Skip to main content

Think Like An Elite Warrior To Lead And Succeed


Seeing this book (circled in the above picture) in the bookstore this week reminded me of my 2014 blog post about the book and the author. Realizing the book is as relevant today as it was five years ago, here is my post from 2014:

 Want to be a leader who is tough? Cool under fire? Able to sense danger before it's too late? In The Way of the SEAL: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed, ex-Navy SEAL Commander Mark Divine reveals exercises, meditations, and focusing techniques to train your mind for mental toughness, emotional resilience, and uncanny intuition.

Along the way, Divine teaches you how to reaffirm your ultimate purpose, define your most important goals, and take concrete steps to make them happen.

A native of Oneida County, New York, Mark served in the U.S. Navy SEALs for 20 years, retiring as a commander, and holds an MBA from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Having coached thousands of Navy SEAL and other Special Operations candidates with a success rate near 90 percent, Mark now trains the public in the eight Way of the SEAL principles through his Unbeatable Mind Academy.

This week, Mark answered for me the following six questions about his book:
Interview with Mark Divine
Author of The Way of the Seal: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed

Question: Navy SEALS learn they are capable of twenty times what they think they are. For the average person, what's the level reached during their lifetime if they don't ever experience the 20X Factor?

Mark:  I think that most of humanity is operating at about 10 to 20% of their potential. This is primarily because they have never been taught how to use their whole minds. Instead they have developed their rational/cognitive functions to the detriment of their creative, intuitive and spiritual functions. One of my goals with The Way of the SEAL is to help people open up to a broader concept of mind and to begin to train it so they can reach their first 20X experience, then accelerate from there!

Question: Why do so many people go through life having never Assessed Their Starting Point by answering the Self-Assessment Questions featured in your book?

Mark:  Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living. This is a bold and provocative statement, but if you understand what he meant it is very powerful. Underlying this statement is an assumption that every human is unique and has a special reason for being here in this place and time. However, the reason so few people do the self-assessment required of examining their lives is because the instruction book, the one that tells us how to live purposefully and in a worthy manner, was left on the spiritual elevator we took to get here. Thus it is incumbent upon us to look deeply within ourselves to uncover our passion, purpose and principles…and then to organize our lives to live in alignment with these personal characteristics. When we do so, we will live an examined and worthy life.

Question: Yoga might not be something typically associated with thoughts about a Navy SEAL. Why do you incorporate yoga so heavily in your life?

Mark: Yoga is the oldest warrior development program known to man. Used to prepare warriors for battle in Northern India over 5,000 years ago, it is an incredibly powerful self-development program that complements the physical training a SEAL undergoes perfectly. The Yoga I developed for SEALFIT is a simple "western" yoga that brings it back to its warrior roots by focusing primarily on the concentration and breathing, as well as developing awareness and presence. These are all attributes that a Navy SEAL or corporate executive requires to operate at their peak, especially under stress.

Question: Of the nine skills mentioned on page 7 to achieve SEAL-worthiness, which one have you witnessed to be the most difficult for business leaders to conquer?




Mark:  I believe mental control is the most difficult for the business leader to develop. The leader of the future must develop an unfettered mind which can make morally correct decisions that benefit not only her, but also her team, organization, community and the world at large. This type of multi-dimensional decision making requires a higher order of thinking. To reach that level, leaders must first learn to control their minds, then to root out flawed belief systems so they can cultivate the conditions to win powerfully in their minds before taking action.

Question:  In general do you find it easier to teach a younger (20's/30's) person or an older person (40's/50's) to think like an elite warrior to lead and succeed? Any idea why?

Mark:  It depends. I find it easy to teach people who are very committed to training and personal development, regardless of their age. Having said that, the insights and life experiences of the older student definitely accelerate their growth and allow for more spontaneous leaps in consciousness and world-views. I believe, though, that the younger one is when exposed to The Way of the SEAL integrated warrior development training, the greater potential there is to live an exceptional life with no regrets.

