In this episode Marcus delves into leadership lessons from Echelon Front’s exclusive event, The Council 004. He discusses the importance of practicing leadership skills before facing real challenges, the power of detachment, and managing pressure within teams. Highlighting a significant leadership event, he shares insights from Navy SEAL snipers Jason Gardner and Steve Ward. Marcus emphasizes applying these lessons in business and personal life to ensure preparedness and sustainable success. Listen to learn valuable tactics and strategies to turn adversity into victory.
Episode Highlights:
02:40 The Importance of Practicing Skills Before You Need Them
04:40 Detachment as a Leadership Superpower
10:48 Understanding and Managing Pressure
Episode Transcript:
00:17
When facing a problem, you have two choices
00:47
You can do nothing or you can do everything humanly possible. Jocko Willink from Echelon Front’s leadership event, The Council, June 24th, 2024. I’m Marcus Aurelius Anderson, and this is another installment of Octanon Verba’s Warrior Wisdom. In these shorter solo episodes, I highlight lessons from the warrior’s past and present and all kinds of settings from the battlefields of Italy, Greece, Japan, and the Middle East to more modern day warfare, including tactics seen today in business.
01:17
society and culture. I’ll also be sharing leadership lessons based on my own teachings and experiences. The reality is this, the world is a battlefield. And to not master these lessons leaves you grossly ill-prepared for the adversity that you will inevitably face in the future. In this lesson, I’m giving some of my key takeaways from this tremendous and very exclusive leadership event put on by Echelon Front called The Council. On OctoNomverba episode 11,
01:47
I gave my key takeaways from when I attended two years ago. So what is the council? The council is a two-day immersive leadership experience limited to 22 participants set in the mountains of Washington state. Jocko Willink, Leif Babin, Jason Gardner, and other members of the Echelon Front Instructors Cadre create an in-depth conversation sharing lessons learned through leadership. This unique event offers leaders the opportunity to truly detach and reflect on leadership challenges
02:17
and get some of the most pressing questions and issues that they have answered. This event includes daily leadership roundtables, discussions, morning PT, fireside conversations every night, and a variety of activities including horseback riding, hiking, and shooting, which I’ll get to later. Participants spend time with the Echelon Front Instructors as well, in both a group and individual capacity. Now on to the lesson. The best time to practice a skill.
02:46
Many leaders at the council were asking how much leadership training is enough to create better leaders and cultures for their companies. Was once a week enough, twice a week? When did it get to a point of diminishing returns? Others asked, what was the best time to do leadership training early in the week, near the end, before an incident, after an incident, et cetera. Jaco answered both of these questions beautifully. He said that everything that happens in your business and in on your teams is a chance to train.
03:15
your leadership skills. And by this he meant, when problems arise, it’s a great time to practice detachment, running through the leadership loop, applying the four laws of combat, and checking your ego to get the best solution. Then Jaco made a great observation. He said, quote, “‘Have you ever noticed that when you don’t need money, “‘the bank is happy to provide you with a line of credit?’ “‘Many of us chuckled at the humor of this reality.’ “‘The bank is happy to lend you money “‘when you don’t need it, yet…’
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when you are financially stressed, they are sometimes less willing to do so. The point that he was making, if this is the best time to practice any skill, be it self-defense or leadership, is when you don’t need it. Think about it. The best time to practice self-defense is well before you need it. If you wait until you’re under attack, it’s too late to practice. The same goes with leadership skills. Practicing the skills mentioned earlier, like detachment, extreme ownership,
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The four laws of combat in a debrief kind of capacity, even after we succeeded at accomplishing the mission, helps us see not only what went well, but what we could improve on in the future. So when you win a big contract or give a great keynote, don’t just say, yeah, I crushed it and move on. Take a few moments, ask for feedback, and take some time to honestly reflect on what you feel could have gone more smoothly or what you can execute better next time. My second key takeaway is why detachment is a superpower.
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Now for me, one of the highlights of this council event was being able to learn long-range shooting from one of the most legendary Navy SEAL snipers alive, Echelon Front instructor Jason Gardner. With three decades of experience in the SEALS teams, Jason has participated in combat operations in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
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As the command master chief of SEAL Team 5 and training detachment, he effectively implemented the leadership principles taught by Echelon Front, witnessing their success in real time. Now I had the honor of interviewing Jason on Octonon Verbas Episode 101, and we had a powerful and robust conversation about the power of empathy and leadership, the warrior mentality and more. When I was in the Army, I was trained to be a squad designated marksman, which
05:34
entailed learning long-range marksmanship skills as well as scouting and fieldcraft. But what I learned failed in comparison to a Navy SEAL sniper that’s had multiple combat deployments and sniper missions. To say the least, I was eager to absorb Jason’s wisdom. The range that Jason and Steve Ward set up for the attendees stretched out to 400 meters and we had a crosswind to contend with. Now this was challenging, but it was also the perfect environment to learn about long-range shooting.
06:04
The target was far enough away and we had enough complexity from the wind hold to show how important the fundamentals of marksmanship are while not being impossible for those behind the rifle to experience success. We took our time getting used to the prone shooting position and communication with the spotter at the shorter distances to give us a fighting chance for when we went to the 400 meter mark. Mind you, these weren’t huge, full-size human-sized Iron Maiden silhouettes like used on most
06:35
These were the smaller iron targets that only represented the kill zone of center mass for those full-sized targets. Even an experienced shooter was going to have little room for error in this sort of environment. For those of you that don’t know, snipers generally go out in pairs. One is on the gun and the other is on the spotting scope. Usually the most experienced sniper is on the spotting scope. Why? Well, there’s a lot of reasons. One is because if something happens to the man behind the gun,
07:04
and he can’t take the shot, the more experienced shooter can get behind the glass and finish the job. Another reason is to provide security, while also allowing each shooter a chance to take a break to rest if necessary. But there’s also a far more important reason. You see, from his detached perspective, the spotter can see all the things that go unnoticed by the shooter, who’s focused only on what’s in his crosshairs.
