Lessons and Growth Are Never Spontaneous
Lessons from Coach Jason Garrett and the Senior Leaders at West Point
Mis compañeros, amigos, y familiares,
Buenos días. It is time for some early morning reading, reflecting, and writing.
Lots of experiences and thoughts are on my mind this week:
Got to teach topics like the Army Profession, Army Ethic, and Trust
Jason Garrett, former Dallas Cowboys head coach joined us for class and some great learning
West Point Senior Leaders addressed our Cadets and faculty enrolled in the Superintendent’s Capstone Course on Officership
Attended the promotion of the great Travis Tilman to COL - an incredibly important day
Groundhog Day today
Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog weather watcher, was pulled from his warm burrow this morning and saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter. Isnt that awesome! (If you are hockey player)
Think about this quote for a minute:
“Meeting people is never an accident. Someone can't walk in and out of your life without reason. Lessons and the growth that you experience are never spontaneous. It's always meant to be. There's a higher purpose, an end beyond you and I, which we will never know until we reach it. So, I want you to stop treating your experiences as casual occurrences that randomly took place and start looking for a deeper meaning, an end, or a goal. Something that helps you flourish, that teaches you the important lessons that only people and their existence can provide you. There is a plan—and you must find it if you want to conquer it. Think about it, in a world consisting of over 8 billion people, each capable of teaching you something— why did your path cross with this person? It was because you needed a particular lesson at this point in your life. Think about it deeply, only then will you stop treating your growth as an accident and start appreciating it as a beautiful journey meant just for you." - Ruby Dhal, My Hope for Tomorrow
One of the cool things about teaching at the United States Military Academy are the engagements we have with folks from outside the walls as well as inside. They can be a distraction - but most are great learning opportunities that should be maximized. This week my team engaged with Coach Jason Garrett from outside and our senior leaders (Superintendent, Commandant, Command Sergeants Major) internally. Great lessons!
BLUF - I have learned over the years that we must take advantage of learning from every experience and engagement - good, bad, and sometimes ugly - but there is something to learn and we learn not just from the engagement but by reflecting on that engagement. Today I am going to share some lessons from the engagements I had this week starting with a statement from Coach Jason Garrett, ‘Learn from your exemplars but dont copy them - apply lessons that work within your authenticity.’
‘You win with people’ - Woody Hayes
Coach Garrett started his day in my MX400 Officership class where we were discussing Professions, The Profession of Arms, and the Characteristics of the Army Profession. Now for background, coach is a Princeton grad who spent most of his career in professional football as a player (backup QB on multiple teams, but did win 3 Super-Bowl rings) and then entering coaching, eventually spending 9+ years as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
He made it clear that his lessons from football don’t automatically equate to the Army because there is clearly a huge difference in purpose - or as the characteristics of professions state, there is a huge difference in how vital each vocation is to society.
Having said that - I heard and learned a lot from the day’s engagements and if I couple a few with the comments from our senior leaders it is a great week of learning and growth!
The 5 characteristics of the Army profession are:
Military Expertise / Competence
Honorable Service / Character
Trust / The bedrock of the profession
Esprit de corps / Jealous regard for honor of the unit
Stewardship of the profession / Commitment+
In the NFL expertise and competence is very important - it is the ultimate meritocracy in many ways. However you might think it is only being the best individually at your position. The truth is it isnt the best 53 players as individuals, it is the best 53 members of a cohesive team that breeds success.
Competence is critical - but it’s not the only factor. You must value people who demonstrate your organization’s values (professional identity) - it is competence + character + commitment with a willingness to demonstrate TEAM > ME
Building relationships of trust is crucial. This was also reiterated heavily by the Superintendent later in the week. These relationships are built by demonstrating trustworthiness and humility coupled with consistently demonstrating competence, character, and commitment.
A couple of examples of strong relationships of trust. Coach reiterated that he can see teammates from 30 years ago who shared the hardship of preseason 2 a days (the game has changed) in the Austin heat and it is like they saw each other yesterday. They are teammates for life!
I have similar personal experiences when I engage with my classmates and teammates from 30+ years ago. We are quick to pickup where we left off and quick to support each other in times of challenge and need.
LTG Gilland shared a similar message in fact focusing not only on being a GOOD TEAMMATE - but becoming a GREAT TEAMMATE!
He shared the recent experience of the eulogy given at the funeral of West Point graduate and Medal of Honor recipient Buddy Bucha.
Here is a short video to learn about Mr Bucha:
The eulogy was given by Mr Dave Dillard, Mr Bucha’s RTO (Radioman is layman’s terms) from Vietnam more than 50 years ago.
