avoid unnecessary

losses. So the soldier's going to know if you're throwing bodies away, they're going to know it. And same thing in the business world. I've worked with a lot of companies where they do their ups and they do their u.S. Upmost to let's say there's a downturn in the market and they're gonna they got to fire some people and they do their best to mitigate that That develops loyalty that makes them fight harder when the market turns back around now sometimes that can be a problem because people Try and be so loyal that they run their business in the ground and they fail back to the book except on a Hollywood lot There is no such thing as an American fighter type our best men come in all colors

shapes, and sizes. They appear from every section of the nation, including the territories. In battle, Americans do not tend to fluctuate between emotional extremes, in complete dejection one day and exultation the next, according to the changes in the situation. They continue on the whole on a fairly even keel when a going is tough and when things are breaking their way. even when heavily shocked by battle losses, they tend to bound back quickly.

Though their griping is incessant, their natural outlook is on the optimistic side, and they react unfavorably to the officer who looks eternally on the dark side. Next, during battle, American officers are not expected either to drive their men or to be forever in the van as if praying to be shot. So the van is like on the front lines, the front of your formation. So long as they are with their men, taking the same chances as their men and showing a firm grasp of the situation and of the line of action which should be followed, the men will go forward.

In any situation of extreme pressure or moral exhaustion where men cannot otherwise be rallied and led forward, officers are expected to do the actual physical act of leading, such as performing as first scout or point, even though this means taking over what would normally be an enlisted man's function. The normal next, the normal gregarious American is not at his best when playing a lone-handed or tactically isolated part in battle. He is not a kamikaze or a one-man torporal. Pito. Consequently, the best tactical results obtain from those dispositions and methods which link the power of one man to that of another. Men who feel strange with their unit, having been carelessly received by it and indifferently handled, will rarely, if ever, fight strongly and

courageously. But if treated with common decency and respect, they will perform like men. So that's just talking about when you check in somewhere. You know, if you're in the military and you get somebody that checks in, take care of them. Welcome. If you're to company and somebody checks in, take care of them. Welcome. Show them around. Assign him a mentor.

Get him in the game. To lie to American troops to cover up a blundering combat rarely serves any valid purpose. They have a good sense of combat and an uncanny instinct for ferreting out the truth when anything goes wrong tactically. they will excuse mistakes, but they will not forgive being treated like children. Basic leadership. When spit and polish are laid on so heavily that they become onerous, and the ranks cannot see any legitimate connection between the requirements and the development of an attitude which will serve a clear fighting purpose,

it is to be questioned that the exactions serve any good object, whatever. So again, I'm like leaning in the SEAL teams, I'm probably the extreme level of military bearing and uniformity. But I'm definitely not a believer that, you know, you got every single thing spit and polish all day long. No. And they're saying clearly here that if you go so far in that direction and people don't make any sense of it, it's not going to be good.

I mean, even picture, you know, you know, Hackworth was like Mr. Spit and Polish. Look at pictures of Hackworth in Vietnam. He wouldn't even wear a rank. He looked like a regular soldier. He didn't look any exquisite parade. Matter of fact, he makes fun of the guys that come into the camp that look like they're in parade ground uniforms.

Yeah. I saw a quote. It's like yesterday. Said, a spotless house is the sign of a wasted life. Which, when I saw it, I tend to, like, I don't know, disagree with a lot because it, like,

it basically takes one kind of perspective and, like, makes it into this. like thing but of I I like with this one I was like well or it means you clean your house all a time that's what you know or maybe you're disciplined you have you know you yeah you clean your stuff including your house I don't know maybe you take care of your house maybe you're a clean person that's not a wasted life by the way yeah I think I think that's just an extreme statement but I think the underlying message is you know hey live a little it's basically yeah in a way it's kind of the message there is kind of what you're

saying you if you take it literally yeah that could you could you could go too far down that road yeah just take it as a message i think the message is fairly clear and i i somewhat agree with it yeah like you spent your whole life making sure everything in your house is clean yeah you know they say also like the the highly pallished samurai sword that's never been used in battle is a lot less valuable to me than the than the switchblade knife that's rusty from blood yeah yeah K-bar that's rusty from blood. Next one. On the other hand,

because standards of discipline and courtesy are designed for the express purpose of furthering control under the extraordinary frictions impressions of the battlefield, their maintenance under combat conditions is as necessary as during training. Smartness and respect

are the marks of military alertness, no matter how, the circumstances. But courtesy starts at the top in the dealing of any officer with his subordinates and in the decent regard for their loyalty, intelligence, and manhood. So even though you can't be over-disciplined, you still want to have the discipline. Next, though Americans enjoy relatively a bountiful and even luxurious standard of living in their home environment, they do not have to be pampered, spoon-fed.

