The WAY to WOW Shows
Culture as a Business Advantage
November 25, 2025
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[0:01] Who [music] are you? And where are you going? What do you want? Hello and welcome to Business Lessons from the Military. I'm your host, Kevin Bemel, and I'm here every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to talk about military history, uh, doctrine, and the practices of military leaders, all to distill from them lessons that we can apply to our

[0:37] businesses and, uh, professional lives. So, uh, today I'm going to be talking about um, one one of my uh, favorite books about World War II. It's it's an absolute classic uh of of of the war and that is [clears throat] with the old breed by EB Sledge. So it has a longer title. Um where where's the Yeah, with the Old Breed at Peloo and and Okinawa. Uh so

[1:13] uh Eie Sledge uh was a u young Marine uh who fought in the Pacific theater in in World War II. And this the book the old breed was written uh quite some time later. I want to say in the8s even yeah n 1981. So the book was written 36 years after World War II ended and and it's the reflections of uh you know a man who at that point was you know variously in his

[1:50] late 50s early 60s on the experience he had had as as a much younger man uh in in you know what what was truly the most horrible able war of all time uh but in the light of uh you know a more contemporary uh well- with some distance to it I think is the best way to put it right he wasn't there were quite a number of books written in the late 40s and 50s um many of the key leaders of World War II

[2:27] wrote memoirs and uh and even into the 1970s but already into the 1980s there had been some distance and uh and and so so um with the old breed um has that advantage if you will as it examines what happened to the author during that time period. So I'm I'm going to give you just kind of a brief summary of the book uh you know how the various events ended up are you know I'm not giving away any secrets. Uh EB Sledge, by the way, his his name is

[3:04] Eugene. Eugene B. Sledge. Uh we make fun of that name Eugene these days, I think, unfortunately. Uh but it was a very popular name in the 30s and 1930s and 1940s and even into the 50s. So um Sledge uh enlists the book starts out with uh his background and training. Um Sledge enlists in the Marine Corps. He goes he goes to Marine Corps boot camp which was uh as it is today recognized as the most rigorous boot camp and then he goes on to mortarman training. A mortar is a type of um [clears throat]

[3:41] it's kind of a tube that shoots a shell. So it's it's a small arm. Um it's like miniature artillery almost. And then he's assigned to company K third battalion fifth marines. So, fifth marine, fifth marine regiment. Um, in World War II, the Marine Corps was still organized uh into battal battalions and and regiments. Um, nowadays, the regimental level doesn't really exist. And he was part of the first Marine Division, uh, which he calls the old

[4:18] breed. They were a band of hardened, experienced Marines. And after training the unit stages on Pavvu Island in in the South Pacific. So the first battle in which uh Sledge fights is the battle of Pelu which happened on September 14th, 1944. So the war has already been going on in the Pacific for uh um two two years basically or almost two years. uh and Sledge and his company they land on

[4:53] Peloo expecting a short fight and in the event it turns out to be a very long brutal campaign. So the Japanese resistance was fierce, well organized. They used hidden defensive positions rather than the sort of infamous bonsai charges. Um and uh Sledge describes in pretty graphic detail the physical and psychological to toll of combat um done at at with close range shelling, the

[5:28] constant fear, the filth and just the really dehumanizing effects of the war.

[5:36] >> [snorts]

[5:36] >> So he he recounts um just instances of really gruesome behavior of of soldiers uh taking souvenirs from Japanese corpses including gold teeth. Um and then he also talks about uh how company K suffered very heavy losses including um uh Captain Andrew known as Akak Haldane uh who who was killed um and and

[6:11] this is a leader that that Sledge deeply respects and so it has a a you know pretty uh profound impact on him. And then after weeks of vicious fighting and the for however difficult the combat was in Europe uh the the combat in in in the South Pacific was was much more brutal. [snorts] Uh and so uh after several weeks of vicious combat the island is secured and uh so uh Peloo's company is

[6:47] redeployed back to Pavu. Pav Vuvu for uh for rest and and and reorganization. Uh and uh during this period of of the uh this part of the book, I should say uh SGE reflects on how he thinks uh historians um uh will later judge the battle. um you know was it strategically necessary to take Peloo um given the high costs and and the very

