Secrets of Special Ops Leadership: Dare the Impossible--achieve the Extraordinary

by William A. Cohen

The Navy SEALs. The Green Berets. Delta Force. These are just a few examples of what are known as ""special ops"" -- unique fighting forces trained to beat overwhelming odds on every mission. Using principles like speed, purpose, repetition, surprise, and simplicity, elite units such as these have throughout history accomplished extremely challenging tasks against vastly superior forces. When something seemingly impossible must be achieved, special ops forces are the ones called upon for a miracle. Just as special ops are needed for critical tasks in battle, ultra-high achievers are needed for special circumstances in situations where time is important, when resources are low or insufficient, where you are challenging conventional wisdom or established competitors, or where crisis is imminent. But can commando techniques really work in business? If you can inspire and lead your employees to work at peak performance, they will accomplish dramatic, almost fantastic feats for you -- just as fighting commandos do in battle situations. Secrets of Special Ops Leadership reveals the essential methods commando leaders employ, using dramatic real-life stories of commando leadership from biblical times all the way up through Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005, and showing how similar techniques are used by present-day business leaders such as Steve Jobs, Mary Kay Ash, Robert Townsend, and others. You'll learn the fourteen core practices of special ops leadership, including how * Create the Best If you think you can just call some of your regular employees together and give them a pep talk and an impossible task to do, you're wrong. Business commandos aren't born. They must be created. Your first task as a special ops business leader is to recruit, select, train, and motivate the right people. * Build a Commando Team Using models such as Carlson's Raiders, who fought for the U.S. Marines during World War II, the book explains how to work with different personalities, agendas, priorities, and motivations to create a team that works efficiently and effectively to get the job done. * Dare the Impossible Like the Sayeret Mat'kal, the Israeli Special Ops unit that staged the miraculous raid on Entebbe to free hostages on an Air France plane hijacked by terrorists in 1976, successful business ops must aggressively seek out opportunities and know when to transcend conventional thinking to stage an assault and take action. When they've got the right problems to work on, business commandos can do many times the work of normal employees, accomplish more with less, complete projects against looming deadlines, and create innovative new products and strategies. Secrets of Special Ops Leadership gives you the ammunition you need to get a business commando unit up and running and achieve the impossible for your organization.

Genres: Leadership, Military Fiction

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

William A. Cohen, Ph.D. (Pasadena, CA) is an authority on leadership and strategy formulation and deployment. He gives speeches and seminars for the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Air War College, the FBI Academy, all four armed services, and corporations from Boeing to The Cheesecake Factory. He is the author of many books including The New Art of the Leader, The Wisdom of the Generals , and How to Make It Big as a Consultant (978-0-8144-7073-2).

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

We\ll see if it helps me forge my roller skate street gang into a non-stoppable juggernaut.

[Nimish · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's lots of interesting stuff in here, but the only bit I use is "always have a mission objective". It's basically OKRs with a military twist. I think everything else is sound advice mixed with some interesting military stories. Really entertaining, but a bit to vague to be actionable in real life.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a well-written book by a man with a wealth of experience. He covers several major military operations in history and relates the 'commando tactics' of leadership with those of a business. He compares and contrasts leading special operations troops into battle with leading engineers, sales personnel and other lower-level employees into growing and maintaining an effective, profitable business.

[Chainsaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a BUSINESS leadership book. I don't agree with his very liberal extension of the term "Commando" to anyone who is willing to "dare the impossible to achieve the extraordinary." I believe the elite military personnel who have earned that distinction are entitled to keep that moniker as a distinctive term...it is not one that should be applied to nearly any field of endeavor. Regardless, some good leadership tips are contained within the text. Don't believe I'd read it again, though.

[Foo Hup · Rating 4 out of 5]

how the military can be adapted to the current business battlefield. IMO, it can be applied to MNC and companies which are entrepreneurial in nature.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you're not involved in business, this is an excellent book on leadership, full of amazing historical anecdotes and cases.