Question:  For someone wanting to become a Navy-SEAL what is the one best piece of advice you would give that person?

Mark:  Prepare yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually . . . then show up every day with a smile, put out 100%, set micro-goals, visualize your win, breathe deeply, serve your teammates . . . and don't quit!

Co-author of the book is Allyson Edelhertz Machate is a Phi Beta Kappa member and a New York native.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Key Interviewing Questions To Ask To Identify Leaders

The next time you are interviewing a candidate and you want to access their leadership skills, consider asking the candidate these questions: What personal qualities define you as a leader?  Describe a situation when these qualities helped you lead others. Give an example of when you demonstrated good leadership. What is the toughest group from which you've had to get cooperation? Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas?  What was your approach?  Did it work? Describe a situation in which you had to change your leadership style to achieve the goal? One leadership skill is the ability to accommodate different views in the workplace, regardless of what they are.  What have you done to foster a wide number of views in your work environment? Thanks to Sharon Armstrong, author of The Essential HR Handbook , for these helpful questions!
Post a Comment
Read more

Communicate Often And Tell A Story

"Most leaders' visions fail, not due to a leader's inadequacies, but due to the leader's lack of communication," said Margaret Reynolds of Reynolds Consulting, LLC in Lee's Summit, MO. Reynolds shared her expertise with me recently during an interview. She added that it's not that leaders don't communicate, but that they don't beat the drum regularly enough. "Leaders need to communicate often, regularly and consistently," she recommended. "In terms of how to communicate so people get it, it is pretty widely accepted that story telling is the most effective," explained Reynolds. Leaders need to paint a vision where people see it often. She recommends that leaders share their vision at least seven to 10 times with their employees, and to make it clear to everyone what specifically each person can do each day to help achieve the collective mission. Reynolds' other advice to leaders is to be one who: •listens with respect...
Post a Comment
Read more

Resolve To Find A Mentor In 2011

Having a mentor is one of the best things you can do to advance your career as a leader. So, decide today to secure a mentor who will work with you during 2011. Make that one of your New Year’s resolutions. A mentor can benefit leaders new to their leadership role and they can benefit experienced and seasoned leaders, as well. A strong mentoring relationship allows the mentor and the mentee to develop new skills and talents, to build confidence, and to build self-awareness. Proper mentoring takes a commitment from both parties and it takes time to develop and to reap the rewards of the relationship. Plan to work with your mentor for no less than three months, and ideally for six months or longer. When seeking out a mentor, think about these questions: 1.  Will the relationship have good personal chemistry? 2.  Can this person guide me, particularly in the areas where I am weakest? 3.  Will this person take a genuine interest in me? 4.  Does this person ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Find The Ideal Tone For Your Emails

Can't quite master the ideal tone for the emails you send employees and customers?  Or, do you have employees whole struggle with the tone of their emails?  You might want to check out ToneCheck. ToneCheck , a software program that works with Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010, helps to ensure your tone is clearly communicated and understood. It acts somewhat similar to an email spell checker, and you can select the suggested alternatives or ignore the advice. The program evaluates words and phrases for the intensity of eight primary emotions, allowing you to adjust the overall tone before you send your message. ToneCheck scans your messages for terms that may be inadvertently conveying: • Affection • Friendliness • Amusement • Excitement • Sadness • Grief • Fear • Uneasiness • Anger • Shame Over 165 billion email messages are sent worldwide each day. The average worker will spend 10 years of their work life dealing with email. And, sometimes, perhaps all t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Exit Interviews

Knowing why an employee leaves your company can help you to reduce your employee turnover rate. That's because you can use the reasons a departing employee provides to gather information about processes, people and departments that might need some redirection to correct situations that may have contributed to the employee's reasons for leaving. So, do an exit interview whenever possible with each departing employee.  Ask each person: Why they are leaving What they liked about their job What they would have changed about their job How they felt about the cooperation level among co-workers How they felt about communication and interaction with co-workers Whether they received the necessary training to do their job Whether they received frequent coaching and balanced feedback from their supervisor Would they recommend a friend apply for work at your company How they felt about their pay How they would describe the morale in the company and in thei...
Post a Comment
Read more

