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The Power of Speech – Register Today!

by BLAdmin

Law schools play a pivotal role in shaping future leaders, and now, more than ever, the need for civility, ethics, and active engagement is paramount. Baylor Law is proud to invite you to a half-day symposium dedicated to enhancing professionalism and civility within law schools.

This event promises enriching discussions and insights to empower our future legal professionals to be positive difference-makers from day one.

Don’t miss this virtual opportunity to engage with thought leaders and experts in the field and gain invaluable knowledge that will shape the future of legal education.

– Leah

Welcoming Remarks

Thursday, September 28, 2023
1:30 – 3:00pm EDT/ 12:30 – 2:00pm CDT/ 11:30am – 1:00pm MDT/ 10:30am – 12:00pm PDT

Patricia Wilson
Interim Dean and William Boswell Chair of Law, Baylor Law

The State of Civil Discourse in America
and the Legal Profession

Thursday, September 28, 2023
1:35 – 3:00pm EDT/ 12:35 – 2:00pm CDT/ 11:35am – 1:00pm MDT/ 10:35am – 12:00pm PDT

Discussing the importance of freedom of speech and the consideration of techniques for encouraging law students and lawyers to approach the exercise of the right to free speech in a civil and professional manner to promote healthy and informed interactions.

Introduced by:
Leah Teague, Professor and Director of Leadership Program, Baylor Law

Moderated by:
Erwin Chemerinsky, UC Berkley School of Law, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law 

  • Deborah Enix-Ross, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Immediate Past ABA President
  • Mark Alexander, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, Arthur J. Kania Dean and Professor of Law, President, AALS
  • April Barton, Duquesne University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, Dean and Professor of Law, Chair, AALS Leadership Section
  • Sudha Setty, CUNY School of Law, Dean and Professor of Law
REGISTER FOR SESSION 1:
The State of Civil Discourse in America
and the Legal Profession

Creating a Culture of Civility

Thursday, September 28, 2023

3:15 – 4:45pm EDT/ 2:15 – 3:45pm CDT/ 1:15pm – 2:45pm MDT/ 12:15pm – 1:45pm PDT

Discuss offerings, programs, and activities to support a culture of civility throughout the law schools, including specific discussions about professional identity formation, DEIB training for law students, student organization leadership training, public relations, and crisis management plans.

Introduced by:

Introduced by:
Lee Fisher, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, Dean and Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Chair in Law

Moderated by:
Kellye Testy, President and CEO, Law School Admissions Council (Panel Moderator)

  • Louis D. Bilionis, Cincinnati College of Law, Dean Emeritus and Droege Professor of Law
  • Timothy W. Floyd, Mercer University School of Law, Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy and Director of Experiential Education
  • Tania Luma, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Assistant Dean, Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Leah Teague, Baylor University School of Law, Professor of Law and Director of Leadership Development Program
REGISTER FOR SESSION 2:
Creating a Culture of Civility

Join Baylor Law in welcoming award-winning author and renowned constitutional scholar Professor Akhil Amar discusses the historical underpinnings of Texas becoming a state, how civil discourse about important issues played a role in Texas’ formation, and why our modern First Amendment right to free speech is critical to our future success. Professor Amar will offer his insight into the key role the Federalist Papers and historical events play in understanding the importance our Founding Fathers placed on civil discourse. By better understanding our history, we will be better able to meaningfully engage with each other in the present day.

REGISTER FOR SESSION 3:
2023 Starr Federals Papers Lecture Series at Baylor Law
The Founding Fathers and the Importance of Civil Discourse
With Prof. Akhil Reed Amar
Uncategorized

Global Leadership for Law Students: Fostering Culturally Competent Lawyers

by BLAdmin

We are thankful to our many colleagues across the nation who are using leadership courses to better prepare law students for the professional roles they will assume. As you will read in this blog post by Professor Kathleen Elliott Vinson, she is not only preparing her students to be inclusive global leaders but also teaching cross-culture competency in compliance with the new ABA Standard 303(c).

