Navy SEALS or Green Berets?

Navy SEALS or Green Berets?

In life, there are doers...and there are force multipliers.  Let's unpack the difference and help you think about the potential impacts you can have in your home and community.  

Every Marine a 
Rifleman first!

In the military, there are both...and they're tailored to serve different, unique missions.  In the special operations community, multiple units can serve in the "direct action" capacity where they target enemies directly - Navy SEALs, Ranger Regiment, Green Berets.  Among the teams, the members almost categorically have the capabilities for direct action - close-quarters battle core competencies.  Beyond the "Every Marine a Rifleman" philosophy, many individuals also become specialists - US Air Force Combat Controllers (CCT) or Pararescuemen (PJs).  These teams and members attach to each other and serve in complementary capacities.  For example, the USAF might attach a CCT and a PJ to a squad of SEALs to take out a bad guy and be flown into the battle space by an Army Aviation Nightstalker crew.  

Organize
a Posse!

As a philosophy, some of the units are geared more one way or the other - direct action (Navy SEALs) or force multiplier (Green Beret).  For a very specific kill-or-capture mission with a known target and generally "short" duration, SEALs may be selected.  On the other hand, a Green Beret A-team may be tasked with "moving into" an area, recruiting, training, building capacity, organizing, and possibly fighting alongside a local group of native fighters.  Their group of 12 may lead 200 into battle.  Beyond the unit, a Combat Controller might be able to precisely call in the air power of dozens of warplanes on an enemy.  Different missions, different skill sets, different results.  

Come strapped
when you're
ready to
volunteer.

Having worked in and run a non-profit for many years, I often described the ideal volunteer not as a doer per se, but rather a leader of leaders who led the doers to do the thing.  As a staff member in a more-with-less non-profit or faith-based community, it's important to target recruitment and train skillsets for the mission you have at hand.  You need doers and you need force multipliers...and you need leaders who can manage and leverage both complementarily.  

Is your church a doer or a force multiplier?  Is your church going out and force-multiplying?  Spreading the gospel in a 1:10 ratio?  Are you/your parishioners witnessing to your circle?  How about the non-profit that you volunteer at?  Do they do good deeds in a 1:1 input-output ratio?  Or, are their good works exponential and contagious?  Like a 1:10 output.  Are they an efficient machine that brings in volunteers and resources, supersizes the good through effective, efficient management, and casts out more than came in?  Are you using your spiritual gifts of leadership to organize and host a fundraising dinner that brings in enough resources to provide for the needs of the rest of the volunteer team for the year?   At work, are you building the next generation of followers...or leaders who, in turn, are building their own teams?  

Build a legacy.

What about your family?  As you think about these questions, consider...are you more of a Navy SEAL or a Green Beret when it comes to how you complete your missions in life?  Are you a direct action dad where you do your life and have a kid/family who is along for the ride, or are you a dad who has the next generation(s) in mind?  Are you leaning in and pouring into those in your circle, leaving ripples and ramifications outsized to your contributions?  This might look like the personification of "teach a man to fish" as opposed to just "give your kid a fish" applied across all facets of family life.    

When you're serious about
leaning in - bring a helmet.

These organizational and familial questions hopefully get you thinking about good works...and great works.  You can make a difference on a small level or a major level...the amazing thing is that chances are, the difference is more organizational than anything else.  In other words, you'd be hard-pressed to see the "tactical" difference between a SEAL or a Green Beret in most head-to-head competitions beyond the language skills of the Green Beret.  The big difference comes largely in their organizational and strategic deployment.  Good news for you, by pushing the envelope and perhaps spending your 20 hours of volunteer time organizing and recruiting church groups for a community clean-up instead of just picking up trash yourself...your input pales compared to the community-level output.  

Fish as Alien...
as a Horseshoe 
Crab.

This "teach a man to fish" philosophy starts with a paradigm change in you and your family.  It begins with a bent toward seeking out win-win situations where you can leverage your time and talents into far greater things.  For example, in parenting, this might look like teaching your kid to read and instilling a deep curiosity-inspired love of learning that will last a lifetime...instead of just reading books to them.  Remember, both are far better than plugging them into a television screen and scrolling your time away.  In marriage, it could be leading a small group helping newly married couples get organized and work together, cultivating a bond with your spouse, while helping to prevent the common causes of divorce in your church (e.g. hosting Financial Peace University).  

When teaching
how to fish, try
not to catch a dog.

As you hopefully spend some time reflecting on "who you want to be when you grow up" with your kids, spouse, and self, think about the concept of doer vs multiplier.  Both are good...one is perhaps more gooder.  If you're uncomfortable at first with trying to organize this win-win thinking in your community, start small...and practice.  The important part is just to get started - passion is contagious and people want to help, you may be the spark that serves to spur the bigger group ahead.  

With you in the arena, from ours to yours...Happy Trails!

Call to Action: 

• Pick out a couple of areas of life where you can pour the proverbial gas on the fire to multiply the outputs or gain outsized outputs.  
• 1 - ___________________ 
• 2 - ___________________
• 3 - ___________________
• Discussion: Consider what you/your family could/would/should (level of commitment) and start/stop/sustain (action) in your home, church, work, etc in terms of thinking more strategically and getting after it in new, bigger ways.  

Further Reading, Motivation, and References:

- Josh Kaufman in Personal MBA