[7:24] limited gains um this is a discussion that that goes on today uh and and I I I will say to digress for just a minute I think that it's much easier to be a Monday morning quarterback in such in these situations than it is to know you know what what should have been done at the time. So, you know, it's all good and well for us to conclude that perhaps uh you know, Peloo should not have been taken, but but of course at the time it the anticipation was it wasn't it was

[8:00] going to be a pretty easy fight, number one, and number two, it seemed like a logical step uh in the island hopping strategy that uh both senior commanders in in the Pacific theater of operations were employing. So, uh after um his his [clears throat] his company's period arresting and reorganizing, getting replacements and such at Pivvu, uh uh Sledge and his company are sent to Okinawa, uh which was the site of one of the largest and one of the bloodiest battles

[8:38] uh in in the Pacific theater. Now, I for those of you who watch the show regularly, you know that my first duty station in the Navy, I was uh my my family and I were sent to Okinawa. Um I got to tour some of the tunnels that the Japanese had built there during World War II and I looked at some of the uh areas where troops where American or Allied troops had landed. Um so I got a little bit of a feel. Um, and I will say that when I was there, which I I arrived in Okinawa around around this time, a

[9:15] little a few weeks later into December of 2006 and was there until early 2010. Uh, the impact of World War II is still felt uh on and by the Okanowens uh to this day. I I will uh one of the things that I found um most interesting I think is the best way to put it. So many uh babies were Okinawan babies were killed during World War II. uh Okinawan women especially have a deep

[9:53] deep love for uh for children uh and a deep I think longing in in a way for all of these um children who were who were killed or murdered and uh I remember still I I'll never forget this being in the uh exchange what's known as the Nex the Navy exchange it's like a department store on a on a military base with my then wife who was very pregnant with um our daughter Meline and uh an aan woman approached us and

[10:31] she said oh are you having a baby and uh my daughter's mother said yes and and she said oh oh so lovely and she started basically um sort of rubbing my daughter's mother's stomach which was you know she was obviously pregnant and later found out that this was a very well a not uncommon uh phenomenon um because uh it it's kind of an outgrowth of World War II. So, um that

[11:07] that something has carried on for so many decades. At that point, we're talking uh 40 years, I'm sorry, 60 years later. Um it's still impacting people who probably weren't born at that time. Um I I don't think this woman was 60 years old. My my recollection is she maybe in her 50s, although maybe she was in her 60s. maybe she was just a very young child um during World War II. Um that that this that that she has this

[11:46] need really to somehow connect to the birth of children and and to children in general. It speaks to just how brutal, how bloody um really beyond I think our comprehension uh to to understand. So uh [clears throat] aside from the brutality of the battle, uh there was frequent rain. I can attest to that. It rained a lot while I was stationed on Okan Okinawa, deep mud, decomposing bodies, and just overwhelming physical and

[12:21] mental exhaustion. Uh I I you know I I was not used to a tropical climate when I got there. I found the heat and the humidity especially in the beginning very taxing. It was very I I'm not I'm not a person who likes to exercise inside in a gym in general. I like I I think of exercise is something you do outside. But it there there were times when just walking around outside for 20 minutes seemed to be exhausting because it was not uncommon to have temperatures in the 90s and humidity in the 90 plus

[12:57] percentile range. So uh it it just you know physically exhausting and then and and that leads to a that alone can lead to a kind of mental exhaustion let alone all of the horrors of combat and and and just the situation. So uh the American forces landed on Okinawa. Um the Japanese put up extremely fierce resistance. Um they would even uh uh infiltrate American positions at night

[13:33] uh killing uh uh Marines and soldiers, you know, if they could. Um there was relentless shelling uh and that increased the stress and terror of of being on Okinawa as well. So, Sledge witnessed fellow Marines breaking down under what at the time was called combat fatigue. Um, what today we would call um post-traumatic stress or or even uh post-traumatic post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.

