Last week on Hardcore MBA we talked with Jim DeFelice, the writer of American Sniper, which famously told the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. This week we have on the show an actual Navy SEAL, Brandon Webb, to talk about his experience in the navy and in entrepreneurship. Now, I don’t want you to think I have an obsession with the SEALs, but I do think they’re a great example of the importance of determination and mental toughness in achieving your goals. You might not be doing quite the same things as a SEAL in your day-to-day life as a businessperson, but that determination is a quality that works in all situations.
In this week’s podcast, Brandon and I talk about:
- The importance of not judging people based on first impressions – because you never know the depths of mental strength they have until the right situation comes along.
- The lessons he learned from the failure of his first business venture, and how he eventually succeeded.
- And the need to protect your own time and surround yourself with the right people, rather than saying ‘yes’ to everything and everybody.
“Psychology is such a big part of success,” says Brandon. “We used to have a problem with people failing the training courses we were running, so we tweaked a few things. We stopped telling people what they were doing wrong, and just told them what they needed to do right instead – when you tell people what they’re doing wrong, it actually just makes them think about it more and repeat the error. We also used to tell people that 85% was a good score on the shooting test. Then we started saying that, actually, a perfect score was possible. As soon as we did that, people really did start getting perfect scores.”
This week’s podcast is a fun and easy listen with a lot of great tips and tricks that can be applied to your own situation, whatever kind of business you’re running. After you’re done listening to it, check out Brandon’s own website, his media company, and some of his Amazon books – including my personal favourite, The Red Circle.
