Lessons from a Navy SEAL Part 2 of 4: The Weakest Link
July 1, 2009 by dr. lam
Luttrell continued his story by talking about his selection process to become a Navy SEAL, a torturous journey known as “BUD/S” (Basic Underwater Demotion/SEAL). The inhuman tactics to which these men were subjected were painstakingly detailed by Luttrell during his speech. He talked about men who had to stay for hours in arctic chill of ocean water, running miles on end, having no sleep, verbally abused, continuing their training despite broken bones.
The thing that struck home for me was his idea that the reason for this much torture was to weed out the weak. He said that when someone failed, the team would go out and beat him up. The second time the infraction occurred the guy was out of the training and sent home. I thought about this from a business standpoint, and I have had to make hard decisions about my team when it comes to the weakest link, letting go people that just did not have the acumen, work ethic, culture, and personality to fit my organization. I am not Donald Trump and never like letting someone go, but I realized that over and over again the individual in question was destroying the organization’s morale and credibility. Luttrell says that the weakest link in a team will oftentimes get the team killed. I believe that is true for almost any organization. That may be a hard statement but it is actually quite truthful in my experience.
When I was in residency, we always had The A Team and The B Team. I remember having some residents that I was frightened to be on-call with, not for my sake but for the patients’ sake. I have made it a point to cull the best talent and keep that talent so that every player is an A Team, is reliable, and is talented. I like to use the example of hair restoration. I only have one team to do hair because quality varies too much when there are rotating teams. Not every team member actually makes it through our version of BUD/S. It takes a very special, dedicated, meticulous individual, who can withstand our SEAL team leader, Emina’s rigorous scrutiny. I think when we even select friends sometimes we have “dead weight”. Individuals who cripple our energy and spirit or who drive us toward something that we wouldn’t or shouldn’t do. We should streamline everything in life so that we have no weakest links on any of our teams.
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5 Responses to “Lessons from a Navy SEAL Part 2 of 4: The Weakest Link”
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Okay, I would not make it through their boot camp. I admire people that can do that. Yikes, I guess this makes me a weak link…in regards to boot camp…lol Which is why I haven’t sighed up.
Dr. Lam, I like how you used that example for other things such as business. It is true that the weak link can destroy the rest of the team’s moral and credibility. Good point. There’s a lot of wisdom here for other aspects of life too. Awesome!
any lecture i listen to i try to see how it would apply to my personal and professional life. even in one’s personal life, if you have a friend who is constantly negative or draining (will cover that in a future blog in about 2 weeks), you must set yourself free of that energy. okay, GN, everyone!
That sounds like a really good blog. Look forward to reading it!
ok, I love the picture. I find myself reading your blogs now because I dont have to click for it and the image pulls me in. Nice job. Is it possible to enlarge the font for those of us with aging eyes though?
cheers, SolbergCenter
let me check with my webmaster. that should not be an issue.