[14:08] Um, and he basically makes a personal pledge to maintain his sanity. Um, which, uh, it appears he did. um leadership in his the quality of leadership in his unit is is mixed. Um some of the officers are compassionate and incompetent. Others are cruel, incompetent, clearly not um up up to speed in terms of what is necessary uh for the fight in which they're engaged. Um and um eventually of course the

[14:47] allies uh do secure Okinawa. Um and nearly concurrently with that in the in the sort of broader war context uh Germany surrenders. Um Okinawa was the last step before what otherwise would have been an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Um and and of course um that was subsequently rendered unnecessary after the dropping of atomic bombs um at Hiroshima and Nagasaki that

[15:22] led to the Japanese surrender and the end of of of World War II. So uh after Okinawa um Sledge uh serves in China um during a time for a time during the occupation and then you know eventually he is sent back to the United States where he has to grapple with with reintegration into civilian life and mourning the loss of his comrades. It's there seems to be, I think, a a somewhat

[15:57] um wide misperception that World War II veterans quickly and effectively reintegrated back into American society. That was not the case for a large number of veterans. Um I I refer you to a movie um an absolutely wonderful movie. Uh it's it's a f it's fictional but it it rings very very true. It's called the best years of our lives. It's about three uh World War II veterans who return home. One was a prominent banker uh who

[16:36] had uh become a sergeant uh in the army. I believe it is. One was he was kind of just a get along to goalong guy who ended up being an officer. And the third is a young uh private who lose who lost uh both of his arms and uh he he had they were replaced by sort of metal hands. I mean their their hooks is typically and and he returns home. he he had um been engaged to to his his girl

[17:11] before he left and and sort of the trauma of feeling useless and and how could she love him and and and that sort of thing. And the these three characters are emblematic of how difficult of the the types of difficulties that World War II veterans had. uh Jack Kiraak who was part of the beat generation who wrote the wonderful book on the road. And this was another manifestation of the struggles that uh young men in particular had returning home after World War II. They were so

[17:47] young and in some and in many many cases so um naive and idealistic and then to experience the horrors of World War II and to come back and and to see what seemed in to them in many cases the frivolity of civilian life and the luxury in which their fellow Americans had lived because the war economy paid people so well after an you know extensive period of time known as the great depression. So all of these made reintegration into civilian society uh

[18:25] difficult for a large number of of uh of um military uh personnel returning home. Um and and in the end of the book he he reflects um on the on the meaning of war. It's it's it's it's waste. it's it's brutality. Um but he but also the the strength and loyalty that he found um with his in his fellow Marines. So uh you know the the book I think it it

[19:00] rings to me very authentic. Um, again, a man who's reflecting back on a a time in his a time in his life that, you know, just like no other really. And and I don't think any of I I was in the military, as I mentioned, you know, a little while ago. I still I can't I can't even imagine what EB Sledge and his comrades went went through in World War II. I visited Guam while I was in the Navy. Um, not when I was with the Marine Corps, but subsequently my next

[19:37] duty station when when I was with a carrier airwing and we made a port call in Guam and I drove around and looked at some of the um sort of memorials and museums there, looked at one of the invasion beaches, you know, uh, having been a student of World War II for a long long time, I took advantage of those situations where I could see firsthand. Um, but even with those experiences, they're they're just the merest of echoes compared to what uh the men and women uh experienced who fought World War II. Uh, and in in in many cases, the

[20:16] fictional movies, I think, give a much better feel for what went on than some of the non-fiction books I've read. So books like or I mean movies like in a harm's way for example uh and and um I mentioned the best years of our lives the postworld war II set in post world war II uh you know these movies I think are very worth watching if you really want to under understand how people felt because that as fictional movies they were trying to engage um one's emotions.

[20:52] So the the themes of the book are are are many. Um the brutality and and horror of war. Sledge does not romanticize combat. Okay. So um you know he he vividly describes the physical the filth the fear the moral degradation that the war induces. So um this is where I think uh fictional movies and reality part company in the sense a lot of of especially early movies um the

[21:29] fighting CBS comes to mind. It's a great John Wayne movie. It's a lot of fun to watch but it really it almost romanticizes combat. John's John Wayne's movies often did. Um, and and and it was by design. The War Department would not allow I'm Yeah, the War Department would not John Wayne wanted to enlist in the military uh when World War II broke out. And they would not accept his enlistment. They told him, "You're better off staying uh on the home front and making movies to buoy civilian

[22:04] morale." and they wanted him making movies like uh you know the fighting CBS and such. Um so the way combat is depicted in movies uh oftentimes is that's not realistic whereas uh Evie Sledge's uh Eevee Sledge's um uh writing about it uh definitely is. Um he talks about the another theme is is the psychological trauma. So, um, in World War I, uh, there were, you know, they they they called it shell shock. In World War II,