or overfilled with every comfort and convenience to keep them steadfast and devoted once war comes. They are by nature rugged men, and in the field they will respond most perfectly when called on to play a rugged part. Soft handling will soften even the best men. But even the weak man will develop a new vigor and confidence in the face of necessary hardship, if moved by a leadership which is courageously making the best of a bad situation. It's just awesome. Soft handling will soften even the best men

and the weak man will come around for a necessary hardship. You notice they put that word in their necessary. Not just beating them up for no reason. They got to see why it is. Next, extravagance and wastefulness is somewhat rooted in the American character because of our mode of life.

When our men enter the military service, there's a strong holdover from their civilian habits. Even under fighting conditions, they tend to be wasteful of drinking water, food, munition, and other vital supply when such things are made too accessible. They tend to throw them away rather than conserve them in the general interests. This is a distinct weakness during combat. When conservation of all supply is a touchstone of success, the regulating of all supply, and the preventing of waste in any form is the prime obligation of every officer. Be frugal.

Next, under the conditions of battle, any extra work, exercise, maneuver, or marching, which does not serve a clear and direct operational purpose is unjustifiable. The supreme object is to keep men as physically fresh and mentally alert as possible. Tired men take fright and are half whipped before the battle opens. Worn out officers cannot make clear decisions. The conservation of men's powers, not the exhaustion thereof, is a successful way of operations. Next, when forces are committed to combat, it is vital that not one unnecessary pound be put on any man's back. Lightness of foot is the key to speed of movement and the increase of firepower.

In judging of these things, every officer's thought should be on the operative. It is better to take the chance that men will manage to get by on a little less than to overload them through overcautious Reckoning of every possible contingency thereby destroying their power to do anything effectively Every pound counts They used to when I was at a team two they had winter warfare platoons and so you'd be up burning calories on skis and those guys were so anal about making their gear as light as possible was pretty impressive. So you know when you got a backpack or something and it's got straps, you know, that you can

loosen up or tighten up, they would, through the whole backpack, they would cut off any excess strap would be gone. Just get everything as light as possible. It's kind of a good strategy to follow when you travel, you know? Yeah. You know how like, yes. You know what the funny thing is too is, I've got this now. I've got this pretty down where I was like, you know what?

If I don't have this, if I don't bring this and I need it, I'm just going to buy it. Right. I'm going to go to wherever and buy it. Yeah. No factor. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's kind of those two like, schools of thought, I don't know, whatever, two ways to think about it where the person is like, I might need it.

So I'm going to bring it. Another person is like, if I can't think of a specific time that I'm going to need this on this strip, I'm not going to bring it. And just like how you say, if I need it, I'm going to buy it there. Travel light, freeze at night. Yeah. All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that.

Next, unity of action develops from fullness of information. In combat, all ranks have to know what is being done and why it is being done if confusion is to be kept to a minimum. This holds true in all types of operations, whatever the service. However, a surplus of information clouds the mind and may sometimes depress the spirit. We can take one example. a commander might be confronted by a complex situation, and his solution may be a continuing operation in three distinct phases. It would be advisable that all hands be told the complete detail of phase A,

but it might be equally sensible that his subordinates, only his subordinates who are closest to him be made fully informed about phase B and phase C. All plans in combat are subject to modification as to circumstances dictate. This being the case, it is not better, it is better not, to muddle the men by filling their minds with a seemingly conflict of ideas, a conflict in ideas. More important still, if the grand object seems too vast and formidable, even the first step toward it may appear doubly difficult. Fulness of information does not void the other principle that one thing at a time, carefully organized all down the line, is the surest way.

