What Crypto Marketers can learn from Navy SEALs

TL:DR; The CMO of the future isn’t going to be a Chief Marketing Officer. It’s going to be a Lead Marketer as we discussed in the Decentralized Marketing Organization. Strange as it may sound, the lead marketers of the future can look to the US Navy Seals for inspiration.

I have long admired the Navy Seals for their effectiveness and focus.

On the surface, it sounds like an adulation of ruthless killers who embody a macho mentality. Sure, there’s a physical toughness to them that is admired, but it turns out that is only a very small part of their identity.

I just finished reading First, Fast, Fearless: How to Lead Like a Navy SEAL and what it showed me is how little I understand about their culture, how inaccurate the public conceptions are about them, and most of all, what their approach can teach aspiring crypto-marketers about driving results.

Though the SEALs definitely have a chain of command that will not be as prevalent in a decentralized environment, they seek to act more as a “brotherhood,” where people are equal members of a respected team, everyone knowing their role. The author made a point of saying that he uses the term “brotherhood” only because, as of yet no women have made it through the training program, but he’s optimistic.

You Need a Guide for How You Behave in Every Situation

To make this teams work in as agile and resilient way as possible, Brian Hiner stresses that the critical cornerstone is an Ethos. I think this applies to lead marketers particularly well.

“All leaders should have an “ethos” that guides how they live. It’s about making decisions based on character and belief and not constantly being influenced by external circumstances. Before leading, people need to decide how they want to be known and what exactly they need to do to maintain that, even in stressful times. This looks differently for everyone, so people need to base it on their unique personalities and define principles that work for them.” (source)

I was struck by his statement that “people can make mistakes and everyone understands that, but not in applying values.” Ultimately, “leaders have to fight for a moral high ground and hold it throughout.”

Not easy, but then again, great leadership isn’t either.

You Never Know All the Answers

For SEALs, stability is never expected. The environment (aka “the market”) is dynamic and constantly changing (sounds like crypto).

They accept that VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) are givens and embrace that as the reality. You don’t complain about reality. You accept it and move forward. It’s natural that we want all the answers, but in a world of startups, you need a ‘bias for action.’ A SEALs default mode is to press forward, recognizing VUCA and then adjusting as necessary.

Their motto (and one of the ones we adopted at Sprinklr- until the HR folks came down on me for using it) is: Embrace the Suck.

Things are going to go wrong. You have a choice. Whine about it or just attack it.

Even better, “laughter in the face of adversity creates an offensive mindset.”

From Silos to Tribes

This one really got me excited as it harkened back to Seth Godin’s book, Tribes as well as the lessons from Tough Mudder we discussed last week.

Creating a sense of camaraderie and shared mission comes down to a lot of things that you will find in religions, fraternities/sororities, etc.

To establish a tribe, there are a few things you need.

• Identity of belonging…the SEALs have a trident they wear and a shared experience of having completed BUDS (the training program)
• Folklore-each SEAL is aware of the history, dating back to WWII, of the organization’s purpose.
• Individual meaningful work…a sense of duty to country, of course, but also each SEAL is given a knife with the name of a fallen SEAL whose personal history he learns and is responsible for communicating to the group, thus connecting them in a chain of warriors.
• Ceremonies…getting their trident and others give SEALs a sense of belonging.

Respect for Everyone’s Time

I used to be a maniac about punctuality, probably because I came of age in Germany and Japan. I found that the business culture in the US when I got back was a bit more lax. People were also running late or needed a few extra minutes.

Hiner was adamant that this is unacceptable, particularly as a leader. You must have a respect for time…all the time, and particularly for the time of your subordinates. As he says, “their time is just as important as yours, if not more important.”

What’s more, he says that a lack of respect for time bleeds into other parts of the organization and, ultimately, hurts the cause.

“Over the years, I have found that ppl who tend not to respect time, theirs or others, tend be indecisive. Insensitivity to time reduces urgency and leads to procrastination.”

“More subtly, they can degrade the performance and reduce the morale of your enterprise.”

and

“As the philosopher and psychologist William James put it,

‘there is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual than indecision.”

This section alone has encouraged me to rededicate myself to a mutual respect for time.

Leadership Skills of the Future

As organizations become less fixed, less command and control, more decentralized, and more agile, the type of leadership in the future is going to be quite different than the authoritarian-driven type of the past.

First, Fast, Fearless: How to Lead Like a Navy SEAL surprisingly (at least on the surface) stresses a truly people-first approach to building great team that are orchestrated by humble individuals.

What’s more, it gives you a ton of practical guidance for how to do it.

When competition moves at the speed of crypto, time is your biggest enemy. Going first, fast, and fearless and using the proven tools of Navy SEALs may be the edge that Lead Marketers of tomorrow are going to need.