[22:41] combat f fatigue, and more recently, we call it PTSD. These were all ways of describing the uh mental and emotional psychological injuries uh that um especially men in combat um uh to which men in combat felt uh fell prey. Um and they're real. They're real. Um I won't get into you know discussions of of George Patton and all that kind of stuff but um there is psychological trauma is a fact of war. Uh he talks

[23:19] another theme is comradeship and brotherhood. So, uh, despite the horror or maybe indeed kind of because of the horror, um, this sort of band of brothers idea is developed and and that's what helps Sledge survive, his bond with his fellow Marines, the loyalty, the courage, the shared suffering, okay, that gets them through. He also, another theme is the loss of innocence. Um, as I mentioned just a few minutes ago, many many of the

[23:55] young men who uh enlisted in the military after especially after uh uh Pearl Harbor. Uh they were they were, you know, right off the farm. And I don't mean that in in a in a negative way. They were just they had lived their whole lives in rural America. They had never really been away from home. um they want to fight for their country, they want to fight for freedom and democracy, all of these ideas that were being talked about at that time. And and

[24:30] then they were confronted with the reality of a modern-day war. And and it it was just a a a very deep loss of innocence on the part of these young men. And it it really just it was stripped away from them almost like they were peeled like bananas. Um and and and it really forced Sledge himself as were as was the case with many young service members were really forced to confront humanity's very darkest sides and and and quite disturbing.

[25:08] Um another theme was the moral cost of war. So, um, while Sledge is critical of, uh, enemy violence and and and and how, um, how they desecrated, you know, uh, the bodies of of Americans. Um he also is um critical of how the war virtually forced his fellow servicemen to dehumanize other people um including desecrating uh Japanese bodies for

[25:44] souvenirs. So, uh, you know, again, I think the I know the perception of of World War II when I was growing up as a boy was Americans behaved absolutely scrupulously, righteously. Um, and and the Japanese, you know, were were essentially evil. And and uh that's not that's not his that's not uh historical. um uh uh war brutalized a lot of Americans in a way that they came to to to do um at times some horrific things.

[26:22] And then finally uh the final theme that I want to mention is the sense of duty versus waste. So, um, while while Sledge respects the valor and commitment of his comrades, um, he laments the terrible waste of human life and the senselessness of the violence. And that's not to say that, uh, you know, he's anti-war. I think he's pragmatic enough to understand that World War II had to be fought. Uh, but I I you know, I I think most people don't believe me when I say this, but I think

[26:59] the most anti-war people I've ever met are people in the military. Um, because we see firsthand the impact that war has on on people, on our comrades, on ourselves, um, on the enemy. And it's just not a pretty thing to see. and and if there were another way uh then I think most American service members would would choose that way. Un unfortunately uh war has been around as long as human

[27:34] beings have been around and and it it seems that at times war is inevitable. there is there is no other way sometimes and so it's it it is something that has to be um you know faced and dealt with. So just a a couple of other thoughts. Um [clears throat] there's a great deal of au authenticity uh to the book as I mentioned before. Um there it's there's great historical value to it. You really get a ground level view of two brutal uh Pacific theater battles. Um unlike a lot of the

[28:11] books written about World War II where you're really seeing at the strategic level um uh Sledge's book is really their um what um Professor Robert Garland who's whose uh uh course on uh uh everyday life and ancient history calls the other side of history, right? The the unknown people. It gives us that view. It's very well written. It has a great deal of literary merit and it's also uh very very impactful. So if you're if you're only going to, you

[28:46] know, buy one book, one World War II book for the holidays that you haven't read yet and you haven't read with the old breed, I I highly recommend it. I I will put a a link uh to the to the to buy the book on Amazon. Uh full disclosure, it's an affiliate link. if you click on the link and buy something, I think I get, you know, three cents or something like that. Um, but it's very, very worthwhile. So, let's take a break and then let's look at some of the business lessons that we can learn from from uh Sledge's fantastic book, America is a maritime nation. Our

[29:23] freedom and security depend on strong sea services. The Beverly Hills Council of the Navy League stands with our Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine through community support, education, and advocacy. For over 120 years, Americans of all walks of life have heeded our call. No prior military services required to join our mission. The Beverly Hills Council of the Navy League of the United States. Help us support those who serve at sea. Visit navyleague.org.