Prioritize and execute. There is no, next, there is no excuse for a lingering or cowardice during battle. It is the task of leadership to stop it by whatever means would seem to be the surest cure, always making certain that in doing so it will not make a matter worse. Next, the armed services recognize that there are occasional individuals who nervous and spiritual makeup may be such that they erode rapidly and may suffer complete breakdown under combat conditions. They still may be wholly loyal and conscientious men capable of doing duty elsewhere.

Men are not alike. In some, however willing, the spirit, the flesh may be too weak. To punish, degrade, or in any way humiliate such men is not more cruel than ignorant. When the good faith of any individual has been repeatedly demonstrated in the earlier service, he deserves the benefit of the doubt from his superior pending study of his case by medical authority. But if the man has been a bad actor consistently, his officers warranted in proceeding on the assumption that his combat failure is just one more grave moral dereliction. To fail to take proper action against such a man can only work unusual hardship on the majority trying to do the duty.

Next, the United States abides by the laws of war. Its armed forces in dealing with, in their dealings with all other peoples are expected to comply with the laws of war in the spirit and to the letter. In waging war, we do not terrorize helpless non-combatants if it is within our power to avoid doing so. Wanted killing, torture, cruelty, or the working of unusual and unnecessary hardship on enemy prisoners or populations is not justified under any certain. circumstance. Likewise, respect for the reign of law as that term is understood by the United States is expected to follow the flag wherever it goes. Pilaging, looting, and other excesses are as immoral, as un-moral, where Americans are operating under military law as they are living together under civil code. Nonetheless, some men in the American services will loot and destroy property.

unless they are restrained by fear of punishment. War loses violence and disorder. It inflames passions and makes it relatively easy for the individual to get away with unlawful actions. But it does not lessen the gravity of his offense or make it less necessary that constituted authority put him down. The main safeguard against lawlessness and hooliganism in any armed body, is the integrity of its officers. When men know that their commander is absolutely opposed to such excesses

and will take forceful action to repress any breach of discipline, they will conform. But when an officer winks at any degradation by his men, it is no different than if he had committed the act. Remember that one. Young leaders out there, on the battlefield. An officer winks at any degradation of his men.

There's no different than if he'd committed the act. And if you hold the discipline, if you hold the discipline, they will conform. If they know where you fall, where you stand, I should say. If they know where you stand, they will conform. Next, on the field of sport,

Americans always talk it up to keep nerve steady and to generate confidence. The need is even greater on the field of war and the same treatment will have no less effect. When men are afraid, they go silent. Silence of itself further intensifies the fear. The resumption of speech is the beginning of thoughtful, collected action. For self-evidently, two or more men cannot join strength

and work intelligently together until they know one another's thoughts. consequently, all training is an exercise in getting men to open up and become articulate, even as it is a process in conditioning them physically to move strongly together. Once again, step. And even talking is action that starts to dispel fear. Next, inspection is more important in the face of the enemy than during training because a foul piece may mean a lost battle, an overlooked sick man may infect a fortress, and a mislaid message can cost a war.

In virtue of his position, every junior leader is an inspector, and the obligation to make certain that his force at all times is inspection proof is unremitting. And the last one I'm going to read to close out this book is here. In battle crisis, a majority of Americans present. present will respond to any man who has the will and the brains to give them a clear, intelligent order. They will follow the lowest ranking man present if he obviously knows what he is doing and is morally the master of the situation.

But they will not obey a chucklehead if he has nothing in his favor but his rank. and that's that's it for this book and I think that closing statement a chucklehead don't be a chucklehead and this is talked about earlier that they will follow the lowest man the lowest making ranking man present if he knows what he's doing and is the is morally the master of the situation and can give a clear intelligent order and I think the rest of the you know if you're a chucklehead people aren't going to listen to you just because of your rank. And I talk about that all the time. You shouldn't use your rank.

And I think this book actually, you know, gives some pretty, some pretty obvious ways to avoid being a chucklehead. Be humble. Be calm. Educate yourself. Work out hard. Physical. Physicality is important.

It's all the stuff, same stuff that we talk about all the time. And again, these are universal. And I know we got a lot of listeners that are overseas. This stuff is applying to Americans, but this applies basically worldwide, at least Western world. And they've stood the test of time. They work today. So follow them.