Thank you Prof. Vinson for what you are doing and for sharing with us!

– Leah

By: Professor Kathleen Elliott Vinson, Suffolk University Law School

Lawyers have a leadership role and responsibility in today’s global world that requires cross-cultural competence as a professional lawyering skill.  ABA Standard on Legal Education 303(c) requires that law schools educate law students on cross-cultural competence, but it does not define the form or content. Through a Global Leadership course, law students can develop cross-cultural competence to be effective and inclusive leaders to serve clients and stakeholders from different experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. Professor Tatiana Kolovou at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University notes that “developing the ability to work seamlessly across cultures is not about having all the right answers, it’s about asking all the right questions.”  Generally defined, cross-cultural competencies are the ability to understand, communicate, respect, and work effectively with individuals across different cultures.

A Global Leadership course can foster students’ cross-cultural competence by raising their awareness and developing their knowledge, skills, and motivation to lead with an inclusive, global mindset. By reviewing a variety of leadership theories, styles, and philosophies in a comparative context across different cultures, the course can use a global lens to develop students’ cultural competence, exploring topics such as the following:

  • defining global leadership
  • examining traits and skills of inclusive global leaders
  • developing cultural self-awareness and addressing implicit bias
  • understanding the impact of culture on leaders and those they lead (including their beliefs, customs, perspectives, values, traditions, norms, priorities, communication, interactions, judgments, and behaviors)
  • being aware of, respecting, and appreciating cultural similarities and differences
  • understanding the habits of cross-cultural lawyering
  • reflecting on possible challenges and benefits of global leadership
  • adapting leadership style, if needed, to interact flexibly, fluidly, and effectively across cultures

Through the use of diagnostics, self-assessments, discussions, journals, simulations, presentations, reflections, and other cross-cultural lawyering materials in a Global Leadership course, students can appreciate the evolution of the stages of cross-cultural competence:  unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and the final stage of unconscious competence.  Students will develop greater confidence in their global leadership skills, gain an understanding and appreciation for leadership styles in a comparative context, and develop cultural competence, a leadership skill needed and expected by legal employers globally.  Ultimately, a Global Leadership course fosters culturally competent lawyers “who can work—effectively—with clients, co-workers, judges, and people in general from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.”

Some additional helpful resources on cross-cultural lawyering and global leadership include:

  • Susan Bryant, The Five Habits: Building Cross-Culture Competence in Lawyers, 8 Clinical L. Rev. 33 (2001)
  • Jay Clark, The Five Principles of Global Leadership (2015)
  • Rosa Kim, Globalizing the Law Curriculum for Twenty-First-Century Lawyering, 67 J. Legal Educ. 905 (Summer 2018)
  • Mark E. Mendenhall et al., Global Leadership (3d ed. 2018)
  • Mary-Beth Moylan & Stephanie J. Thompson, Global Lawyering Skills (2018)
  • Leah Teague et al., Fundamentals of Lawyer Leadership (2021)
Uncategorized

The Power of Speech

by BLAdmin

Law schools, now more than ever, need to prepare their students to be active, engaged, civil, ethical leaders and difference-makers from the moment they graduate.

Please join us for a half-day symposium to consider how to enhance professionalism and civility within law school environments. Immediately following the two virtual panel discussions, we invite you to stay online for the Ninth Annual Starr Federalists Papers Lecture Series with Prof. Akhil Amar as he offers his insight into the historical underpinnings of the right to free speech and the importance of civil discourse. 

– Leah

Welcoming Remarks

Thursday, September 28, 2023
1:30 – 3:00pm EDT/ 12:30 – 2:00pm CDT/ 11:30am – 1:00pm MDT/ 10:30am – 12:00pm PDT

Patricia Wilson
Interim Dean and William Boswell Chair of Law, Baylor Law

The State of Civil Discourse in America
and the Legal Profession

Thursday, September 28, 2023
1:30 – 3:00pm EDT/ 12:30 – 2:00pm CDT/ 11:30am – 1:00pm MDT/ 10:30am – 12:00pm PDT

Discussing the Importance of freedom of speech and the consideration of techniques for encouraging law students and lawyers to approach the exercise of the right to free speech in a civil and professional manner to promote healthy and informed interactions.

