The Program: Lessons from Elite Military Units for Creating and Sustaining High Performance Leaders and Teams

In this Book

• Introduction
• The Fundamentals of a Championship Culture
• Determining “Best”
• Defining “Best”
• Core Means Core!
• Recruiting and Hiring “Best”
• Talent Still Matters
• Determining Goals
• When You Face a Hairpin Turn in the Road
• Determining Standards
• A Commitment to Goals and Standards
• Hold “Best” Accountable
• A Special Operations Teammate
• Meet the Standards—Be a Thumb Teammate!
• Do Your Job! Agreed, Kinda …
• Winning Still Matters
• Great Teammates Hold One Another Accountable
• We Have Seen the Enemy
• The Price of Not Holding Teammates Accountable
• The Benefit of Team Accountability
• Nice and Kind
• How to Be Kind
• Wash Your Hands! Developing a Culture of Accountability
• Do Not “Lead by Example”
• Consistency Builds Trust
• Friend or Teammate?
• Wild-Goose Chase
• What is and isn’t Leadership, and Who are and Aren’t Leaders?
• The Mission
• The First Standard of a Leader—Accomplish the Mission
• Leaders Ask “How?”
• The Little Things Take Care of the Big Things
• The Second Standard of a Leader—Take Care of Your Teammates
• Mission First, People Always
• Controlled and Uncontrolled Environments
• Developing Leaders
• The Power of Delegation
• Leadership is a Contact Sport
• The Roles of a Leader
• Mount Everest—Facing the Challenge
• The Case for Physical Fitness
• Defining Toughness
• A Light Switch, Not a Dial
• Toughness—A Learned Trait
• Developing Physical Toughness
• What is Mental Toughness, and When Do We Need It?
• Don’t Rise to the Occasion
• Be Passionate, Not Emotional
• Choose a Positive Attitude
• Inoculate against Stress
• Go or No Go?
• Go!
• The Death Zone
• The Summit, but Not Mission Accomplishment
• Mission Accomplished
• No Excuses
• A Life-Changing Explosion
• I Don’t Have Enough Time
• Make Preparations, Not Excuses
• Being Motivated is Not Enough
• We Don’t Get What We Deserve—We Get What We Earn!
• Don’t Let Anyone Make Excuses for You
• A Female Marine in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
• We Work Hard
• One More™ in a Combat Environment
• Long-Term Greedy
• Focus on Strengths, Address Weaknesses
• Determining Our “Why”
• The FET is a Target
• Alone on the Beach
• Using CLAPP to Communicate Effectively
• Listening to Understand
• Battlefield Communication
• Three Important Questions
• Tell Your Teammates What You Want Them to Do!
• Using a Back Brief
• Closed-Loop Communication
• Ignoring the Noise
• Putting the Communication Techniques Together