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TEDx Talks
Published: 2017-02-02
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljqra3BcqWM
so whoa it's a nightmare war is awful it is in different it's devastating an evil war is health the war is also an incredible teacher a brutal teacher and it teaches your lessons but you will not forget in war you are forced to see humanity at its absolute worst did you are also blessed to feel humanity in its most glorious moments war teaches you about several
then loss and pain and it teaches you about the preciousness and the fragility a few men life and in that fragility war teaches you about death but war also teaches you about brotherhood all I know and humility and leadership and unfortunately war teaches you the most when things go wrong and for me one of the most impactful lessons that I've learned from war was in the
spring of two thousand six in the city of Ramadi Iraq which at the time was the epicenter of the insurgency we're brutal and determined terrorists ruled the streets with torture and rate and murder and it was in one neighborhood of that city during an operation that I was in charge of when all hell broke loose we had multiple units out on the battlefield fighting the enemy
with friendly Iraqi soldiers we had US army soldiers and U. S. marines along with small elements of my seal team and then the fog of war we'd been with its confusion and chaos and mayhem and we just gunfire an enemy attacks and screaming men and blood and death I did not fog of war through a series of mistakes and human error and poor judgment and Murphy's
law and just plain bad luck the horrendous fire fight broke out but this fire fight it wasn't between us and the enemy this fire fight tragically was between us and US friendly forces against friendly forces fratricide the mortal sin of combat and the most horrific part of war and when it was over and the fog of war lifted one friendly Iraqi soldier was dead two more
were wounded one of my men was wounded caressed my seals were badly shaken but it was only through a miracle that no one else was killed and it was reported up the chain of command what had happened that we had fought and wounded and killed each other then we got back to base things didn't get much better there was a message waiting for me for my
commanding officer and it said shut down all operations he said that the commanding officer the master chief and the investigating officer work dean down to my location and they told me to prepare a debrief to explain exactly what happened on the operation and what had gone wrong now I knew what this meant it meant that somebody had to pack it meant that somebody had to be
held accountable it meant that somebody had to get fired for what happened so I began to prepare my debrief maybe in it I detailed every mistake that was made and who made it and I pointed out every failure in the planning and the preparation and the execution in the operation and I pointed out who is responsible for that failure there was plenty of blame to go
around there were sold maybe people that I could incriminate with guilt but something wasn't right but for some reason I just couldn't put my finger on was it felt pain whom specifically I should blame for what happened and I sat and I went over it again and again and I struggled for an answer and then when I was about ten minutes from starting the debrief that
answer came and it hit me like a slap in the face then I realized that there was only one person to blame for the confusion only one person to blame for the wounded men and only one person blamed for the dead Iraqi soldiers and I knew exactly who that person was and with that knowledge I walked into the debriefing room my commanding officer in the master
chief and the investigating officer were sitting there waiting for me along with the rest of my men including my seal that had been wounded who's sitting in the back room with his head in his face all bandaged up and I stood up before them and I asked them one simple question whose fault was this one must use raised his hand and he said it was my
fault I think keep control of the Iraqi soldiers I was with and they left their designated sector and that was the root of this all these problems and I said no it wasn't your fault and another issue raised his hand if it was my fault I didn't pass or location over the radio fast enough so no one knew what building we were in because all this
confusion it was my fault there's no it wasn't your fault either another issue raised his hand and he said boss this is my fault I didn't properly identified my target and I shot and killed that from the Iraqi soldiers this is my fault and I said no this wasn't your fault either and it wasn't yours or yours or yours I says I pointed to the rest
the fuels in the room and then I told them that there was only one person at all for what happened there was only one person to blame and that person was me I am the commander I am the senior man on the battlefield and I am responsible for everything that everything and then I went on to explain to them some new tactics techniques and procedures that
we were going to implement to ensure that this kind of travel never happened again and I will tell you something it hurt it hurt my ego she hurt my pride to take the blame but I also knew I knew that to maintain my integrity as a leader and as a man I had to take responsibility in order to do that I had to control my ego
so that my ego did not control me and you know what I didn't get fired in fact my commanding officer who had expected excuses and finger pointing when I took response when when I took ownership he now trusted me even more and my men they didn't lose respect for me instead they realized that I would never shirk responsibility and I would never pass that hit the
burden of command down the chain and on to them and you know what they had the same attitude only get team where no one takes ownership of the problems and therefore the problems never get solved with us everyone took ownership of their mistakes everyone took ownership of the problems and when a team takes ownership of its problems the problems get solved and that is true on
the battlefield it is true in business and it is true in life so why say take ownership take extreme ownership don't make excuses don't blame any other person or any other thing get control of your ego don't hide your delicate pride from the truth take ownership of everything in your world the good and the bad take ownership of your mistakes take ownership of your shortfalls take
ownership of your problems and then take ownership of the solutions that will get those problems solved take ownership a few missions take ownership of your job both your team all of your future they take ownership all your life Pete look Lee yourself and your team and the people in your life lead them all the victory thank you
