Changing The World - My Take on Admiral McRaven's UT Graduation Speech

In the spring of 2017 I received a note that highlighted Navy Admiral's William H. McRaven's famous graduation speech that was given at the University of Texas on May 17, 2014. 

Here are some thoughts I had after viewing the speech:

Admiral McRaven starts off by quoting the University's slogan/motto: "What starts here changes the world." It's a bold statement that's intended to capture the interest of the current student population. Do a little research and one will find a more traditional school motto for the University of Texas: "A cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy," but I digress. How many times have you heard in your life from a 20-something that they want to change the world? Most don't have a clue of how to go about doing it, but McRaven gives them a path; it's accomplished by small steps. I recently heard a minister say "I'm not trying to change the world, I'm just trying to live in the world I'm in." If you truly live in the world, one will have an opportunity to impact/change the lives of the ten people that McRaven references in his opening remarks.

The church I attend recently concluded a five part series entitled "My Radius," with the slogan - "Your biggest impact begins right where you are." Tom Hughes, one of the lead ministers of Christian Assembly Church in Los Angeles, had a phrase that connected with me - "Relational Radius" - He starts off his sermon by betting that there is something true in all of us - "We want our life, our one & only life that we get to live, we want it to count, we want it to matter, we want it to make a difference and we want it to have an impact - That's just in us."

Who's in our "relational radius?" The people we see in our everyday lives - our family, colleagues at work, neighbors, schoolmates, teammates, etc.  Teachers and coaches can really impact and positively influence people in their relational radius - I can't put a number on the lives my mother and father have changed/impacted/influenced in a positive way. 

All human interactions are not positive - We can have a negative or positive impact with the people within our relational radius. Is the group that you're most closely connected to having a positive or negative relational radius experience?

McRaven's Ten Lessons:

#1. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. 

Coaches love to talk about the "little things" - not attending to details can ruin a season. Is your team fundamentally sound? What does your coaching staff need to do to ensure their players are making their beds every day, from the first day of training camp to the last day of the season? 

#2. If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle. 

This is too generic - I say find someone who can help you paddle that can make you and the group better - What are your standards? This is one of my standards - to find athletes who make their teammates better both on and off the floor. Answer this question: Is he/she a good teammate? The heart of the story hits on the most important point - everybody needs to be in synch & paddling to the same destination - "Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously tossed back on the beach." 

#3 If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers. 

"Heart" - All of us are looking for it - The munchkin crew succeeded because they had a chip on their shoulder and their "will to succeed" was greater than than their fellow Navy Seals. Size matters in the NBA, but there's a place for the "little man," especially, if they have heart and a unique skill set. All things equal, which they never are, go for size. "Don't teach toughness, Draft it."   

#4 If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward. 

Amen! Get over yourself. McRaven described a training methodology whose aim is to create more resilient and flexible (attitudes) Navy Seals. One of my standards is to find tough minded athletes whose sociological experiences have made them emotionally resilient and flexible in their attitude as it relates to coaching and change. Rigid thinkers won't be a part of my team. 

My son's school recently hosted Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College, whose focus is on resilience & play. Gray's "recent research focuses on the role of play in human evolution and how children educate themselves. He described the social phenomena that have led to a decline in emotional resilience. He used an array of anecdotes and studies to describe the correlation between increased anxiety and depression and decreased creativity in adolescents, and connected these changes to the decrease in unsupervised, unconstructive play since the mid-1950's." 

Peter Gray's article, "Declining Student Resilience: A Serious Problem for Colleges," is a good read.

#5 But if you want to change the world, don't be afraid of the circuses. 

McRaven describes a "competitive cauldron" atmosphere. Anson Dorrance, UNC's great women's soccer coach coined the term, "Competitive Cauldron." He devised a system of accountability that enabled him to "value competition and promote it among his teams."   McRaven talks about holding all accountable and building physical resiliency. The physiological nature and injury history of certain athletes doesn't always lend itself to building the physical resiliency that is required to play 82 games in a NBA season - sometimes you have to back off players who just can't meet the physical demands of the sport.