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The spotter can see potential threats, alternate avenues of approach or egress, and even potential targets of opportunity. From this detached perspective, the spotter can see the entire picture without being fixated on taking a shot. The crosswind that we had went from west to east and would rise and fall often. So from our shooting position, that meant that the wind was blowing from right to left. So at 100 and 200 meters,
08:02
A shooter could aim dead center mass at the target, and even with this wind, they’d probably likely still hit it. They’d likely land left of center mass or possibly barely graze the target, but it would still make a very satisfying sound of ringing steel on contact. But at 400 meters, aiming dead center with this wind would mean that the shooter would often miss, most likely low and to the left.
08:31
I saw shooters that were hitting the target at ease at shorter distances suddenly missed multiple times in a row because they would not listen to the feedback from their spotter and the recommendations that they were giving them regarding holds for the wind. This was discouraging to them to say the least. And this is why the relationship between the spotter and the shooter is paramount. Now when I say wind hold, I simply mean that this is how we compensate for the wind that’s blowing.
09:00
And yes, I understand that a sniper in the field would make the adjustments for this wind and their scope, but that wasn’t the skill that we were trying to cultivate in this scenario. In this case, the wind was blowing from right to left, which means that you would have to hold your sight to the right. For example, if you were missing the target to the left, you needed to aim at the center and far right edge of the target to compensate for the wind. This is why the shooter must trust their partner.
09:30
to give them correct feedback and be willing to adjust based on those recommendations. When the shooter would trust the spotter and adjust their point of aim accurately, you would hear the satisfying ping of a hit. But if they didn’t listen, it just kept shooting to the same center mass. They’d only hear the sound of the shot breaking with no ring of steel. It was at this point that Jason explained the relationship with the shooter and the spotter and why it was also a great leadership lesson.
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In our companies and businesses, if we listen to and trust our team, even when we feel like we are aiming true, it’s their detached perspective that will help us walk in our rounds to get on target and complete the mission successfully. Our team will see all the things that we can’t because many leaders are too fixated on their target. If we as leaders think that we know everything and we’re not coachable, we’ll waste a lot of time and ammo demonstrating
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that we have too big of an ego to change how we are approaching the target. Being detached helps us see the whole picture of what’s happening in real time. This lets you see things clearly without the intoxication of trying to make a hit. This is why detachment is a superpower. My third takeaway revolves around pressure. The last lesson that I’ll cover is from Steve Ward, who was there on the range as well.
10:56
and he gave a great takeaway using the rifle as an example, Steve Ward is a former US Navy SEAL, combat leader, and currently a leadership instructor at Echelon Front. Steve spent almost 30 years in the SEAL teams with 11 deployments all over the globe. The example that he gave talked about pressure. Steve explained that with a semi-automatic or even automatic weapon, that when we pull the charging handle back, the bolt comes forward, strips around from the magazine, and loads it into the chamber.
11:25
This puts the spring that’s now cocked under tremendous pressure. He then explained that after multiple repetitions, this act of loading and firing the weapon can lead to a tremendous amount of force and tension being applied over and over again to that spring. Over time, the spring will break down and eventually fail to fire. And that’s the last thing you want to happen while in combat. His point was that if you have a high performer on your team,
11:53
and all we do is continually apply pressure to them and push, eventually we can wear them down and wear them out, and there will come a time when they will fail to be able to perform. This lesson can also be applied to the entire team, a specific division of a company, as well as ourselves. The way that we prevent this is by intentionally and periodically reducing unnecessary pressure to key areas and individuals. Also by being aware of this pressure,
12:22
We can be on the lookout for signs of wear and tear so that we can head off a catastrophic failure in the future. You’re after action items for this lesson to focus on for the next 30 days. Number one, as Jaco said, the best time to practice a skill is when you don’t need it. So my question to you is, what skill do you need to improve that you can practice now? What does a focused intentional practice look like for you? Remember, by the time that you’re in the fight,
12:51
It’s too late to prepare. Practice the skills that you need now to have a fighting chance when you face adversity. Number two, knowing that detachment is a superpower. Think of a time in the past when employing detachment would have helped serve you to accomplish your goals. Next, look for opportunities over the next 30 days to view things from a more detached perspective to hone this skill for the future. Again, to echo the first lesson, the best time to practice any skill
13:21
is when you don’t need it. Start today. Finally, the third takeaway, ask yourself where in your business or personal life you’ve been applying unnecessary and undue pressure or stress. This could be on a person, a process, or even yourself. Now, some of you will be asking, well, how do I know if it’s undue stress? Look to see if the pressure that you’re applying is helping or detrimental. With this follow-up question, is this stress tactical or strategic?
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long-term or short-term? In other words, are you winning the battle by applying distress but losing the war? Like a spring in a rifle that’s put under constant pressure, it will eventually wear out and cease to fire and perform. Is the pressure that you’re applying burning you or your team out? Would taking a short rest period prevent failure and allow sustainable success that’s scalable long-term? Apply these lessons for the next 30 days.
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and you’ll be amazed at the results. Thus endeth the lesson. Thank you for listening.