[30:01] >> So, this is Business Lessons from the Military, and I'm your host, Kevin Bemel. I I've just got done talking about uh the book With the Old Breed by Eugene B. Sledge. Um it's it's about his experience as a combat marine uh during World War II in the Pacific theater of operations. So I have um uh several business lessons I think uh that we can learn from uh from Sledge's book and um the first one is that strong leadership

[30:36] saves organizations and weak leadership destroys them. So, uh, Sledge shows repeatedly throughout the book how good leaders like Captain, um, Andrew Akac Haldane, who was killed on Peloo, protected their marines, prepared them thoroughly, um, and communicated the uh, uh, communicated clearly, while uh, poor leaders such as some of the ones he he know he noted um, on Okinawa endangered their men through ego. incompetence,

[31:13] um just just sheer cussedness. And uh you know I I had um at at a a a staff meeting uh for a a company that I administrate uh for an estate uh you know I um I had a conversation last week and um there's a um two women who work for this company and um we've been we've been working together now for almost two years a little bit less than that. year and nine months, I guess. And

[31:48] uh they've been surprised that uh I don't yell at them, [laughter] you know, and uh that's the best way I can put it. They're just surprised that I don't. And uh they they they keep waiting for that shoe to drop, you know. and we've we've had conversations about uh what I think is appropriate behavior in a professional setting and yelling and screaming does is not included in in that appropriate behavior. Uh and yet,

[32:24] you know, they keep I I think, you know, they're so they've been so used to that as a mode of communication that they haven't, you know, even after almost two years adjusted to not getting screamed at basically when something goes wrong. Uh and it's it's it's it's hard. Uh now you know this this kind of inappropriate professional behavior it pushes good people away I think more so today than

[32:59] ever. Young young people they don't want to be screamed at. I don't know. Can you blame them? I I certainly don't. I never liked being yelled at uh ever. I didn't like my parents yelling at me when I was a kid. I don't didn't like being yelled at in in a business or professional setting. And so I I use that as just one teeny example of good versus bad leadership. Now there are certainly times when a leader may get annoyed or angry and letting other people see that the

[33:37] leader is annoyed or angry may be appropriate. Um but yelling at people, browbeating them, putting them down, um that's never appropriate. It's it's completely counterproductive. And so strong leadership, I would argue, is self-controlled leadership. It's leadership that keeps its eye on the mission and works to keep the the team, the force, whatever you want to call it, focused on achieving the mission. Okay? Whereas weak

[34:14] leadership is very tied up in self-promotion in how you know the the leader looks uh maybe to people who are senior to the leader or to the board of directors maybe to the public and and and will you know even borderline or actually abuse other people in the organization in order to try and create uh what what the leader thinks is a you know the

[34:49] image that he wants to maintain elsewhere. So I think uh leaders who in business who combine competence, humility, uh moral courage these these are strong leaders, right? It is not a it is not a sign of leadership strength to suggest that the leader is never wrong. Okay. First of all, it encourages people to hide their mistakes, right? Because if if the leader hides his, evidently that's what the leader wants. Uh so humility, I

[35:25] think, is an important part of strong and good leadership and we need to exercise that as we do moral courage. Okay. So uh when when you when you know when the inevitable crunch comes and it does with every business every professional practice okay how the leader responds uh under pressure that's the true test of leadership. It's always it's very easy to lead when things are going well when company's making a lot of money but how how does how does how do things how

[36:01] does a leader behave when he's under stress? Okay, that's number one. Number two, um, and this this relates directly to what I was saying just a moment ago, culture determines performance under stress. So, the old breed, the the first Marine, the first division, United States Marine Corps, they held themselves to a high standard of discipline, professionalism, mutual respect, um, even amid the horror of war. And while that's not to say that every Marine in the first division

[36:39] uh achieved that that standard uh the culture that this was the standard in the Marine Corps and and frankly not just with the first division with uh I I think there were five or seven divisions of the Marine Corps by the end of World War II. So the culture of the Marine Corps itself functioned to keep Marines focused physically and mentally fit. Okay. When

[37:16] the conditions of combat should otherwise have broken them down. Okay. And so it it it was the intensive training. It was the care that the officers showed their men. And in fact that officers, well, good officers shared hardships with their men. That's part of the culture of the Marine Corps. And it's something that lasts to this day. I saw it when I was stationed in Okinawa. There were good officers and