"You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core." Jessica Lahey speaks "On The Gift of Failure" on Rich Roll's podcast & below on a youtube video:

#6 If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first. 

Going against the grain - Think Mike D'Antoni's (Houston Rockets) style of basketball which was introduced to the NBA when he became head coach of the Phoenix Suns in 2003. Now his approach to the game is more the rule than the exception in today's NBA. Phil Jackson adopting Tex Winter's "Triple Post" offense philosophy when he took over the reigns of the Chicago Bulls in 1989 is another example of sliding down head first. Even more radical in some people's minds was Phil Jackson's belief that "Triple Post/Triangle Offense" still had its place in the modern day game when he became President of Basketball Operations in 2014 for the New York Knicks.  It was viewed as an antiquated offense, but what few realize is that the "Triple Post Offense" has always been considered a pariah in the NBA. Count me in on being a pariah if I could have been a part of Eleven World Championships. I guess I'll just have to be content with the six I was a part of in my days with the Chicago Bulls.

#7 So, if you want to change the world, don't back down from the sharks. 

"Stand your Ground" is what I get out of this and I'm not talking about the Florida law that allowed Trayvon Martin's killer to escape conviction. Every NBA team needs some "stand your ground" players on defense.

I'll touch lightly on McRaven's reference about sharks - The New York Metropolitan area is infested with sharks and I would love to punch some of them, but as one of my favorite podcasters (Rob Bell) recently taught - Redemptive Violence is a lie and we need to adopt a third way of thinking. The third way of thinking concept reminds me of Phil Jackson's  thoughts on the "Triple Post Offense:" "Our system moves away from that. The whole concept is to defy pressures, to work against another team's force. Basically we try to get the other team to overload in one area and then work with their energy (to defeat them)." 

#8 If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.

Poise & Competitive Greatness -  Navy Seal training prepares you to "be at your best when your best is needed." Scuba Diving underneath a ship to find it's keel requires the same level of poise that Michael Jordan had in crunch time situations in the playoffs. How did Michael get to that level? By creating a foundation in his game and psyche that could withstand the competitive challenges he would face. 

I've taught John Wooden's Pyramid of Success Philosophy to some of the youth teams I coached. I love Wooden's definition for Poise - "You don't acquire poise, it acquires you." Do most people understand Wooden's definition of Poise? - Probably not, unless you've studied his Pyramid of Success. "Poise is part of the harvest you reap near the top of my Pyramid of Success. In effect, Poise is a powerful gift you give yourself when you acquire the blocks of the Pyramid-those in the preceding three tiers." That means you have to put in a lot of work on yourself and your game before poise will acquire you - you just can't magically become poised - it's earned - Industriousness, Enthusiasm, Friendship, Loyalty, Cooperation, Self-Control, Alertness, Initiative, Intentness, Condition, Skill, Team Spirit. 

#9  So, If you want to change the world, start singing when you're up to your neck in mud. There's a lot to this statement as it relates to team success - How many teams reach their very best?  Reaching your very best in Wooden's Pyramid is being ready/prepared for "Competitive Greatness." When times get tough for a team, how does the group respond? Do they give into the darkness that is permeating around them or do the find a way to take "small steps" to turn the tide. "Esprit De Corps" - military term meaning "Spirit of the Corps" - How would you rate your team spirit? Back to having standards - You can't construct a Pyramid without having two essential elements - Enthusiasm & Industriousness. 

But the essence of what McRaven discusses regarding this point is built upon the "power of one" - One person can be the catalyst for lifting the group and one person can be the catalyst for the group to implode. When you're looking to bring people into your circle, make sure you find that person who will sing when he's up to neck in mud. 

#10. If you want to change the world don't ever, ever ring the bell.