Title Page
Summary of
The Wisdom of the Bullfrog
A
Summary of Admiral William H. McRaven’s Book
Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy)
GP SUMMARY
Summary of The Wisdom of the Bullfrog by Admiral William H. McRaven: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy)
By GP SUMMARY© 2023, GP SUMMARY.
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NOTE TO READERS
This is an unofficial summary & analysis of Admiral William H. McRaven’s “The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy)” designed to enrich your reading experience.
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The contents of the summary are not intended to replace the original book. It is meant as a supplement to enhance the reader's understanding. The contents within can neither be stored electronically, transferred, nor kept in a database. Neither part nor full can the document be copied, scanned, faxed, or retained without the approval from the publisher or creator.
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Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.
Introduction
The Bull Frog is a six-foot-tall, half-man, half-fish, reptilian monster with bulging black eyes and a sign around his neck that says SO YOU WANT TO BE A FROGMAN! He challenges students to endure hundreds of hours of calisthenics, endless harassment by battle-hardened warriors, and physical and mental pain the likes of which they have never encountered. After almost four decades of service, the Bull Frog was anointed as the longest-serving frogman and Navy SEAL on active duty. Leadership is never easy, and even those who seem to carry the burden of leadership with ease often struggle. Carl von Clausewitz once said that "everything in war is simple, but the simple things are difficult." Leadership is difficult, but not complicated.
It is about achieving a task with the people and resources you have while maintaining the integrity of your institution. To make the difficult nature of leadership simple, militaries have relied on mottoes, creeds, parables, and stories to inspire, motivate, and guide leaders and followers alike. These sayings provide a memory prompt, a Pavlovian response, and an inspirational surge that helps direct individual actions in the midst of uncertainty. Serving in the military, I relied heavily on mottoes and sayings to guide my actions, such as "Can you stand before the long green table" and "Sua Sponte" to help me remember what steps to take. These sayings have a long history of motivating leaders to make profound decisions.
This book collects eighteen sayings that have guided me throughout my career, mottoes, parables, creeds, and stories that have served me well when I was starting a new assignment or had a difficult leadership challenge. The eighteen chapters are a mix of Personal Qualities and Professional Actions, which are the building blocks of great leaders. I shared the award with my good friend Commander Brian Sebenaler until his retirement in 2012. I hope the book will help you find wisdom in these pages that will make your road to the top easier to travel.
Death Before Dishonor
Honor has had meaning for thousands of years, and is the foundation of great leadership. Legend has it that the phrase "Death Before Dishonor" began with the Greek Stoics, and the samurai of Japan were prepared to die rather than dishonor their service to the emperor. The United States Marine Corps has unofficially adopted the motto after legendary Marine sergeant John Basilone had the motto tattooed on his left arm. At the United States Military Academy, the cadets were dressed in their gray mess dress uniform and reminded of the remarkable soldiers that had gone before them of America's commitment to the values of Duty, Honor, and Service. The commander of the United States Special Operations Command was invited to be the guest speaker at the 500th Night event, a gala that marked the last five hundred days before the West Point juniors graduated.
He entitled his remarks "A Sailor's Perspective on the Army" and provided a perspective not colored by his service uniform. He emphasized that the Army they were joining was not the Army of the Hudson, the Army of history books, or the Army portrayed on the countless murals across campus. He also mentioned the Cadet Honor Code, which is etched in glass set in a stone wall that adorns the academy grounds and beckons young men and women to aspire to live above the common level of life.
The most important details in this text are the importance of character and having a personal code of honor to help guide leaders through difficult times. It is easy to get jaded by the ugliness of life and to become cynical when those we held up as heroes stumble, but if you want to be a great leader, you must have a code of conduct that provides an anchor for your decisions and actions. When I joined the SEAL Teams in 1978, all the operators were Vietnam vets, but there was still a sense of nobility to
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 09.05.2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-4186-1
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Admiral McRaven's "The Wisdom of the Bullfrog" provides readers with leadership lessons from his four decades as a Navy SEAL.