[37:52] there were bad officers. And the good officers lived by the eth ethos. I don't eat until my men have eaten. I don't rest until my men are beded down. That was their ethos. Okay. And by the way, I I knew some horrible absolutely horrible officers uh while I was stationed in Okinawa. Um I won't I won't go into what they did. I've talked about it in other shows. Uh but um the number of horrible officers was actually quite small

[38:28] compared to the total number of officers with whom I dealt when I was in Okinawa or even especially with whom I met and and that's that's important and the culture of the Marine Corps reinforces that. So we have to create the same kind of culture in our businesses in the company in the [clears throat] excuse me in the company in our companies the companies we have we started um or even in the company of which we're a part. Okay. So a culture that reinforces

[39:03] accountability teamwork resilience appropriate conduct. Okay. All of these are important and they make they make inappropriate behavior the outlier. They don't prevent it. There are always going to be some people who are not going to do the right thing. It's the nature of any human endeavor. What we have to do [clears throat] is create a culture that envelops our people so it's harder for them to do the wrong thing. Okay?

[39:41] And um this is especially true when crisis hits. So when crisis hits and people are having to to be more reactive, they maybe can't take quite as much time to respond to something as they might were were it not a crisis. The culture should take hold. It should keep the organization moving toward resolving the crisis and continuing on to its goals. [clears throat] Excuse me.

[40:16] and and that's how you'll know if indeed the culture really has become dominant in your business. Okay. So, it's it's it's at those those most difficult times and and that's you this is the same thing in combat, right? You could see the culture of the Marine Corps best during these horrible uh times of of combat. Okay? So we want to build the same kind of again accountability, teamwork, resilience, appropriate behavior into our organizations. We want

[40:51] to make it part of what they are. Not just how we behave, but it's fundamental to what we are. That's that's the that's what culture is. It has to be a part of not something laid on top of our companies, our businesses, our organizations. Okay. Um, number three, prepare for the reality, not the plan. So, Peloo was supposed to be a short operation. It wasn't. And the Marines who adapted to this unexpected to these unexpected

[41:27] conditions, they were the ones who who survived. And those who clung to the assumption that this is going to be a short battle, it's going to be just kind of one and done kind of thing, they did not. Okay. So the the ability to adjust one's mindset to actual conditions and not be held back to not be held back by uh what one thinks the conditions ought to be or was told

[42:02] they would be. Okay, that is going to be the biggest determiner determinator of success. uh than than any single thing. Okay. So, um and I've talked about this in other contexts, so I'm not going to on other shows, so I'm not going to spend a whole lot lot of time with this, but um every business has to make plans, okay? So that it has a sense of where where how to get to its objectives, how to get to its goals. Having said that

[42:37] uh you know most plans this this is a play on on von multi's old uh saying most plans uh fail on first contact with reality. Okay. So planning is essential. The plan in most cases is going to get thrown out the door once it's implemented. Okay. because the ability to adjust to to the reality of the situation is what's going to meet what's is what's going to uh get to the

[43:12] objective. Okay. So, we need to encourage adaptability. We need to encourage planning that deals with multiple scenarios so that within the plan is the assumption that things are not going to go in a linear fashion. All of this uh needs to be dealt with as part of the planning so that in the event that reality does not allow the plan to be fulfilled as is, people can pivot. They can make changes. They can adapt. Okay? And they can adapt even to

[43:47] scenarios that weren't part of the original plan. Okay? and and teams need to be rewarded for updating tactics and and and based on changing conditions. Okay. So, uh you know, if a product is launched and the original launch plan quickly turns out to not be practical and and the team makes a pivot that uh you know to a to an idea that that may lead uh is more likely to lead to success. So that team should be rewarded for taking the initiative to make that

[44:24] pivot. Okay? Even if they're not particularly successful, that they attempted to adapt to reality is is the key idea, the key behavior that we want to encourage. Okay, so that's number three. Number four, small acts of humanity matter in hard hard times. So, um I'm reminded of this commercial I see quite frequently um when I'm watching my favorite show, Hogan's Heroes on Pluto, and uh it it's

[45:00] it's for Diet Coke. So, uh, my trainer, I think, would be mad if he heard me talking about a Diet Coke commercial, but, uh, there's a a young woman, uh, she's working on some kind of presentation, it looks like, and she has her hair in a ponytail, and the voice over is saying, you know, your hair is in a ponytail. That's a sure sign that you woke up late and had to rush to get to work. And, uh, you know, so, in other words, she's having a tough day, right? And a young man walks up carrying two Diet Cokes and he asks her if she wants one, right? And