And let's lead in everything you do and start by leading yourself with these principles. Because if you can't, there's no, way that you can lead others if you can't lead yourself. And I'll tell you, we're a little over the three hour mark right now. So it doesn't look like we're going to be doing Q&A this episode. So if anyone is out there still listening at this point and they want to know how to support the podcast, Echo, tell them how to do it.

Well, there's a few ways. Yeah, so let's start with the, a lot of times I feel like it's just like kind of repetitive. Well, it is repetitive. Yeah. And since we've already had people listening for three plus hours at this point, we can feel free to move quickly, I think. Yeah, I think so. But here's the thing, though. Oh, there's a but.

I did, yeah, I did more thinking where what if this is the first time somebody was listening or maybe the second time it won't be as repetitive. Okay, but if it's a person. that they're going to listen to other ones. They're going to go back. And they can listen to one of those episodes. That's an hour and a half. And they're going to be like, oh, I'm going to listen to a little bit more. But right now, if we go long right now, they may not listen at all.

Yeah. Now some people say, oh, it's fun. We like that. No. Nothing is fun after three hours. I don't know that. I went long. There's so much good information in this book, though.

I went long. I'm sorry. But I'm not really sorry. There's good information. Yeah, that's the game. It's good. But I think we could proceed quickly. That's what I think. Yeah, sure.

I dig it. I'm not saying no banter. You know, I know you've got things you want to talk about with the stuff, but it's okay. I'm going to avoid the banter. The key here is really the, okay, look, we'll go into it on it. Supplementation. You know, sometimes, hey, I don't eat supplements. I have a great diet or I'm just not into it just in general.

I have to successfully convey. the importance of supplementation or at the very least the value go ahead so i'm not going to banter with you i'm just going to go ahead and get after it right here as far as well because you can anyway all right you know jocka real quick on it supplements if you didn't already know krill oil or edc okay our edc everyday consumption of supplements essential cruel oil for your joints and this is good because it's the legit one it's not the one where they kill a bunch of krill, grind them up, and then sell them to you.

It's like the real deal that helps you. I could tell you the story about how it helped me, but that'd be too repetitive. Listen to the other 52 podcast if you want to hear that story. Yeah, just understand if you're going for results on it supplements. Crill oil, EDC, krill oil, Alpha Brain, Shroom Tech, Warrior bars, even though those aren't really supplements. They're like.

But you do eat them every day. Yeah. Yeah, every day. consumption and I got the the pre-workout how was that good I'm gonna give it a shot non-stimulent by the way So you're not jittery jittery yeah nothing like this and it's it's like there's like earth grown ingredients in there as well You know so on it calls things earth grown ingredients. I'm just gonna I know it sounds cool Where else are they grown in space? And wouldn't it be cooler if they grow in space or It's different or subterranean or something what's up? Why are they trying to make it sound cool?

Cool. It's cool. It's good stuff. How would they say that? Well, the answer to that is lab grown. The answer to that is lab If you can grow stuff in the lab or just concoct it, you know, chemically in the lab. So I'm just saying that's the differentiator. You win. Which is good. You win. Earth grown is actually cool. It's a good thing. It's a good thing. And if there's any more questions about these types of things. I was thinking space grown. I was thinking I was thinking moon base alpha. Yeah. And if you can indicate the benefits of anything moon grown, I'm sure that they would. would provide that on the website or whatever. That's where I get the information. Anyway, alpha brain is proven as well.

That's the thing. With neutropics, neutropics, it's to help your brain. A lot of times people will be like, ah, that's a placebo thing. They went through the real test to prove that it works. Proven scientifically fact that it's dope. Anyway, on it.com slash jaco, get 10% off if you want 10% off. If you don't want 10% off, just go on it.com. Payful price.

Boom. support everybody, everything, whatever, whatever. No, you're actually not supporting anybody. And you're definitely not supporting us if you don't do that. That's cool. Well, technically it is because it's like you're still getting your supplements. You know, you're still getting supplementation. We're just not getting the credit.

So just like if like you donate to a cause and you put anonymous in the thing. And then you donate another 10% same thing. See what I'm saying? Anyway. I'm going to just let this one go. That's a good way. Because I realize I'm guilty for making these things longer because I'm interjecting. Yeah, I should just be quiet.

Yeah, just be quiet. What's your podcast? You say whatever you like, right? It's our podcast. Come on. So on it is one of the ways to support to wrap it up. Ony.com slash jocco, get 10% off. Help.