How To Avoid 8 Common Performance Evaluation Pitfalls

As the year comes to a close it's likely time for many business leaders to tackle the annual performance appraisal process. So, here is a good reminder from author Sharon Armstrong about how to avoid eight performance evaluation pitfalls .  These are in what I consider is the best chapter of the book The Essential HR Handbook , that she co-authored with Barbara Mitchell. 1.  Clustering everyone in the middle performance-rating categories 2.  Overlooking flaws or exaggerating the achievements of favored employees 3.  Excusing substandard performance or behavior because it is widespread 4.  Letting one characteristic - positive or negative - affect your overall assessment 5.  Rating someone based on the company he or she keeps 6.  Rating someone based on a grudge you are holding 7.  Rating someone based on a short time period instead of the entire evaluation period 8.  Rating everyone high, to make you look good There's ot...
Post a Comment
Read more

Give Positive Feedback. Don't Praise.

There is an important difference between giving your employees positive feedback and giving them praise . Positive feedback focuses on the specifics of job performance. Praise, often one-or two-sentence statements, such as “Keep up the good work,” without positive feedback leaves employees with empty feelings. Worse yet, without positive feedback, employees feel no sense that they are appreciated as individual talents with specific desires to learn and grow on the job and in their careers, reports Nicholas Nigro, author of, The Everything Coaching and Mentoring Book . So, skip the praise and give positive feedback that is more uplifting to your employees because it goes to the heart of their job performance and what they actually do. An example of positive feedback is : “Bob, your communications skills have dramatically improved over the past couple of months. The report that you just prepared for me was thorough and concise. I appreciate all the work you’ve put into it, as...
Post a Comment
Read more

How To Write An Employee Satisfaction And Engagement Survey

According to Polaris , a company that specializes in employee research, “a company’s employees are often the face and frontline of an organization and their opinion of that organization affects their attitude, thus affecting customers’ attitudes, behavior and ultimately, the bottom line.” That is why Polaris recommends that business leaders conduct employee research that allows leaders to better understand what motivates employees, drives loyalty, and makes and keeps employees happy. “An added benefit of conducting employee satisfaction research is that, in doing so, a company lets their employees know they are important, their opinions and suggestions matter, and there is a sincere desire to make the company an enjoyable place to work,” reports Polaris. Here are 10 questions Polaris recommends you ask employees as part of a wide-ranging employee satisfaction and engagement survey : For each of the following statements, indicate if you: • Strongly disagree • Disagree • Somew...
Post a Comment
Read more

Use A Board Of Advisors

David Burkus often provides valuable comments to my various Blog postings, and he's a person who effectively uses a board of advisors, instead of mentors, to help him achieve success. "I've found that in my life, it was easier and more effective to set up a board of advisors," said Burkus, the editor of LeaderLab . "This is a group of people, three to five, that have rotated into my life at various times and that speak into it and help me grow. I benefit from the variety of experience these people have." LeaderLab is an online community of resources dedicated to promoting the practice of leadership theory. Its contributors include consultants and professors who present leadership theory in a practitioner-friendly format that provides easy-to-follow explanations on how to apply the best of leadership theory. Community users can download a variety of research reports and presentations about leadership and leadership versus management. For example, a pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Five Points Of Professionalism

Here's more good advice from The Everything Coaching And Mentoring Book : Professional behavior on the job means that work habits are strong and consistent.  Your organization's work ethic should be solution- and positive-results-oriented. And you should regularly take inventory of these five points of professionalism : Honesty and integrity Learning and initiative Resilience Positive attitude Teamwork Check out these useful online resources for more coaching and mentoring tips and advice: Micomentor The Center for Coaching and Mentoring The Coaching and Mentoring Network Coaching and Mentoring for Small Business Owners Manager's Forum Coaching and Mentoring Careers Peer Resources Coaching and Mentoring Training
Post a Comment
Read more