Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
I found one of those books to be read with diligence - Rangers Lead The Way: The Army Ranger's guide to leading your organization through chaos. (sold here on ArmyRanger.com)
In this book I was challenged and wanted to try out what it was teaching, but didn't know how to do it. Then I checked out the website and...
.....the news is that I'm going to one of their leadership training courses this week. They take a dozen or so corporate execs and private individuals at a time out in the KY woods for four days. We'll be given BDUs and armed with paintball guns. We'll be trained in Ranger patrolling and taught stuff about leadership. The teaching staff is made up of former Rangers.
The teaching staff is also the OpFor. They teach a concept - like communication, or planning proceedures, and then give the group a mission. The group plans and runs it as the teachers provide opposition and chaos, and then they debrief with the Instructors, and launch the next mission. They'll have us run several missions a day - sometimes road marches, sometimes taking a supply depot with the MREs for our dinner - who know's what creative things they will think up for us....
I've been to leadership and motivational conferences. They are nice enough, but this looks different... Side by side, here's how I see it:
Sitting for two or three days in an over-air conditioned hotel conference room filling a my ears with stuff that I can't use and/or don't know what to do with.
Getting a notebook that will sit on a shelf untouched till the end of the age.
Restaurant food, and too much of it.
"Networking" with people whom I'll probably forget immediately because we have no real connection or experience together.
Vs.
Getting hunted down and shot at by Rangers for four days in the woods.
Being challenged to accomplish something I've never done while being taught new ways of thinking.
Running missions in the dark on low sleep with people who're learning the same stuff as I am.
Being taught well and having the teaching reinforced in a hands-on practical way. Basically getting to learn HOW to do something intangible by actually DOING it.
Celebration dinner at the end to enjoy surviving and what we accomplished.
Everyday stuff for some of you, I know, but I'm stoked.
