Simon Sinek argues that financial incentives are often misdiagnosed as the reason talented military officers leave service. Using the example of Navy SEALs given large bonuses, he claims money does not solve the underlying problem — frustration with bureaucracy and lack of connection to a larger mission — and that leadership failures (overly task-oriented leaders) are usually to blame.
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The military has some false assumptions that when very talented young officers leave the service, very often the military thinks it's because they went to get more money from the private sector. And I hear it all the time from senior folks, which is, we can't compete with that. And I always push back and say they knew that coming in. Like if money was the thing, they wouldn't have joined, right? They came for something bigger, they came for something more, and they weren't getting that. And so it sort of becomes about the money. This happened in the Navy seals where they were losing seals to go to private sector, and the Navy thought it was money. And so they started throwing these ridiculous bonuses at seals so they can stay. I mean, like a couple hundred thousand dollars, like huge amounts of money. And the reaction when I talked to the seals was one of two things. Either, you idiots, I never did it for the money in the first place, I'm out of here because it was insulting, or, you idiots, I never did it for money in the first place. But if you're stupid enough to give me that money, I'll take it and stay for a little longer. But I still hate it. Throwing money at the problem didn't work because they didn't truly understand what was missing. When very talented young officers leave, it's out of absolute frustration. It's not an anomaly. And nor is it an overnight decision, nor is it sudden. It's a slow, steady build of absolute frustration, usually of bureaucracy or not feeling connected to a larger mission. And usually that's a problem with leadership, that leaders are so task oriented that they forget that there's a higher context here.
