Erik Doebel is the CEO and founder of Leader 193, a consulting firm helping individuals and businesses improve their leadership effectiveness by learning the SEAL approach to leadership. Erik feels "Combat shows the quality of leadership very quickly. Good leaders accomplish the goal with the lowest losses."
Erik learned one of the critical lessons about leadership when he was learning to parachute during SEAL training. "The basics of a successful jump are really easy - adopt the correct body position when you leave the plane; stay aware of your surroundings, especially altitude; and pull the rip cord at the proper altitude. I did everything wrong. I started tumbling on leaving the plane because I didn't adopt the correct posture and lost track of my altitude. Luckily I got it under control at the last minute and just beat my companion dive instructor to pulling my rip cord to open my parachute. As you can see I landed safely. On landing my instructor told me to immediately repack my chute and be ready to jump again within 20 minutes.
Under those conditions you learn quickly one of the important aspects of leadership. You have to recognize the emotion driving your actions, fear in that case, and manage that emotion so it helps, not hurts your performance. Managing your emotions requires you to be in the moment, not daydreaming or thinking about what might be coming up next, to get it right all the time."
The Seal culture is defined by four key aspects: action, say yes first, work with big ideas, and discipline. The critical action step to SEALs is planning. When you plan you are unemotional. Developing plans allows you to look for the big idea that will ensure success. Planning is a methodical process that involves everyone impacted by the action plan, leaving everyone with defined actions they can be held accountable for. Holding people accountable for meeting their component of the plan is discipline. Plans also give you the comparison basis to know when you need to adjust actions to reach the goal based on performance as it happens.
To build a truly great team the discussions among team members need to be honest. Everyone needs to be sensitive to the feelings of the others on the team without seeking retribution. And of course there must be the basics: be on time, pay attention, and be truthful.