Truth Bomb 

Mortar fire hasn’t hit today.

The palm trees just sway in the heat. 

The sun blasts the white-stone courtyard formed between our horseshoe of trailer homes. The light is blinding. 

But I am inside. Our windows are taped up with Hefty 2-ply landscapers bags and rigger’s tape. So we can sleep like vampires in our dorm-sized coffins while the rest of the juggernaut heaves the machine one click forward—maybe. 

Mark is up in his rack, already half asleep. 

I’m sitting at my computer. The cursor blinks at me. 

“How do you define leadership?” 

Mark rustles. 

I don’t look back. I know he’s thinking. 

Between a grunt and a mumble, he musters what strength he has left from the op we just returned from: 

“Vision and guts.” 

Then he rolls over. Till nightfall. 

Hell, With Bells On

That was way back in 2007 on a deployment to Iraq. 

While Mark went to sleep, I continued working on the business-school essay question in front of me. 

By that point in my life, you’d think I would have known what leadership was. I’d graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy (same class as Mark), I’d served as an officer on a ship, I had been Class Leader of my BUD/S class, and I’d already been on one SEAL deployment. 

But I figured I could use a second opinion. And boy was I glad I asked for one. 

Mark summed up in two words what thousands of books have attempted to do in 300+ pages. 

Leadership is pretty simple. You somehow convince other people to accomplish big things—and then to come back to work the next day and the day after. The best leaders create leaders who create other leaders. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. 

Don’t let my description fool you: Simple doesn’t mean easy. There are lots of ways that people might not be convinced or might not accomplish great things. 

Social media thinks that anyone who manages people is a leader. Wrong. 

“Leader” is not a title. It is something that is earned. 

If you can say “yes” to most of these questions, then you might be a leader: 

• Are people invested? 

• Are they working on the right things? 

• Do they work together well? 

• Are they taking ownership? 

• Are they getting results? 

• Do they feel cared for? 

• Are they having fun? 

• Are they growing?

Ultimately leadership is about people (duh). 

So the biggest question we might want to ask ourselves—if we dare—is: 

➡️ “Do people want to follow me?” 

This question might give you a pit in your stomach. Don’t ignore it. That’s information. I’ve been there. 

Or, if you’re completely sure that people will follow you into hell with bells on, then maybe you have it completely backward. Maybe your people smile and high five you as they go out the door—and laugh at you when they get home. 

All you can do is keep growing. Develop the (rare) qualities that separate great leaders from the rest: 

📌 The Four Behaviors of Great Leaders 

1. Crafts Compelling Vision 

Without a strategic vision that is both exciting and likely to succeed, you and your team will be aimless. 

…or worse, constantly fighting fires. 

Amazon’s process for this was top notch. It involved:

1. lots of creative thinking

2. customer obsession (using Jeff Bezos’ phrase)

3. extensive research

4. analysis of plans and data

5. a written proposal that usually went through numerous reviews and iterations

6. robust collaboration. 

Learn more: See this Medium meta post on Amazon’s PR/FAQ process and check out the best book on strategy I’ve found, Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman.

2. Demonstrates Guts

The United States Navy has three core values: Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Bravery is taken for granted in the military, at least as a virtue if not always practiced (military people being human, too). 

In contrast, courage is sorely lacking in the private sector based on my experience at a slew of companies—many of which are household names. Simple exhibitions of standing up for what is right can astonish those around you. 

This one is the quickest litmus test for whether someone is a leader or not. 

That being said, sometimes “discretion is the better part of valor.” There are times when indirect influence is the more likely road to success vs. a full frontal assault (see #3b below). 

Learn more: Read Susan Jeffers’  Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. And cherry pick a few Medal-of-Honor citations, after which your problems won’t seem so big anymore.

3. Motivates Others

There are two main skills to work on within this behavior: 

(a) Communicate with Wild Effectiveness: Are your written artifacts and verbal delivery… ?

1. Clear

2. Catchy

3. Cogent 

4. Concise 

5. Convincing

6. Captivating 

7. Calling to Action 

(b) Influence: I resisted working on my influence skills post-military out of a religious insistence that everyone be as team-oriented and mission-focused as those who serve are. But we need to deal with the world as it is.

People come to work with varying backgrounds and differing incentives/mandates. This latter (double) point explains how two kind, mission-focused people working for the same company can be at odds.

Often smart people (like you) have a choice: be right or get things done. One embraces influence; the other scorns it.

Learn more: Check out Robert Cialdini’s Influence and Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power.

4. Commits Selflessly to the Mission

Really, this one comes first, but I didn’t want to lose the track from our “vision and guts” story earlier :)  

Leaders are selfless. If that describes you, then congratulations! You’re ahead of 99% of managers. 

When you have a mission, everything falls into place. Decisions become easier. Who you hire becomes obvious. 

Everyone can tell those who relentlessly pursue the mission from those who just give it lip service. 

• Who brings more energy to the room? 

• Who do you think they want to follow?

Learn more: Watch Zero Dark Thirty. It’s not the Navy SEAL scenes; it’s Jessica Chastain’s character. She’s obsessed with the mission in a way that those who will never “go pro” can’t fathom. 

TLDR

If you take nothing else away from these tips, know this: 

Being a leader is not something you do on the side. It’s not something where you just wing it. A leader is who you are—if you choose. 

It’s also not a title, and it’s not about your ego or your bank account. If I could have elegantly thrown in an f-bomb in the previous sentence, I definitely would have.  

Leadership is about service to others. 

Closing the Coffin

I type one more line: “Leadership is simple. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It’s a calling. A profession.” 

Then I close my laptop. I don’t know it yet, but that vision-and-guts essay will get me into Harvard Business School. 

It’s way past my bedtime, and we’ve got an op later. 

Wake me when the sun sets. 

 ❤️ Andrew

Coda

Outro

If you’ve never listened to Shovels & Rope, you should check them out. They’re great in concert. The female part of that duo is Cary Ann Hearst. 

This remix is of her song of the same name. And I love it. 

“Hells Bells” by Cary Ann Hearst (Lance Herbstron Remix) 

Cheers

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