Introduced by:
Leah Teague, Professor and Director of Leadership Program, Baylor Law

Moderated by:
Erwin Chemerinsky, UC Berkley School of Law, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law 

  • Deborah Enix-Ross, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Immediate Past ABA President
  • Mark Alexander, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, Arthur J. Kania Dean and Professor of Law, President, AALS
  • April Barton, Duquesne University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, Dean and Professor of Law, Chair, AALS Leadership Section
  • Sudha Setty, CUNY School of Law, Dean and Professor of Law
REGISTER FOR SESSION 1:
The State of Civil Discourse in America
and the Legal Profession

Creating a Culture of Civility

Thursday, September 28, 2023

3:15 – 4:45pm EDT/ 2:15 – 3:45pm CDT/ 1:15pm – 2:45pm MDT/ 12:15pm – 1:45pm PDT

Discuss offerings, programs, and activities to support a culture of civility throughout the law schools, including specific discussions about professional identity formation, DEIB training for law students, student organization leadership training, public relations, and crisis management plans.

Introduced by:

Introduced by:
Lee Fisher, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, Dean and Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Chair in Law

Moderated by:
Kellye Testy, President and CEO, Law School Admissions Council (Panel Moderator)

  • Louis D. Bilionis, Cincinnati College of Law, Dean Emeritus and Droege Professor of Law
  • Timothy W. Floyd, Mercer University School of Law, Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy and Director of Experiential Education
  • Tania Luma, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Assistant Dean, Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Leah Teague, Baylor University School of Law, Professor of Law and Director of Leadership Development Program

Discuss offerings, programs, and activities to support a culture of civility throughout the law schools, including specific discussions about professional identity formation, DEIB training for law students, student organization leadership training, public relations, and crisis management plans.

REGISTER FOR SESSION 2:
Creating a Culture of Civility

Join Baylor Law in welcoming award-winning author and renowned constitutional scholar Professor Akhil Amar discusses the historical underpinnings of Texas becoming a state, how civil discourse about important issues played a role in Texas’ formation, and why our modern First Amendment right to free speech is critical to our future success. Professor Amar will offer his insight into the key role the Federalist Papers and historical events play in understanding the importance our Founding Fathers placed on civil discourse. By better understanding our history, we will be better able to meaningfully engage with each other in the present day.

REGISTER FOR SESSION 3:
2023 Starr Federals Papers Lecture Series at Baylor Law
The Founding Fathers and the Importance of Civil Discourse
With Prof. Akhil Reed Amar
Academia, Leadership

A reminder from our friends in the AALS Balance & Well-Being Section for their Final Speed-Share Session

by BLAdmin

Practical Wisdom for Promoting Law Student Well-Being

Wednesday, August 9 ┋ 3pm ET ┋ 2pm CT ┋ 1pm MT ┋ 12pm PT

All,

I hope everyone is enjoying our final weeks of summer!  I am writing to remind you that the *FINAL* session of the AALS Balance & Well-Being Section’s Summer Speed-Share Series will take place today Wednesday, August 9, at 3 pm ET. 

In this session, Practical Wisdom for Promoting Law Student Well-Being, students will share practical wisdom that helped them maintain and/or regain their well-being in law school, as well as advice for how law school faculty and staff can most effectively convey these insights and promote law student well-being.  The panelists will also share tips for supporting non-traditional students. 

You can register here: https://www.aals.org/sections/list/balance-well-being-in-legal-education/practical-wisdom/ 

We hope you will join us!

 For more information, please contact Natalie Netzel ([email protected]) or Danielle Kocal ([email protected]).

