Brian Johnson summarizes Admiral William H. McRaven’s book The Wisdom of the Bullfrog (Leadership Made Simple, But Not Easy). Johnson frames McRaven as a long-serving Navy SEAL and four-star admiral who organizes the book around 18 military aphorisms (each a chapter) that distill leadership into actionable principles. The podcast lists those 18 aphorisms and emphasizes that leadership is difficult but not complicated, ending with a listener prompt and a link to a printable summary.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. As we've discussed many times, Admiral William H. McRaven is one of my few living heroes. We have philosopher's notes on all four of his great books. We started with make youe Bed. Then we featured his memoir, Sea Stories. Then we featured the Hero Code. They're all fantastic. So of course, when I saw Admiral McRaven had published his latest book, the Wisdom of the Bullfrog, I immediately got it. As we discussed in the previous notes, as a four star admiral McRaven's final assignment was as commander of all US special operations forces. Now he served as a Navy SEAL for 37 years. And by the time he hit 34 years of service, he was officially anointed as the Bullfrog, the longest serving frogman and Navy SEAL on active duty. His book, as per the title, is Wisdom from this Legendary Bullfrog, in which McRaven distills leadership into its fundamental compone. Delivering on the subtitle Leadership Made simple but Not Easy. The book is organized around 18 military aphorisms that guided his extraordinary career. Each of those aphorisms gets a chapter. Here's a super quick look at each. But first, McRaven tells us, and I quote, leadership is difficult. And after 40 years of being in leadership positions, I am still learning how to be a better leader. I learned from my students in class, from my colleagues at work, from my fellow board members, from my family and my friends. But like the advice from the old general, the one thing I know about leadership is that you must keep doing your best every single day and let them see what you've got. And always remember that while leadership is difficult, it's not complicated. I hope you will find the wisdom of this old bullfrog of some value on your road to being a better leader. Now those are actually the final words of the book. And they precede a quick distillation of the 18 aphorisms that form the the chapters of the book. Here are those 18 aphorisms. First, death before dishonor. Be a person of integrity. You can't surge. Trust. Be trustworthy. When in command. Command. Be confident in yourself. We all have our frog floats. Have a little humility. The only easy day was yesterday. Demonstrate that you have stamina. Run to the sound of the guns. Be aggressive in solving problems. Sua sponte. Encourage your team to take the initiative. Who dares, wins. Be prepared to take risks. Hope is not a strategy. Do the detailed planning necessary for success. No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Have a Plan B It pays to be a winner. Establish standards of conduct and performance A shepherd should smell like his sheep Spend time on the factory floor Troop the line Listen to your employees Expect what you inspect the quality of your work will depend on the quality of your oversight Communicate, communicate, communicate, Communicate your actions and when in doubt, overload Work hard to overcome your shortfalls can you stand before the long green table? Be accountable for your actions and always have a swim buddy. Have a partner in your leadership journey. And that's our plus one for the day. Check out the notes in the book for more. For now, what's one thing you know you could be doing to show up as a better leader in your life? Leadership. It's simple. Keep it that way. But it's not easy. We've got to do the work as we move from theory to practice to mastery today. P.S. i've got a link to go check out a printable version of the 18 aphorisms that form the foundation of the wisdom of the bullfrog in the plus one. Check that out.
