Perseverance Over Endurance: Leading Through Uncertainty With Brandon Young
Digest
Brandon Young, co-author of "Perseverance: Where the Carrot Leads to Endurance," shares insights from his U.S. Army Special Operations background and transition to civilian leadership. He distinguishes perseverance from endurance, defining perseverance as growing through uncertainty. Young emphasizes the importance of discipline, purpose, and resilience, often forged in challenging environments like the military. He addresses the difficulties veterans face in reintegrating into civilian life and the need for connection and reframing. The conversation highlights key leadership principles, including "cool breeds cool," the importance of clarity, difficult conversations, and fostering ownership over buy-in. Applied Leadership Partners offers training to help leaders navigate change and adversity using practical frameworks. The core message revolves around developing mental models and making deliberate choices to thrive amidst life's inevitable challenges.
Outlines
Introduction to Perseverance and Leadership
Richard Jacobs introduces Brandon Young, co-author of "Perseverance," to discuss the five factors of perseverance for achieving no-fail missions, drawing from Young's extensive military and civilian leadership experience.
Discipline, Adversity, and Military Impact
Brandon Young explains how military service instills discipline and resilience, contrasting it with everyday life and highlighting that adversity and discipline are universal. He reflects on the sense of purpose and belonging military life provided, acting as a "first family" during challenging times.
Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life
The discussion covers the challenges veterans face in civilian reintegration, including identity loss and the difficulty of seeking help. It emphasizes the need for perspective, reframing, and community connection.
Perseverance vs. Endurance and Navigating Uncertainty
Young clarifies that perseverance is about growing through uncertainty, unlike endurance, which is merely surviving hardship. He stresses preparing for an uncertain future and introduces the concept of "false finish lines" created by the brain's need for certainty.
Leadership Definition and Audience
The book "Perseverance" targets leaders seeking growth through adversity. Leadership is defined as a relational process of influence yielding results, applicable in all life contexts.
Personal Challenges and Emotional Regulation
Young shares personal struggles with returning home, including undiagnosed PTSD and TBI, and the difficulty of shifting from high-stakes environments to domestic life. He explores how compartmentalization in combat leads to disconnection and the importance of emotional regulation.
Applying Perseverance Frameworks to Life
Military training's emphasis on compartmentalization, acceptance, and choice is applied to everyday challenges like parenthood or illness. Young illustrates the five factors of perseverance—change, uncertainty, acceptance, choice, and growth—with a personal story from Afghanistan.
Refining Concepts and Leadership Development
The distinction between endurance and perseverance is further refined, with perseverance involving active growth. Young discusses mental models for navigating adversity, managing emotions like rage in combat, and the principle of "cool breeds cool" in leadership. Applied Leadership Partners offers development training to help leaders navigate change and uncertainty effectively.
Key Leadership Failure Points and Solutions
Critical leadership failures include lack of clarity and avoiding difficult conversations. The importance of seeking alignment over agreement, fostering ownership, and addressing failures constructively for continuous improvement is emphasized.
Keywords
Perseverance
The ability to persist in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. In the context of the book, it's about growing and transforming through periods of undefined change and uncertainty, moving forward in the right direction.
Endurance
The ability to withstand hardship or adversity; the fact or state of sustaining, supporting, or suffering. In contrast to perseverance, endurance is often seen as simply getting through a defined period of hardship without necessarily growing or transforming.
Adversity
Difficulties; misfortune. The book emphasizes that adversity is a universal experience and that developing perseverance is key to navigating it effectively, whether in war, business, or personal life.
Resilience
The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Resilience is a core component of perseverance, enabling individuals to bounce back from setbacks and continue moving towards their goals.
Leadership
The action of leading a group of people or an organization. The book defines leadership as a verb and a relational process of influence that yields results, applicable in any context.
Uncertainty
The state of being uncertain; lack of certainty. The book provides frameworks for navigating and leading through uncertainty, recognizing that the human brain craves certainty and that preparing for the unpredictable is crucial.
Acceptance
The act of accepting something or someone. In the context of perseverance, acceptance involves acknowledging what can be controlled and surrendering what cannot, a crucial step in making effective choices.
Choice
The act of choosing or deciding. Perseverance involves making deliberate choices that align with one's values and mission, even when faced with difficult circumstances.
Growth
The process of developing or maturing physically, mentally, or spiritually. In the book's framework, growth is the outcome of persevering through change and uncertainty, leading to personal and professional development.