[45:37] she takes the Diet Coke and the voice over says, "Yeah, go ahead. Take it. Let your hair down." She takes out her ponytail and just just lets her hair. It's an It's very It's very cute commercial. I I I you know, I give Coca-Cola all the credit in the world for it. Um but it's just a little thing, right? And I I don't you know presumably he's romantically interested in her. She's she's a you know attractive young woman. Um but I I think you know it could also be that he sees his colleague is having a tough day and he's like hey

[46:12] you know it looks like you're having a tough day here. Have something to drink. You want to just talk about it a little bit? Kind of get it off your chest. and and and and these these are the kinds of things that we want we of which we want to be conscious right because just some some small thing like that can really turn the tide right so um in in Sledge's book he talks about like sharing water um especially at times when getting fresh water was not easy checking on on a wounded buddy you know offering just a

[46:49] moment of kindness. It's It's sort of what kept, you know, the Marines, you know, sane amid all of the chaos of combat, right? And so, you know, like this man in the Diet Coke commercial in in the business environment, we want to do that as well. So, you know, sometimes just noticing that one of our people may be, you know, kind of off his or her game and just going up and saying, "Hey, hey, how you doing? What's going on?" on, you know, as as a leader or just as a co-orker and and just, you know, acknowledging that, you know, the person

[47:26] is there that they may be having a struggle or whatever. Uh, you know, just a little thing like that can make all the difference to somebody's day and and therefore, uh, you know, could could really just, you know, kind of turn the tide for that person. Maybe they were feeling, you know, particularly overlooked or something like nobody really cares. I I dragged myself to work. I don't feel particularly well and and I'm just I'm just doing my work. Nobody cares. And you know, and somebody comes up and says, "Hey, how you doing? Good to see you." You know, kind of thing. It's

[48:01] like, "Oh, someone does care that I'm here and, you know, took the time to acknowledge." Little things like that, they can make a tremendous difference. And so as a boy scout, right, um, uh, the Boy Scout motto is, uh, well, the Boy, I'm sorry, the, uh, slogan, sorry, the Boy Scout motto is be prepared. The Boy Scout slogan is do a good turn daily. Right now, uh, as an Eagle Scout, uh, this is going back a number of years ago now. I realized I should be living that slogan. And and so I, you know,

[48:39] sort of built into just my daily activities, keeping on the lookout for an opportunity to do a good turn. Uh sometimes it's something as seemingly innocuous as I'm out walking and I see some someone with his dog or her dog and and and the dog is cute and I say, "Oh, what a cute dog." Dog owners love that, right? [laughter] Uh other times it's I remember um I was over um in in Beverly Hills by the corner of uh uh Beverly Drive in

[49:16] Charlieville and a very nice smartly dressed woman dropped her keys and they rolled under her car and I'm in just in my walk and I can see she's going to kneel down and and I I I I you know kind of ran up and I said, "Ma'am, if you would permit me, I may I get your keys for you um because I wouldn't want you to get your clothes dirty." And she was like, "Oh, thank you. That would be so nice." Right? I had [clears throat] to crawl into the car a little bit to get the keys, but what did it matter? I was in, you know, exercise clothes. Who cares? Right? And and saved her the the the trouble, the house, the hassle, right? So, these little small acts

[49:52] really make a difference. And we should be we should just have it kind of mostly an awareness to do as many of these as we can do during the day. Okay. Next, uh, psychological safety is nonnegotiable. So, the Marines who couldn't decompress or talk openly about what they were experiencing, they were much more likely to break down mentally. That's what uh, Sledge learned uh, from a from the result of his combat experience. And the

[50:30] same is true in civilian life. Now, we we tend to think of because the uh antecedants to PTS, post-traumatic stress are terms like battle fatigue and uh shell shock. We tend to think of it as only being something that's an outgrowth of combat. That is not the case. There are many circumstances that can cause PTS and PTSD in civilian life. There could be some kind of casualty at work. somebody gets hurt or or worse, god forbid, somebody gets killed, okay?

