1: It was March of 2011. SEAL Team Six Commander Master Chief Dave Cooper and another Team Six leader were summoned to CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia.

“We think we’ve found Osama bin Laden,” Admiral William McRaven, commander of Joint Special Operations Command, told them bluntly. 

Admiral McRaven then outlined the plan: “Team Six operators would fly into Pakistan in stealth helicopters, fast-rope onto the the compound’s roof, … continue reading

1: “I got it.” 

These were the first words uttered by Captain Al Haynes after the explosion went off in the back of the airplane. He grabbed the control wheel, known as the yoke.

Later, Al would call these three words “the dumbest thing I’ve ever said in my life,” Daniel Coyle writes in The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. 

Yesterday, we looked at the … continue reading

1: The date was July 10, 1989. United Airlines flight 232 took off from Denver headed for Chicago.

There were 285 passengers on board. 

It was a gorgeous day, sunny and mild. There were light winds out of the west at thirteen miles per hour. 

“For the first hour and ten minutes of the trip, everything went perfectly. Over Iowa, the crew, consisting of Captain Al Haynes, first officer … continue reading

1: Our goal as leaders?

To build a high-performing team or teams.

The problem? 

Our assumptions around group culture are mostly wrong, Daniel Coyle writes in The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups.

“Group culture is one of the most powerful forces on the planet,” he writes. “We sense its presence inside successful businesses, championship teams, and thriving families, and we sense when it’s absent or toxic.”… continue reading