– LEAH

Uncategorized

Reimagining Law School

by BLAdmin

We write to share this invite from our colleagues in the AALS Balance & Wellness Section. Knowing their work and the topics of the discussion tomorrow align with our interests, I look forward to the conversation. 

I hope you are each having a wonderful summer! 

– Leah

AALS Balance and Well-Being Section Speed Share this Thursday, July 27, at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

In this session, Reimagining Law School, students will share concrete suggestions for administrators, faculty, and staff who hope to transform legal education to support student learning and well-being. Students will share descriptions of student-led organizations and initiatives that have succeeded in promoting well-being, inclusion, and belonging on campus and the myriad ways in which their lived experiences inform their vision for change in legal education.

The link to register is here: https://www.aals.org/sections/list/balance-well-being-in-legal-education/reimagining-law-school/.

We hope you will join us! 

For more information, please contact Natalie Netzel ([email protected]) or Danielle Kocal ([email protected])

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Work It: Secrets for Success from the Boldest Women in Business by Carrie Kerpen

by BLAdmin

Guest Post by Baylor Law Student, Paige Heitkamp

As a group, we lawyers do not like to fail! But as Michael Jordan once said, “The key to success is failure.” In our leadership development class, we use a quote from Michael Jordan to make that point. The six-time NBA champion and five-time MVP said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. “We use that quote during the “Leadership of  Self” segment of our leadership development class as we instruct our students that their success, as well as their personal well-being, will depend on learning how not to fear failure but to view it as an ordinary and necessary part of growth. We encourage them to fail gracefully.

Imagine my delight when one of our students this summer, Paige Heitkamp, wrote a book review that includes a new perspective on how to fail. Among the helpful tips offered to women by Carrie Kerpen in her book Work It: Secrets for Success from the Boldest Women in Business is the advice to fail fantastically! We hope you enjoy Paige’s discussion of the book and its other helpful tips.

– Leah

Carrie Kerpen’s book, Work It: Secrets for Success from the Boldest Women in Business, was great. The book focuses on topics meant to help women better themselves professionally and personally. To write this book, Carrie interviewed fifty of the “boldest women in business” to learn their stories and how they became to be one of these women. The book is divided into three parts: Work It Professionally, Work It Passionately, and Work It Practically.

Work It Professionally focuses on tips for women to advance their careers and make the best out of their skills, improve on these skills, and learn new skills. These tips are focused on women in the workplace. They offer unique perspectives from women who have earned their place in the business world. These women all share how much different it can be for women to advance their careers than men. Many leadership and business “help” books, whether incidentally or not, focus on broad tips primarily designed for men. Women have to work harder to advance their careers and make themselves known, so, as a woman, being given tips from women can be incredibly helpful and much more beneficial. This section focuses on getting hired, how to grow your career, networking, and asking for raises. Each of these subtopics has stories from several of the women Carrie interviewed, giving different perspectives from each of these women as to how they succeeded in that subtopic. Having tips from multiple women is incredibly beneficial because everyone is different, and one woman’s methods may not work for another. Getting perspectives from many different women is incredibly beneficial so you can find the strategy you best connect with.

Work It Passionately focuses on tips and strategies for women regarding making the “right decisions” in life, whether it be about your career, personal life, or even your family life. It not only focuses on how to weigh the pros and cons of these decisions and come to the right outcome, but it also focuses on how to get to the position you need to be in even to have the ability to make these decisions. This section focuses on helping you decide when to trust your gut, when to rely on your rational thinking skills, and how to use a combination of both to succeed. Like the previous section, each subtopic has stories from multiple women offering their unique perspectives on the various issues. It is essential, again, to read all of these different perspectives, but each woman is different in her own unique way, and skills that work for one may not work for another. One important subtopic in this section was how to “fail fantastically.” This is an important message because failure is daunting, and many women are afraid to try something out of fear of failure. This book teaches you that failure is normal and should be expected. No one gets it right on the first try, and if you’re going to fail, fail fantastically.

