I will always be easy to find: I will be at the center of the battle. This code served as my "Commandments for Myself," but, subordinates also need commandments. Thus, The Rogue Warrior's Ten Commandments of SpecWar were created. These "Ten Commandments" were the rules that guided my men.
You have already seen the Ten Commandments earlier in this book, so you know that they are not easy to follow. That was their point. I did not want them to be easy. My missions were deadly and difficult -- they were, in fact, some of the most difficult missions that faced the United States armed services. Therefore, I could expect nothing less from my men than total dedication and absolute competence. My expectation of this dedication and competence is embodied in every single word of the Ten Commandments.
Since leaving the U.S, Navy, I have discovered that the Ten Commandments apply not just to military missions, but also to missions in the world of business.
Over the past few years, I have worked as a consultant to many major corporations, and have also been active in the publishing industry, and (to a lesser degree) the entertainment industry. In this book, you will find many anecdotes about the industries that I have been involved with, or have closely observed. I have found that the Ten Commandments apply almost universally to all businesses. Virtually any business leader who follows these Commandments will increase his chances of success.
Of course, I am not the only military man who has learned important lessons during war and then successfully applied these lessons to business. In this book are many examples of former soldiers who later conquered the business world.
If you, in your business, apply these Commandments, you will be able to quickly identify which of your employees are "warriors" and which are stragglers. You'll learn to better understand your employees.
You'll also learn about yourself -- and that's the most valuable education anyone can get. If you don't understand yourself, you can't possibly understand your mission. If you don't know exactly why you're on that mission, and exactly what you're capable of, I guarantee you your mission will fail.
I learned that to truly understand yourself and your mission, you have to confront yourself in the mirror each morning and demand the answers to life's six most difficult questions. These questions (which I'll also address later) are: What drives me? Was I always this way? What will satisfy me? Do I ever recognize defeat? How can I turn today's negatives into positives? What is my ultimate goal?
If you can answer each of these questions -- honestly -- at the beginning of each day, you're going to take a giant step closer to being a warrior and a leader. You won't face your day's confrontations with a mind that's mushy with ambivalence, doubt, and confusion. Your focus will be laser-sharp, and you'll pity the poor son of a bitch who tries to stand between you and your goals.
When you achieve this rare state of mind, the people around you will know it. You won't have to yell to get their attention, or "stand on your head" to get their respect. You'll radiate leadership, and people will want to follow you.
Think this sounds easy? Think again. It sounds simple, and it is simple -- but simple is never easy. What's easy is to be so complex, and obtuse, and ambivalent, that nobody even bothers to challenge you.
When you approach your life and your goals with simplicity, you naturally draw fire, because you're not hiding behind a wall of obscurity. People know where you stand and what you believe -- and, I guarantee you, not all of them are going to like it. If they do, then you've got a big problem -- because if everybody agrees with you, you obviously stand for nothing.
That's the problem with so many of today's leaders, in business and in politics. Their idea of leadership is to take surveys and polls and find out what's popular, and then try to adopt that stance. They want to be all things to all people, and they end up being nothing to nobody. They think popularity is leadership.
But popularity is not leadership.
Leadership is taking a position, drawing fire, ducking bullets -- and then firing back. You do that, and people will follow you.
Your intention may be to just act like a man, but the result will be that you'll act like a leader.
The path you'll follow will not be easy, but it will be the path with heart. Every step of the way, you'll be an obvious target for all the snide little snipers hiding in the bushes. Because you'll be visible, you'll be vulnerable. And because you'll be vulnerable, you'll be very much subject to Murphy's Law. After all, the very nature of Murphy's Law is that it strikes when you can least afford it.
But if you're a warrior, you'll welcome Mr. Murphy, because he'll help keep you honest. He'll make sure you cover every possibility and anticipate every problem. He will call your bluff when you least expect it. Murphy knows that, in some perverse way, he exists because you need him to bring out the best in yourself.
Personally, I get a little disappointed whenever Sir Murphy doesn't rear his ugly little head.
When Murphy doesn't show, I lose the opportunity to demonstrate to the men I'm leading that I've prepared for every possibility. And, believe me, preparation is an absolutely critical element of leadership.
But even preparation does not lie at the absolute core -- the ground zero -- of leadership. At the core of leadership is one, single trait: belief in a cause. If you don't believe with all your heart and all your soul in what you're fighting for, you will not be a leader. You will not inspire others to follow you unless you are a man of absolute conviction.
You've got to have a cause. If you aren't fighting for something that's bigger than yourself, you'll be nothing more than just one more ambitious, opportunistic asshole who's trying to claw his way to the top. Personal ambition may motivate you, but it's not going to motivate anyone to follow you.
Being a warrior and a leader is not about achieving personal success. Success usually does come to leaders, but to a real leader, personal success is just a secondary gain -- a nice payoff, but not the real prize.
The real prize is achieving the victory of a great principle -- like freedom, or peace, or the prosperity of the many.
Therefore, a real leader is actually a servant. He's the servant of a great cause.
It's true: Life is war. But if a leader is serving a great cause, he can achieve power. And glory. And fulfillment.
And peace.
Copyright © 1996 by Richard Marcinko
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Excerpted from Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warriorby Richard Marcinko Copyright © 1996 by Richard Marcinko. Excerpted by permission.
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