Admiral (Ret.) William McRaven
Lessons from a Servant Leader
This week, I had the rare opportunity to sit in on a fireside chat with Admiral (Ret.) William McRaven—a four-star Navy SEAL who led U.S. Special Operations Command during the War on Terror, delivered UT Austin's now-famous "Make Your Bed" commencement address, authored multiple bestselling books, served as Chancellor of the University of Texas System, and now teaches leadership and policy at the LBJ School.
McRaven has lived a dozen lifetimes in one—and getting to hear him speak in person was something I won't forget. Here are the most powerful takeaways from that session
"You don't want to ring the bell."
In SEAL training, "ringing the bell" means quitting. It's the easy path when things get hard. But if what you're doing is good, honest, noble, and honorable—don't quit.
The key to resilience isn't strength or intelligence. It's team. You need people who will pick you up when you fall, who will paddle the boat when you can't, and who will dust you off and get you back in the fight. No one makes it through alone.
Four Rules for Earning Respect
When McRaven was a brand-new Naval officer, he asked a senior enlisted leader: What do I need to do to earn respect?
The answer was three simple, timeless rules:
Work hard: You don't need to be the most talented, but you better be the hardest working. Effort is noticed. It earns respect.
Be a good teammate: It doesn't matter if you're the best at your job—if you're a bad teammate, the team fails. Being the best on a losing team still makes you a loser.
Know the business: When McRaven became Chancellor of UT, he didn't know much about academia. His college buddies found the whole thing hilarious knowing his performance, or lack of, in college. But he spent months studying how the university worked: what department chairs do, what a provost is, how research gets funded. He learned the business of the business. He had to do the homework. When you join a new company or team, you'll get some onboarding like understanding the culture—the language, norms, and behaviors. But everything else about understanding the job and industryis on you. Especially if you're moving every few years, like in the military, you learn quickly: come in early, stay late, ask questions, do the research.
Leadership skills only matter after you understand the underlying business. If you don't know how it works, you can't lead it.
Be a good person: The last thing that has been recommended to earn the respect of his team is to be a good person. McRaven says every decision you make as a leader should pass three filters:
Is it moral? Are you doing what's right?
Is it legal? Are you following the law?
Is it ethical? Are you respecting the rules and values of your organization?
Pass all three, and you'll stay on the right side of every decision.
Make It Meaningful
One of his most powerful points: "As a leader, your job is to connect your team's work to something noble, honorable, and decent."
He told a story about meeting a telecom worker who didn't see much value in his job. McRaven reframed it: You're not just stringing wires—you're connecting mothers to daughters, patients to doctors. You're keeping society connected.
Every job, no matter how tactical, contributes to something larger. If you're a waiter, you're feeding people and enabling connection. If you're in a massive public company, you're creating value and helping people build security through retirement and ownership.
And if you can't tie your current mission to something bigger? Maybe it's time to find a new mission.
These are frameworks I’ll be incorporating into how I live, lead, and parent. Hearing them from someone who’s led elite teams in war, run a massive academic institution, and spent a lifetime in service only reinforces their weight.
The most powerful leaders don’t complicate things—they clarify. They return to timeless truths. And they live them with conviction.
Whether you’re leading a company, raising a family, or just trying to be a little better than you were yesterday—work hard, be a good teammate, do the homework, and do the right thing.
That’s a pretty good mission.
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