The final section, Work It Practically, was the most important section. This section deals with the “hard stuff” that women are not only afraid to talk about but also the things that women tend to deal with more in the workplace than men. This section focuses on inspiration and strategies for women to navigate specific obstacles and challenges unique to women in the workplace. This section focuses on relatively taboo topics such as family planning, work/life balance, how to dress, how women are “expected” to behave in the workplace, and how to deal with sexism and discrimination not only from male coworkers and bosses but also from female coworkers and bosses. As with the previous two sections, each subtopic has inspiring and motivational stories from several women on Carrie’s “Boldest Women in Business” list. Each woman in this section told their story and gave numerous tips and tricks on overcoming these uniquely female challenges in the workplace and at home. The subtopic, “Make Lemonade,” teaches women how to make the best of dealing with these difficult issues. This subtopic teaches women not to be afraid to tell people close to them what is happening in their life and that it is okay to lean on others.

Overall, this book was incredibly inspiring. All women, no matter where they are in their careers and lives, can benefit from the numerous perspectives offered in this book. This book is not the typical leadership or business “help” book. This book says there is no one key to success but that finding the best strategy for you is the most important “key” to success.

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AALS Section on Leadership Webinars

by BLAdmin

This year, the AALS Section on Leadership is hosting several Zoom webinars for Section members to get together for fellowship and learning from one another.

We hosted the second webinar this summer, where we invited Professor Neil Hamilton to share with us his most recent thoughts on teaching professional identity formation – his new analogy is brilliant! Leah also shared her new work explaining how leadership development builds upon professional identity formation and expands it to team- and community-building. Others on the call also shared what they are working on and how they are teaching professional identity formation and leadership. Check out the recording to catch up on this great conversation!

Below are the other sessions this summer and fall. You can register for each by clicking on the date and time:

Wednesday, July 19, 2023 – 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EST – Joan Heminway, Interim Director, Institute for Professional Leadership, Rick Rose Distinguished Professor of Law, The University of Tennessee College of Law and Martin Brinkley, Dean and Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina School of Law

Monday, September 25, 2023 – 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST – Lee Fisher, Dean, Cleveland State University College of Law

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 – 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST – Kellye Testy, President and CEO, LSAC and Hillary Sale, Associate Dean for Strategy, Georgetown University

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Aspen Leading Edge Podcast

by BLAdmin

Leah was recently invited to be a guest on Patty Roberts‘ Aspen Leading Edge podcast. During the discussion, she talked about the intersection of the professional responsibility movement and teaching leadership to law students, and our book, Fundamentals of Lawyer Leadership. Leah focused on the first segment of the book, the leadership of self, where she spends a great deal of time with her students in the leadership class. Through experiential exercises and discussions in class, the students are encouraged to develop their moral compass and who they will be as lawyers. Leah and Patty wrapped up the conversation with the importance of leadership classes in law schools. bit.ly/3YKX8Z4

Thank you for having Leah on the podcast, Dean Roberts!

– Stephen

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Webinar Reminder

by BLAdmin

REMINDER:

Leah Teague and Stephen Rispoli are hosting a webinar on Monday, June 26, 2023 – 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EST. They will be joined by Neil Hamilton, Holloran Professor of Law and Co-director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. The Holloran Center is the national leader in the professional identity formation movement. The conversation will focus on how professional identity formation efforts and leadership development programming align and complement each other. We invite you to join us to share how you are using leadership development programming to satisfy the new ABA Standard 303(b) requiring law schools to provide substantial opportunities for “the development of a professional identity.”  Please click this link to register.