They're good. Just trust me. They're good. Another good way. Christmas is almost here, man. It's like, what, four, three, four days, something like that. If you shop in Amazon, click through the website. That's a good way to support.

Click through the website that's called jaco store.com or called joccopodcast.com. Yeah. Because that's the website you've got to click through. Correct. Yes. Jocoppodcast.com over on the side, there's an Amazon little banner. Click on that one before you do your Amazon shopping for Christmas or whatever. Or buying any one of these books that Jocco talks about.

On the Jocco store, you got to go on the menu item, support, and then a little. take you to the page with the banner. Speaking of which, podcast 100, as we talked about when Tim was on this podcast, Tim Ferriss was on this podcast, we're going to do Musashi

for podcast 100 because it's a big, big, big book. Oh, Rick, you mentioned that. We need to get it on the podcast. So that will be on the website. So you can buy that book now because it's a thick book

and we're going to do it for podcast 100. Right. You can click through. The other thing is that's beneficial about these ways of supporting the podcast, no advertisements on the podcast, except for this here,

which I guess could be considered an advertisement. But I don't want to have the, and now for a commercial break, we would like to present something that doesn't matter. Are you tired of sleeping? Right.

You know, that kind of stuff. Yeah. So yeah, the Amazon click, that's a good one. That's like, because it doesn't cost you nothing. It's like super easy. And it's like you're kind of just in the whole game of just, you know, reinforcement support

Amazon. Click through the website before you do shopping. You can also subscribe to the podcast. I know that seems obvious, but sometimes... You know, back to the...

You know, you talk about this sometimes, Amazon. So, you can click through Amazon, right? Let's say you're going to buy something that's not expensive. Like a bunch of pens. Sure.

Or some duct tape. Sure. You might think, oh, man, I'm just going to go directly to Amazon because that's no big deal. We don't need to support the podcast on this purchase. There's two problems with that.

Number one, if no one bought their duct tape without clicking through, we wouldn't get any of the benefit of having the site there. The other thing is you got to exercise daily discipline in all things. My point is that if you get in the habit of doing it, then you'll be in the habit. Otherwise, if you only do it sometimes, then the time you go out and buy a lawnmower, then, you know, or somebody,

somebody bought a set of golf clubs remember that guy he's like i just bought some ball golf a thousand dollar set of golf clubs he clicked through you know so that that definitely supports the podcast yeah but it's because he had the discipline the the reinforced reiteration of doing it all the time so just do it just do it all the time that's my recommendation yeah it is true man that's kind of the key is like to remember to do it and here's the and everyone's duct tape counts yeah yeah and here's a thing like you're under no i i'm obligation to do that. I'm just saying most times

you'd be like, hey, I want to support the podcast. It's cool. Because, you know, but at the time of, you know, hey, I need my duct tape, I go. I do it. I buy the duct tape and it's like, oh, oh, I forgot. Yeah. You know, just to kind of avoid that kind of situation. If you have it in your mind.

That's really the keys to remember to do it. Then you're living with the guilt. I know, man. Barely can go on. Anyway, yeah. So, yeah, do that. or subscribe to the podcast or and subscribe to the podcast, I should say.

It seems obvious on iTunes. You subscribe, but I don't know if you haven't already. Hey, subscribe. That's a good way to support and leave a reviewment if you're compelled to. Those reviews are pretty dope, by the way. Subscribe on YouTube. We are, along with the podcast and video format.

We'll do some excerpts, stuff you can share with people that they don't have to commit to three hours and, you know, however long. The case may be to listen to the whole podcast, they can just listen to the, you know, three minute, one minute, five minute even, you know, things about whatever the case may be. About whatever little excerpts, you know. I think those are beneficial. I think when people share that kind with me, I think you can learn a lot.

For sure. I think there's, you know, a lot to be said for it. I think I agree with you. Or we have a store. Jocko has a store. store. It's called... See, now you say, I have a store.

We have a store. Not my store. Yeah, but if I say Jocko has a store, it's called Jocko store. It just sounds kind of cooler. Okay. So I was trying to do. Yeah, yeah. So I was trying to do that, but kind of interrupted, but that's cool.

