By Matt Manero

I attended Muster 003 in Austin, TX last month. The event is put on by the team at Echelon Front lead by Jocko Willink and Leaf Babin. Both are retired Navy Seals, and along with the rest of their staff…they are downright bad asses.

The attendees of the event were looking for something. Maybe to test their fitness by doing the 4:30 am workouts, or to honor veterans who fought for our freedom or maybe to just feel more like a bass ass themselves. I wanted these things, but most of all I wanted to find ONE primary takeaway from the event that I could bring back and install into my company and my life. I got lucky…I found three and here they are.

#1.      There are no bad teams, only bad leaders. Great leaders don’t blame their team, they blame them themselves first. Great leaders are not afraid to fall on the sword and accept blame. The ability to look inside yourself and really take responsibility for the problems within your team was a point that Jocko and Leif drilled home over and over during the 3-day event. Stop blaming others for the problems in your life or company. You are the leader, and great leaders build great teams. Bad leaders are the reason for bad teams, not the other way around.

#2. Role play “real life” before “real life”. The Seal Teams are placed in hundreds of training missions that simulate “real world” situations long before they get to the “real world” situation. The ability to train your team through role playing “real” situation before they happen is vital. Without question, prior to Muster003, our company did not train our team members on actual situations before they happened. For us, every day we used real life situation as training sessions and it cost us business.  Now, we train our staff in a “real life” setting long before the “real life” setting of talking with clients occurs.

#3. My favorite: Effective or Ineffective. There is no middle ground. The activity within your team is either effective or ineffective. Don’t get caught in the grey area the so many of us do. It’s not about the conversation or the memo or the group email you have sent to address an issue. It is about the result. The result is either effective or ineffective. This clarity has been a gamechanger for me. Everything in my company and my life is now viewed as either effective or ineffective.

Muster 004 is happening in San Diego in September. Get signed up. Get training too, the 4:30 workouts are tough.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Matt Manero is the Founder and President of Commercial Fleet Financing, Inc. (CFF) located in Dallas, TX. CFF is celebrating its 22nd year in business and provides financing for commercial fleet vehicles such as box trucks, cargo vans, big rigs, tow trucks, dump trucks and construction equipment. CFF is a 4-time winner of the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. Inc. Magazine Top 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Matt and his world class team has helped thousands of small business owners move closer to the money they deserve. He is the author of, “The Grit”, and his forthcoming book, “YOU NEED MORE MONEY” will be out in March 2018. Learn more at www.cffnationwide.com or call 972.247.8447 phone or on all social media platforms via @Matt Manero.