Military Transition
The challenges veterans face when moving from military service to civilian life, including identity shifts and reintegration difficulties.
Q&A
What is the core difference between perseverance and endurance as discussed in the book?
Endurance is about getting through a defined period of hardship, often by simply surviving. Perseverance, on the other hand, involves growing and transforming through periods of undefined change and uncertainty, actively moving forward in the right direction.
What are the five factors of perseverance outlined in the book?
The five factors are Change, Uncertainty, Acceptance, Choice, and Growth. These elements provide a framework for understanding and navigating difficult situations to achieve success.
How does military training, particularly in special operations, prepare individuals for perseverance?
Military training instills discipline, teaches compartmentalization of emotions, and fosters a mission-focused mindset. This experience helps individuals develop resilience and the ability to make difficult choices under extreme pressure, which are crucial for perseverance.
What are the main challenges veterans face when transitioning back to civilian life?
Veterans often experience a loss of identity, difficulty in seeking help after being conditioned to be "indomitable," and a jarring shift from a highly structured environment to civilian life. Reintegration requires perspective, reframing, and strong connections with family and community.
How does "cool breeds cool" apply to leadership in various contexts?
"Cool breeds cool" means that a leader's composure under pressure significantly influences their team's response. If a leader remains calm and focused during stressful situations, their team is more likely to do the same, maintaining effectiveness and preventing panic.
What are the key failure points for leaders who haven't received specific training?
Common failure points include a lack of clarity on objectives and roles, an unwillingness or inability to have difficult conversations, and a focus on seeking agreement rather than alignment. Leaders also struggle with managing uncertainty and fostering ownership within their teams.
How does Applied Leadership Partners help organizations improve their leadership?
They provide leadership development training using practical frameworks derived from military and business experience. They focus on enhancing clarity, prioritization, communication skills, and the ability to navigate change and adversity effectively.
What is the significance of "ownership" versus "buy-in" in leadership?
Ownership implies a deeper level of engagement and agency, where individuals feel personally invested in the outcome. Buy-in is more passive. Fostering ownership leads to greater accountability, motivation, and a more collaborative approach to achieving goals.
How can individuals manage uncertainty and make better decisions?
By focusing on the locus of control, individuals can accept what they can and cannot control, and make deliberate choices aligned with their objectives. This proactive approach helps shrink the scope of the problem and allows for more effective decision-making amidst chaos.
How does compartmentalization in high-stress environments affect individuals upon returning to civilian life?
Compartmentalization, the act of separating emotions and experiences, can lead to a disconnection from oneself and others after prolonged suppression in high-stress military environments, making it difficult to connect emotionally in civilian life.
Show Notes
In this episode, we dive into the five factors of perseverance with Brandon Young, a professional who has spent more than 25 years building and leading teams in the military, corporate healthcare, and nonprofit sectors.
Brandon is the co-author of Perseverance > Endurance: Lead with Resilience. Grow Through Adversity. Win Together. This is a book that he wrote alongside Blayne Smith that provides key insights for leading teams through the battlefield of uncertainty – a narrative that explains why perseverance is necessary for navigating today's complex world…
Brandon is a former US Army Ranger with four combat rotations to Afghanistan. He has been published in various magazines and peer-reviewed academic journals, has assessed, mentored, and trained more than 1,000 Ranger leaders, and placed third in the 2006 Best Ranger Competition. He is also the co-founder of Applied Leadership Partners, a consulting firm that shares hard-earned leadership wisdom with professionals navigating growth changes and adversity.
Hit play to learn more about:
- How Brandon's diverse past has shaped his current ambitions.
- The ways that your work ethic can change when you make hard decisions.
- Various ways to cultivate a purposeful approach to life.
- How veterans reconcile their profound loss of identity after their service.
To follow along with Brandon and his ongoing work, click here now!
Episode also available on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/30PvU9C
🧭 Recommended Resources from This Episode:
Explore books and tools that reflect the themes of personal discipline, leadership, and peak performance discussed with Brandon Young:
- 📘 Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink& Leif Babin.
Check it out - 💥 Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins.
Get the book - 🎓 How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie – Master the foundational skills of leadership and human connection.
Get the book - 💪 TRX All-In-One Suspension Trainer – A compact training system for strength, flexibility, and endurance at home or on the go.
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