Leadership Lessons
Think deeply. Converse openly. Share generously.
Fixing Your Position
Every mariner knows that before deciding where to go, they need to know where they are. We spend a great deal of time working with leaders at all levels. Often, we get into conversations about their goals and desires. What they might want to do next. What they want to accomplish. What kind of leader they want to become.
Those are useful questions. But before plotting a course, it might be worth really understanding where they are right now.
The Essence of a Thing
“The essence of a thing”. I’ve recently heard this in a few settings from very different people. Perhaps this is one of those “words of the year” things, or a “pay attention to this” moment that God is inviting me into. Regardless, essence came up twice on a recent trip; once specifically related to the experience.
Making Room
This past weekend, I shed some tears as I dragged a grey velvet rocker recliner out of my daughter's bedroom. It was the chair where we learned how to feed her at 3:00 a.m. and where we rocked through more fevers and snuggles than I can count. It was also where we read the same bedtime book so many times that we both had it memorized. She is 7 now. The chair hasn't held either of us in years and has become a place to toss clothes and toys.
Getting teary about a piece of furniture felt a little ridiculous. But anyone who has cleared out a childhood room knows it’s never really about the chair.
scarcity of resources enables creativity
In early 2005, my SEAL platoon was assigned to work alongside British conventional forces in southern Iraq. Before beginning operations, we spent several weeks training together to make sure we could work effectively alongside one another.
During that training, something surprised me. Although they were a conventional military unit, the British soldiers displayed the same ingenuity and improvisation I had come to associate with special operations forces. They were constantly finding different ways to solve problems, adapt equipment, and get more out of what they had.
competitive fire
If you knew me as a kid, you’ll likely remember that I absolutely hated to lose. That was mostly a bad look. If you knew me as a young man, you may have noticed that I had grown up a bit and simply loved to win. That still, was often a bad look. If we’ve met more recently, you’ve (hopefully) noticed that I just enjoy the opportunity to compete, which has helped me to be much nicer to myself and those around me.
Moving at the Speed of the Problem
I love watching football. The precision of every movement is carefully orchestrated to create, sometimes by only fractions of a second, opportunities for a single player to make a play. A running back gets through a hole in the line. An almost imperceptible stutter step that allows a receiver to get one stride ahead. A subtle weight shift that allows a defensive tackle to slide by and pressure the quarterback. Yet, I know that to make that one play happen, there were countless hours of practice and training I can’t see from my couch on a Sunday afternoon. And there are dozens of these plays coaches develop into a game plan every week, only for game day to bring an opponent trying to disrupt that plan. This is the old military adage: the enemy always gets a vote.
In fact, part of the strategy of teams and military units alike is to move fast enough to create confusion in the opponent. The advantage goes to the team that can see what problem is happening and respond faster than the opponent can adapt.
Risk, Reward, Reality
In the SOF community, we talk about risk before we conduct any mission. Though, on the surface, it may look like it’s all Hail Marys and goal-line heroics, the truth is that everything comes down to a calculus of risk, reward, and the ever-present forces of reality.
Rote until real
Recognizing that I volunteered as a Ranger, fully knowing the hazards of my chosen profession, I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor, and high esprit de corps of my Ranger Regiment. I stood in formation and recited this and five more stanzas of the Ranger Creed every morning from the day I showed up to R.I.P. in 1998 to the days we went to war in 2002 and our op-tempo no longer allowed morning formations.
If You Want to Love the World
“If you want to hate the world, watch the news. If you want to love the world, travel it." I saw that quote going around about the World Cup coverage. It’s unattributed, but something that everybody seems to nod along to anyway. Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past month, I hope you’ve watched a game or two, or at least been privy to the World Cup goodness across socials and the news.
Clarity and the Crowd
Companies can spend a lot of energy trying to be all things to all people. They can constantly change their product lines to match the latest trendy thing. Changing branding or messaging may add some new customers, but it may also leave long-standing customers confused or frustrated. Companies that take on every client who will have them will have plenty of work in the short run, but often find themselves adrift and exhausted in the long run. Leading our teams and businesses in a way that keeps everyone happy, is actually not leading at all.