It's your podcast. There's some cool shirts on there. Some layers on the shirts. I'm going to let you look at the layers. I'm going to let you see the layers on your own. So go to jocco store.com. See if you can find the layers. the shirts. I'm not saying to buy a shirt or a tank top or a hoodie or a st. I'm not saying

to buy one. But if you feel compelled to buy one because you think they're cool, the layers hit you, they resonate with you. I don't like the word resonate. You use it anyway. If they resonate with you, get a shirt. That's a good way to support. Some patches too. You know the ones that with the Velcro that's regulation? Those are on there too. Per your and other people's request. We had a lot of military and law enforcement that wanted regulation size. Yeah. In color. In the field. Yeah. As they're crushing evil in the world. Yeah, man. So yeah, they're on there too. And whatever else, you know, you think is cool. I'm going to redo the mugs. They're going to be like a special, like one, like a super high quality one. The travel mugs. Yeah, the travel mugs. And then, yeah,

there you go. And then, uh, psychological warfare. See, that was a, that turned out good. It did. It did. I was listening to your explanation of what psychological warfare was. You need to listen to it. It is unclear. You told the story, but it was like, you know how we're talking to each other right now? Yeah.

And you were kind of telling me the story, but I know a bunch about it. Yeah. So when I listened to it, I said, you know what? People that aren't, that don't know what this is are going to wonder what this is. Echo asked me some questions about what I'm thinking about in certain situations of weakness. Yes. Right? Certain situations of weaknesses.

And he asked me a couple of minutes, and I kind of told him, like off the cuff, oh, I think about this and this. And he's kind of got that look in his face when I know he's thinking of something. So I said, oh, he's thinking of something. And then the next day, you know, hey, we got to do, record these.

So we came up with some more questions that echo was like, oh, this is a good one, this is a good one. Came up with the questions. And then I wrote down the answers and I read him into a microphone we recorded it because that's what Echo does. And then he said, hey, I'm going to make this into,

because people ask for ringtones. They want to be able to awake to, I guess they want to be able to wake to me. Alarm clock stuff. Alarm clock stuff. So he said, I'm going to put these on iTunes and put them for sale. And I said, well, if that's what you think.

So the album is called, so it's an album of clips. They're like two or three minutes long. They're for psychological warfare against moments of weakness. Yes. And where do the moments of weakness come when you want to get up in the morning? So there's actually, because I know that's a hard one for people. There's three psychological attacks against the weakness of not getting out of bed in the morning. There's psychological warfare against wanting to eat bad food.

There's psychological warfare against procrastination. Just moments of weakness are covered in the psychological. Warfare album. Very well covered. And it's for sale on iTunes. And you got to search for Jocko Willink or psychological warfare. It's a little bit hard to find

because the way iTunes is laid out because it's in spoken word, but that doesn't drop down under music anyways. It's kind of hard to find. But it is on there. And that is in fact another way to support the podcast. Because it is for sale.

Because people want to support the podcast. And so they say, hey, you know, how can we support the podcast? And we used to say, people say, oh, do you have this thing where you can donate money? We'll just give you money. I don't want you just to give me money. I want to give you something.

If you just don't give me money, I'm not going to take it. Well, there's been a couple people that have given money, which is awesome. We appreciate it. But for my general conscience, right? Reciprocation. I want to give you something back.

So here's what we give you. You give us money for the iTunes album. you get something back. And you know what you get back? Discipline in MP3 format. That's what you get. So check it out. They're funny.

They're no screaming, but they're getting after it. And the feedback that I've gotten is awesome. Like, everyone on Twitter is, like, yeah, I've been out of bed every time. Yeah, yeah. I over, you know, I didn't procrastinate on this project.

Debbie said, I got this project done a week early because I didn't want to procrastinate. You know, but two side notes to that one. If you're going to do the alarm clock thing, I said this last time, clear it with your whoever you're sleeping with your wife or whatever

just make sure they have the heads up because if they hear it they're going to flip out yeah and they won't flip out because I'm going crazy they'll flip out because all of a sudden there's a man in the room talking yes that's enough to freak somebody out okay you got you know one yeah yeah yeah so kind of go over it you know go over the plan you don't want to freak people out yeah having your having your significant other reaching for their sidearm

yeah yeah you don't want that putting the laser around the room searching And a second side note Good feedback for sure But it's been I look at the stats sometimes It's been number one In spoken word category on iTunes Number one

That's pretty good people on that list But it's not it's been number one for that's awesome I think since I put it on there Dang Anyway well thank you Everyone that's everyone that's putting Yeah everyone that's that's picking that up Thank you appreciate that

It's awesome But yeah those are Yeah, solid ways to support. A couple other ways that you can support this one is you can get some jaco white tea. It's popagrata white tea. There's some pavagrated in there. Some good stuff. Can get some of that stuff.