[51:05] Or something a similar thing happens but not at work, just sort of out in in, you know, whatever. Uh being in an automobile accident. Again, all these things, God forbid that they should happen to to anyone. Uh so um these challenge us they challenge our our um our psychological wellness. Okay, even our mental stability at times and we have to have a way to to deal with them. Now I know for myself I exercise

[51:43] regularly. That's one of the ways I keep myself mentally fit because exercise is such a good thing [snorts] for mental fitness. But I also talk with my friends, okay? And when something's going on, uh, I I share with them, you know, they and they listen to me. And likewise, when stuff's going on with them, they call me and I listen to them. Just kind of get it off our chests. Okay. Now, there's a balance. We don't want to be you know imshing oursel in a continual complaining about any particular thing. Um but in general

[52:20] talking about things and just sort of contextualizing them is is a good thing. And uh you know when we can have very stressful times in the workplace whether it's a new product launch whether it's uh you know a big change in economic conditions that happen rather suddenly. These things can lead to a lot of of of workplace stress and it has to be dealt with. suppressing

[52:55] it. Probably maybe there was a time when that was a a a reasonable strategy. Probably not these days, right? We're not we're not taught to suppress our emotions um like like previous generations were. And so we have to find uh mechanisms, processes that can be used um by our team members even in the workplace to deal with uh keeping people psychologically well, okay, psychologically safe. And so

[53:33] um you know not sweeping these things under the rug will lead to stronger teams, greater success for our organizations. Okay. And then finally and and and this I think is the uh the hallmark of the United States Marine Corps for which if it's not obvious I have a lot of respect as a as a Navy man myself, a lot of respect for the United States Marine Corps. Shared purpose creates extraordinary commitment. So the Marines on Pelu and Okinawa, they

[54:10] endured seemingly unendurable hardship because they believed in their mission and they believed in each other. They overcame fatigue, fear, horrible conditions, soaking rain, kneede mud, shelling, um, vermin, you know, disease. They overcame all of that and emerged victorious in World War II because they shared an

[54:46] extraordinary commitment. Okay, that's part of the Marine Corps ethos. It's going back full circle to this idea of culture, okay? It's part of the Marine Corps culture that the commitment is a shared commitment. Okay? And every Marine is working with every other Marine to bring it about. And so we need to have a why, a mission to our business. What are we trying to do? something that will inspire our people, inspire our

[55:21] teams in a meaningful, authentic way. Not something that's just pastiche, that's sort of a coat of paint layered over the the same old stuff. No, something that will truly inspire, that's that's achievable, that's meaningful to people. Okay? And then we need to build commitment for that mission. Okay. And and then through the extraordinary commitment to that mission, it will be met. It might not be met as quickly as we'd hope like

[55:58] on Peloo turn out not to be a short battle, but eventually victory was achieved. And that's what extraordinary commitment will give us in our organizations. We may have a goal that we want to reach in 6 months and we're 110% committed to it and yet it still takes us 18 months to get there. That's how life is sometimes. But how much longer would it have taken to get there if we didn't have extraordinary commitment? And in fact, would we ever have gotten there at all without extraordinary commitment? Those

[56:34] are the relevant questions. So these are those are the the six lessons I think can be learned from reading again with the old breed by Eugene B. Sledge. Again, just a marvelous marvelous book. Cannot recommend it highly enough. And uh I I'd be interested if you if you've read the book and you were just interested in hearing my take on it. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about what I've said, the lessons that uh that I mentioned, and you can post them in in the in social media. All the links will be in the show notes. And again, would

[57:10] love to hear your thoughts. So, uh tomorrow uh uh at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday is a special edition of the Way to Wow Shows for Thanksgiving, which is of course the next day, Thursday. So, I hope you'll join me then. And then of course I'll be back next week for the regular slate of shows. So I thank you very much for joining me today, especially my live viewers. When why they point up here, it's because I have a counter right there that says how many people are watching live. Uh so thanks thanks so much for joining me. Um

[57:45] wishing you well if you know if you know someone you think might uh like the show or certainly would benefit from the show, please tell them about it. maybe send them a link to one of the episodes. I'd love to have the opportunity and would deeply appreciate having the opportunity to win them as a viewer and maybe even a subscriber. So, uh you know, a work colleague or someone else you know in business, that would be terrific. Thank you. I would again would thank you very much for that. So, uh let's see. That just leads me to say again, thank you so much for watching,

[58:20] wishing you a wonderful rest of the day, and signing off as I always do. Marie, darling, you are my bell. Courage at all times, my friends.