For Anyone, But Not Everyone
“That’s alright, candidate! It’s not for everyone!”
I heard this offered hundreds of times during my two-ish years in the Special Forces training pipeline. This not-so-subtle encouragement to quit was always met by one of two responses from the candidate at the center of the instructor’s crosshairs: defeat or strengthened resolve. The cadre didn’t particularly care which one you chose, but they knew that you were at a place where it had to be one or the other. Do you want to be here and do this, or not?
The Homework No One Sees
Rory McIlroy joined professional golf royalty this past weekend when he won his second Masters tournament. Back-to-back wins. His name now sits alongside Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods as one of the only players to win at Augusta in consecutive years.
This feat follows years of meltdowns at high-level tournaments. The highlights from this weekend will show clutch putts and celebrations. What they won’t show is what happened in the weeks before any of that. The homework and preparation that no one sees.
The Gut Tells Us To Come Home, The Head Shows Us How
Two weekends ago was the best birthday I’ve ever had. I spent it with my son at a rock festival in Orlando—something I never could have anticipated when I left the Army for my family in 2009. In 2009, I left the Army to find my way home. It took years to get there. I felt it deep in my gut—even as leaders and family urged me to stay for a host of reasons: I was “good at it,” and we were in a recession.
Both were true. But being good at something isn’t a good enough reason to stay. And headwinds shouldn’t stop us from moving forward. Regardless, that rationality wasn’t as clear and consistent as the pulse in my gut telling me to go home.
Help, Hype, Harm
You’re likely familiar with the Pareto Principle (the old 80/20 rule), which tells us that roughly 80% of our results come from roughly 20% of our efforts. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. It shows up everywhere, and it has for a long time. As much as I love the concept, I think we might reconsider it (at least in this context) because the way that we distribute our time, attention, and energy is actually less of a power law distribution, and more like a bell curve.
To Run or Not to Run? A Reflection on False Dichotomies
I’ve been running my whole life. From soccer to the Army, marathons, and beyond, the miles have added up – the wheels are worn, and the power train rattles. Plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, sprained ankles, bone spurs, nerve damage, runner's knee, arthritis, four hernia repairs, sciatica, upper hamstring tear, and spinal compression are some of the dents in my fenders.
This means long runs and hikes all come with at least a little discomfort. Sometimes A LOT.
I suppose this leaves me with a choice. Do I keep running, or stop running?
Analog Joy
Whether you’re raising kids or leading a team, a ton of us are asking the same question right now: how do we get back to real connection without going to war with technology or wishing it was still 1988? Because while that'd be cool, the 80's are gone and technology is here to stay. All joking aside, we talk about this a lot on our team. Blayne, his wife Jeni, and my husband and I are raising two incredible little girls, and technology is already creeping into their everyday lives.
If One Wins, Both Lose
From 2017 – 2022, Kelly and I served in the marriage ministry at Mission Hills Church in Littleton, CO. In that time, I had a number of incredible leadership lessons, perhaps none so resonant as the importance of making peace in our marriages – a lesson just as applicable for all of our relationships.
Annual Letter 2026: Major League ALPs: Year Two
In last year’s annual letter, we declared 2025 the year we were "entering the Pros”, challenging ourselves to be boldly better. With a book set to release in February and most of our revenue goal already under contract, we began 2025 with great anticipation. We were confident in our team and our business, and eager to see how, if at all, our book would change things. We took our theme of Major League ALPs very seriously. But like any team trying to earn its place in the big leagues, we knew it wouldn't happen overnight.
Must Be Nice
Have you ever seen someone launch a boat from their lake house, and thought, “must be nice”? I know I have. And it probably is nice, at that moment. But what did it take to get there? How many years of saving? What opportunities were traded for that piece of waterfront property? How many weekends are spent maintaining it? We don’t really know, do we?