Quoting as best I can from Mr Dave Dillard’s remarks as shared by the Superintendent:
My name is Dave Dillard, and I was the radio operator for my captain—his RTO-on all of his missions against the North Vietnamese Army. The duties of an RTO are many: you're the captain's eyes, his ears, sometimes his voice, sometimes even his bodyguard or his cook. I was also his confidant. We spent many hours together in the jungle or at different firebases. I listened to his stories, and they were wonderful. He spoke so fondly of his time at the Academy, and he loved West Point.
You have to understand: I was 18 years old, fresh off the farm, with hardly any life experience. Yet he wanted to know about my background, and he listened to me.
Suddenly, I felt important. That's the kind of man he was—an amazing listener.
We were on a mission during the Tet Offensive of 1968, after the North Vietnamese Army invaded Saigon. Our job was to find the retreating enemy before they crossed back into Cambodia. We had been on this mission for three days and were down to 89 men. We took a resupply, and my captain decided we should leave the landing zone under cover of darkness, set up our night position, and continue the pursuit.
What he didn't know was that our chosen path would lead us straight into the 3rd NVA Regiment-about 1,500 North Vietnamese regulars. Our point element made contact, and the jungle exploded with heavy machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Our forward elements were overwhelmed. We lost six men and had 25 wounded in the first 20 or 30 minutes. We tried to break contact but couldn't. Soon we were trapped.
That's when my captain showed his brilliance. He maneuvered us through a 13-hour battle in the most amazing tactical ways-when by all rights, we should have been overrun. At first light, we discovered the enemy had broken off contact, and 79 of us survived. For his leadership that day, my captain received the Medal of Honor.
People often ask me, "Dave, you were the RTO for a Medal of Honor recipient. What did you get?" I always answer: "I got to live. I got to go home. I got to see my mom and dad. I got to go to college. I now have six children and twelve grandchildren. I have a little ranch in Texas. I got my life."
Today is a very sad day for me, but for 50 years, I was able to work with my captain helping veterans and their families all over the world. For that, I will be eternally grateful. Yes, I miss him, but I know I will see him again. Paul Bucha—whom I called "Bucke" — will always and forever be ‘my captain’.
He will always and forever be MY CAPTAIN!
That is a relationship of trust - one that has lasted more than 50 years. A leader / follower / teammate relationship of trust!
Coach emphasized building a team that isnt just successful - but one you are proud to be part of. Seek to build esprit de corps - the jealous regard for the honor of one’s team - the pride to be part of a team and team members who WANT to be part of it all!
The energy of the leader pervades the team - it is contagious.
He shared an experience a couple of years ago visiting the Seattle Seahawks facility when Coach Carroll was there (now the head coach of the Raiders). Positivity and energy were obvious upon walking in the door and it started from the leader - in that case the Head Coach.
Energy is the spark that gets things moving. It's the enthusiasm and passion that leaders bring to the table, and it has a contagious effect. When leaders are energetic, their teams are more inspired, engaged, and committed. Energetic leaders have a natural drive that pushes them to reach for big goals.
Coach and the Senior leaders all shared the fact that as a leader you OWN IT - you are responsible for your decisions and actions. As coach described it, you are the one at the podium answering the mail to those who hold you accountable.
During his coaching career, he spent some time with Coach K (USMA ‘69) who at the time was the head coach at Duke. He learned from Coach K the need to establish shared standards with clarity instead of forcing rules upon the organization which leads to greater shared understanding and shared accountability.
On good teams - the leader enforces standards and holds team members accountable
On GREAT teams we hold each other accountable
In many ways the Superintendent’s message complimented Coach:
Building relationships of trust
Accountability in all its forms
Caring (Give a Damn in Dewey’s language)
Listening
The Superintendent, who regularly shares his expectations with Cadets including ‘be a good teammate’ upped it a little by stated we should all seek to be GREAT TEAMMATES!
Finally is the importance to be an authentic exemplar - Coach Garrett’s dad was his best example of this. Who is YOUR exemplar?
At the same time we must learn from your exemplars without coping them which goes back to my quote at the beginning. We can all learn from many fountains - but we must learn to apply lessons that work within our authenticity.
Do not become someone you aren’t just because it worked for someone else. At the same time, a member of a profession has a professional identity with expectations of behavior that we must all live up to - even exceed.
Trustworthiness comes from consistently demonstrating Character + Competence + Commitment while being humble enough to realize you dont know everything and there is always more to learn which starts by listening.
This week I will:
Be a GREAT teammate
Be an exemplar by authentically demonstrating my character 24/7/365
Keep the oaths, covenants, and commitments I have made with all my heart, mind, soul, and body
Make each day my masterpiece
Be a Bear
Fight for the right things - Fight Hard - Fight on to Victory!
Dewey
I reflect each week on what I have been learning - I encourage you to reflect daily or weekly as well. I share these notes just to get you thinking about topics related to leadership and character - Do great things!
I love the quote!!