If you haven't gotten it and you think, I don't like tea. You're wrong because you haven't tried this tea because it tastes, it doesn't taste. I'm telling me it doesn't taste. I don't know what it tastes like. You know what it tastes like? There's nothing else that you can compare it to. It just tastes good. Really good and it's got a little bit of caffeine in it.

You can actually drink it before you go to bed if you need to. It won't keep you up. It's not that kind of caffeine. It's different kinds of other kinds. It's earthgrown caffeine. It's a kind of caffeine that there's not a lot in there. It's got antioxidants in there and it tastes really good. And you can have it pre-workout, post-workout, pre-meal, post-meal, pre-bed, after bed, during bed.

You can get it whenever you want. So that's a joccal white tea. You can get that. way, it's now been in stock. I'm going on like, like three or four, five days. It's in stock now. We've got a better system. We might have another fade.

I got some stuff on the horizon. There might be a little dip in the system, but it's in stock in the tin. The luxurious tin. Luxurious. Or the big box, which has a hundred in it. Reload. Reload.

And then you can get a mug. You can get a mug, by the way. The mug, it'll tell you what to do. It'll tell you what to do every single time. And what it'll tell you to do is get after it. So you get that mug on there, Jock approved. And then, Extreme Ownership, The Book, Christmas, why not get it for every single person you've ever known in your life?

You might as well. No. Extreme Ownership, if you listen to the podcast, you kind of like what we talk about here. The book, Extreme Ownership, it's about the same thing. It's about combat leadership. Also, speaking of extreme ownership, again,

New York City, May 4th and 5th. We're doing the extreme ownership muster number 002. The last one was 0.01 in San Diego. This one is 002, May 4th and 5th at the Marriott. We're going deep on combat leadership, which means we're going deep on all leadership because the principles do not change. The thing that's cool, everybody that's there, everyone's in the game.

Everyone's in the game. CEOs, mid-level managers. Every industry you can think of, and Laf's going to be there. Echo is going to be there. JP's going to be there in the game with you. You know, we're not hiding behind the curtain. We're not backstage. We'll be interacting, hanging out, doing whatever we've got to do.

And I'm telling you, it's going to sell out. So register ASAP. I know that Echo is going to make some videos, and the videos that he's going to make are going to show the last muster. And as soon as those videos come out, it's going to sell out. Because I've already seen the footage. It looks awesome. It is awesome.

It was awesome. And the next one is going to be awesome. So join now. Register now. There's discounted tickets. If you're law enforcement, firefighters, or military, we got discounted tickets if you want to ask questions or get that discount. Also, if you have like 10, 12 people coming from your company, we can get a discount going there too. you can email muster at echelonfront.com.

You can also check out the website, Extremeownership.com. Real original. We thought of that one. And we look forward to seeing you guys there. In the meantime, if you want to kind of kick it with us, we are kicking it ourselves on the interwebs.

On Twitter, on Instagram. as well and also we're going to be on that one that Facebooky boha we're going to be there echo is at echo charles and i am at jaco willing and finally go out there and execute and we talk a lot about a lot of different subjects on this podcast and we hear from incredible leaders and the lessons that we learned today, lessons that were learned and lessons that are written in blood. But those lessons are meaningless. They're meaningless if you don't execute on them.

If you listen without doing, you might as well not even waste your time. Just keep being arrogant, wasting your time, not being productive and not living up to your potential. Just keep wasting your life if you're not going to execute. on what we learn. But if you listen, and then you go and you do, then stay on it.

And remember also that the rewards don't come easy, don't count on any glory. Just hold the line. And stay on the path so that you know, so that you know that you know that you, are in the game 100% and that you know that you are getting after it. So until next time, this is Echo and Jocko.