Below are the other sessions this summer and fall. You can register for each by clicking on the date and time:

Wednesday, July 19, 2023 – 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EST – Joan Heminway, Interim Director, Institute for Professional Leadership, Rick Rose Distinguished Professor of Law, The University of Tennessee College of Law and Martin Brinkley, Dean and Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina School of Law

Monday, September 25, 2023 – 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST – Lee Fisher, Dean, Cleveland State University College of Law

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 – 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST – Kellye Testy, President and CEO, LSAC and Hillary Sale, Associate Dean for Strategy, Georgetown University

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Extreme Ownership – Book Review

by BLAdmin

Guest Post by Baylor Law Student Mike Brunger

The following post is a book review written by Mike Brunger, a student in our Winter 2022-23 Leadership Class. I hope you enjoy this book review as much as I did. – Leah

Extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, is more than a book on leadership. It is a tool that can prove handy in anyone’s toolbox. This book is both captivating and easy to read. The authors present the reader with situations where ownership could be improved. But after employing Extreme Ownership principles in these situations, the results were incredible. 

The authors, Jocko and Leif, served as Navy SEAL officers in SEAL Team Three. This Team, more commonly known as Task Unit Bruiser, is the most decorated special operations unit that has served in the Iraq War. Under Jocko and Leif’s leadership, Seal Team Three experienced some of the most taxing combat in the history of SEAL Teams.

After leaving active duty, Willink and Babin launched a company called Echelon Front and embarked on a mission to share their stories from the battlefield. Traveling the world, they teach business professionals leadership tactics, specifically the importance of ownership. Each chapter of the book focuses on a specific element of leadership.

They start each chapter by telling a story from their time with SEAL Team Three. The story usually takes place in a high-stakes combat situation. Then, Jocko and Leif apply lessons from that story to a problem in the civilian world. The typical scenario likely involves a CEO needing realignment within their organization. This book is very military-heavy; however, you do not have to have a military background to understand and embrace the concepts taught in this book.

My wife, Vanessa, is a hotel company’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she started working from home. As travel abruptly halted, the hotel industry was left in financial ruin. At home, at the same time, I could hear her having very tough conversations with staff members. On more than one occasion, she could be heard sobbing after terminating a team member due to the lack of revenue. The pandemic was full of uncertainty and fear. Fortunately, my wife was never on the receiving end of one of those calls.

Vanessa was having a conversation with one of her sales leaders one day. Her employee was disgruntled, venting quite loudly. Vanessa listened as her employee explained how she needed help understanding why the corporate office was constantly requesting reports. Moreover, she stressed how her hotel was already short-staffed, and at times she was stuck behind the front desk checking guests in. Amassing all the requested information was time-consuming. Vanessa, acting as the liaison between her hotels and the corporate office, tried her best to explain the reasons why. The call soon ended.

I was sitting in our living room holding a copy of Extreme Ownership. My wife entered the room, ready to explode! She knew I likely heard the entire discussion. But, before she said a word, I handed her the book and said, “Look at chapter ten.”

Chapter ten discusses the importance of leading up and down the chain of command. More importantly, the chapter explains why. The chapter begins by taking the reader to the Euphrates River bank, where SEAL Team Three’s leaders prepare for a combat operation. Leif and Jocko had just received an email from the Team’s higher headquarters staff, led by their Seal Team’s commanding officer (CO). Leif was livid! In the email, their CO requested clarifying information regarding the operation the Team planned to execute within the next few hours. Leif could not understand how “they” do not know what the Team does, how hard they work, and how busy they are. Additionally, Leif did not know why they had to stop what they were doing to answer “idiotic” questions.

Jocko did his best to calm Leif down. The CO required answers before approving the operation. He tried to help Leif see their combat operations through the CO’s eyes. It was the CO’s job to approve every mission, and it was Jocko’s job to put the CO in his comfort zone so the operation could get approved. Leif began to understand.

The CO and his staff operated from an office in the United States. Therefore, they could not fully appreciate the hard work the Teams were conducting. The more Jocko pushed situational awareness up the chain, the more comfortable they became. Jocko explained the “why” by telling Leif, “We have to lead them.” The more the Team communicated up the chain of command, the less they were “badgered” by the CO.

Chapter ten got my wife’s attention and is just one of many great chapters that can be applied to all aspects of business and life. I recommend this book to anyone. My wife had a copy of the book sent to all her sales leaders. I look forward to hearing stories about how her organization has used this book.