By way of background, I grew up in Kansas on a family farm, attended the US Naval Academy for college, graduated with a commission in the US Navy in 2002, and shortly thereafter began Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL (BUD/S) training as a member of Class 242. After completing qualification training, I cycled through a series of overseas deployments and pre-deployment “work-ups” for several years until receiving an assignment in 2008 to be a platoon commander at a SEAL team. In September 2009, I traveled to Afghanistan to be on the ground a couple weeks before the arrival of the main body of my platoon. We knew this would be a rigorous combat deployment and therefore it would be critical as a leader to learn as much as possible from the unit we would replace prior to their departure. This meant that a six-month deployment for the majority of the platoon’s members became a seven-month deployment for its leadership. In the US military, or at least in the community in which I served, servant leadership permeates all action: leaders eat meals last, leaders deploy overseas first, and they go back home last.
On the first operation of this deployment to Afghanistan—before the main body of the platoon had arrived in country—I sustained a life-threatening injury which would drastically change my life. I awakened from a medical coma approximately ten days after the injury occurred, already back in the United States at a military hospital, to learn of several key facts: during the nighttime assault operation, I stepped on a buried explosive device large enough to potentially obliterate me and kill the rest of the team. Fortunately, no one else was injured, and my fellow SEALs responded quickly and decisively to save me. That meant dragging my body down the hill over sharp rocks to eventually arrive at a flat landing zone where I was loaded onto a helicopter.
When faced with a setback of this magnitude, it was important for me to assemble facts and gather information about the situation. With double leg amputations above the knees, walking will be possible but not easy, and a host of internal injuries will make basic bodily functions difficult for at least a while. The future course of my life was entirely uncertain, but one thing it will not involve is a return to the SEAL community as an operational member. It was tough but important for me to face this reality, because then I could begin the process of forming new goals. Setting goals allowed me to feel positive about the future and act in their pursuit. Action and progress were important, but inevitably in the hospital there would be setbacks which were completely outside of my control. I had to learn to accept this reality as well.
Leadership requires resilience
At this point in my story, I think it is appropriate to draw some parallels to leadership challenges. For one, leaders often bear what seems to be a crushing weight on their shoulders. How can a leader lead an organization if they cannot bear this weight over time? Second, leaders will face setbacks as they attempt to inspire and move the team in pursuit of its mission and objectives. How can a leader push themselves and the team through, above, and beyond such obstacles if they struggle to deal with setbacks themselves? Resilience is the foundation of leadership. Without personal resilience, a leader will not be able to support the weight of responsibility that often comes with the job. Before any other principles of leadership can come into effect, there must be resilience in the leader’s core.
Principles that facilitate resilience
For me, the ability to move beyond this injury, and not let it define the rest of my life, came from a couple of principles which I think are central to this notion of resilience.
Adjust goals to remain realistic based on the unexpected
First, I began to set goals and act daily in pursuit of them, which started to form a habit of action. My goals were not the ones I had in my life just prior to the injury, but nevertheless, here I am in this situation with these goals now. I wanted to walk full-time without a cane or the use of a wheelchair. I wanted to eventually run, but walking should probably come first. I often had to place these long-range goals on the back burner, though. Even though they were powerful sources of motivation, they seemed too distant at first. What do I need to do today to move in the desired direction? The answer was easy with physical therapy and specialists beside me in the hospital to help me train to achieve these long-term goals. Ultimately, this is about focus. Achieving a goal requires several steps: setting a realistic and meaningful target, creating a plan, staying committed, taking setbacks in stride, seeking feedback, adjusting based on what you learn, and consistently taking action every day. For leaders, an ability to focus, and refocus when appropriate, on doing what is necessary to get through the challenge or setback is critical for resilience.
Take a step back when viewing a challenge
Perspective—the way in which we look at an event—is the second concept which I believe helped me during this massive disruption in my life. When I eventually began full-time physical therapy, learning how to walk on prosthetic knees, I was out of my inpatient room and surrounded daily by critically injured service members. I met all types of people with all kinds of acquired disabilities, many of which were amputations, dealing with the same sorts of struggles. In many cases, there were people who clearly had it worse for one reason or another. I began to realize that I have a lot to be thankful for: my life, family, the full use of my brain, my vision and hearing, my arms, and the list could go on and on. I now realize that perspective is all about how you look at a challenge. There are many ways to view a situation, and yet we often fall into the habit of looking at a major challenge through just one angle. Try looking at it in a new way. Over time, with a shift in the way I viewed my injury, I was able to forge a new mindset, and with that a much stronger attitude. This made all the difference in how I approached the circumstances and fact of my injury. Instead of a “setback” it became a “challenge.” It is incumbent on leaders to approach disruptions, setbacks, and defeats in new ways - not only for themselves, but for their team. They should challenge their team to do the same and keep communicating new ways of looking at a problem. Ultimately, this creates positivity in the team atmosphere.
Conclusion
For me, resilience came from a combination of focus and perspective: challenging myself to see the situation from a new angle and then focusing on my goals and what needs to be done today in pursuit of them. Resilience is just one aspect of leadership, but I believe it is central—it underpins everything else. And yet, throughout history, many awful people have demonstrated an ability to persevere, adhere to an objective, and not give up. That is why “ethical resilience” is perhaps even more apt. Ethical leaders summon grit in pursuit of a just and proper goal, and they display a firm resolve so that they may better serve the team and its mission—instead of themselves.
