The principles and practices that make the U.S. Navy SEALs the elite team that the U.S. military calls on to perform its most critical “no-fail” missions can be applied in the business world, a retired SEAL told more than 400 people attending Thursday’s annual meeting of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.
“Have you ever had a job that you really had to nail – that you could not fail?” retired Rear Adm. Scott Moore asked as he began an hourlong presentation that included lessons he learned during his 30-year career as a SEAL team member and leader.
SEAL is an acronym for Sea, Air and Land teams, the U.S. Navy’s primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command.
According to Moore’s bio, he participated in more than 2,000 covert missions around the globe and was the on-scene commander for the April 2009 rescue of the cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama’s captain, Richard Phillips, from Somali pirates. The event was the basis for the 2013 movie “Captain Phillips.”
Moore, a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, served in every leadership position in the SEAL teams, including commanding the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. He closed out his career as the No. 2 leader in the entire SEAL organization.
Although the extensive – and sometimes tortuous – training Navy SEALs must undergo to become and remain a SEAL makes them an elite fighting force, much more is required to succeed at the critical missions entrusted to them, Moore said.
“There’s really three things that matter, and none of them have to do with an individual’s skill or performance,” he said. “That’s what you have to have on these missions, especially where you can’t fail.”
Those three things, which Moore calls “foundations,” are the leadership, the team and the culture that lead ultimately to success.
“It’s more than the training that made us who we were,” Moore said.
Leadership, at least “leadership that works,” requires a leader to accept that role, to listen to more-experienced team members regardless of rank, and to make a decision and explain it to team members. Once a decision is made, he said, the leader has to “lead the decision” by being fully committed to it.
“I remember having three books as a SEAL lieutenant – ‘The Art of the Leader’ and a couple of others … I never finished any of them. I’m the experiential guy,” Moore said.
The second foundation is the team – which takes precedence over any individual on it, he said. A successful team is cohesive and transparent, meaning there are no secrets among its members and they speak honestly to one another; each knows their own and others’ roles, and trust is paramount.
The third foundation, he said is the culture developed within the team and the organization itself.
“The culture drives everything,” Moore said, and ensures the success and longevity of the enterprise, whether it’s an elite component of warriors, the SEALs organization, a military branch or a business venture.
“These are things that transform an organization,” Moore said after his presentation. “And they’re easily transferable to any organization if the top folks just care about including their people in the discussion. That’s how you grow your culture, that’s how you enhance the communication of your mission – just include your people.”
