Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals

2010

ASU

Garrett Hardy

[LEADERSHIP LESSONS OF THE NAVY SEALS]

Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals

As I was given this book report I thought "Great another assignment", yes it was another assignment but one that finally had meaning. The assignment was to read a book about leadership. While I did not want to read another book for write a report it was a part of the class so I might as well make it worth my while, I chose a book in an are that I know little about. The military is a fanaciting iiiiiiiii that takes a normal man/woman and makes them an expert in one way or another. The way in which they do this is to take normal people and insert them into the program and not just any program but a proven program that has been changed and adapted based on success and failure. In this way the military had created a program admired and often sought after by militaries around the world. The tactics for finding and refining the men and women are often critasizeded by those that do not fully understand the organization or the research and trial and error processes that went into them. As I read the book I was amazed at the simple truths that seem obvious but need to be pointed out to me as well as others.

The book starts off giving examples of how the military works and the history of the programs that are in place as well as explaining the heireichy of the Navy. They often state the ranking authortity and that it is crutial to creating a successful group. As you learn to follow a leader and trust them you also learn to trust him/her as you see the wisdom in their decisions. These wisdoms are not something that one is born with they are gained through experience and a watchful eye on those that have gone on before you. They explain that often times a leader thinks in order to be successful they must stick out, do it differently than it's been done in the past, even if past leaders have been successful. The military constantly is looking at past success and failures and tailor the program to make use of this experience.

The Navy Seals also insures that your true intentions for being there are brought out. The way in which they do this is to push you to the limits and then a little further. The commanders relizezes the weakenes of the member of the team and then pushes the issues. If a Seal is afraid of cold dark water then he often finds himself swimming alone on a dark cold night in the ocean. It is imparitive that each seal is commited to the mission for if he/she is not then they will let the team down in their time of real need. It is equally important that the seal is commited for themselves, you can only fake it for so long,