The Ranger Creed
Recognizing that I volunteered as a Ranger, fully knowing the hazards of my chosen profession, I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor and high "Esprit de Corps" of my Ranger Regiment.
Acknowledging the fact that a Ranger is a more elite soldier who arrives at the cutting edge of battle by land, sea, or air, I accept the fact that as a Ranger, my country expects me to move further, faster, and fight harder than any other soldier.
Never shall I fail my comrades. I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong and morally straight and I will shoulder more than my share of the task whatever it may be. One hundred percent and then some.
Gallantly will I show the world that I am a specially selected and well-trained soldier. My courtesy to superior officers, my neatness of dress and care of equipment shall set the example for others to follow.
Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.
Readily will I display the intestinal fortitude required to fight on to the Ranger objective and complete the mission, though I be the lone survivor.
Leading in the midst of chaos means leading in the midst of random change. Regardless of whether your title is CEO or supervisor, you can emerge as a leader in your dynamic business environment when you use active listening, plan consistently, and take other specific steps to engage the talents of people around you in accomplishing a clear mission.
In the movies, we often see leaders as spouting critical orders that save lives. It’s the surgeon orchestrating a team to save the gunshot victim or a police officer (like Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson) telling hostages how to escape. In real time, however, the leader had to pay attention to experts, learn to weigh odds, practice carrying out a planning sequence, and construct scenarios requiring creative problem solving. While the movies may too easily equate "leader" with "hero," hero is only a subset of leader. Great leaders are not often heroes. TLC: The formula for success
A company can sort its assets into two kinds: the tangible assets it can purchase and produce, and its people. This book is not about tangible assets. It’s about the people—how to improve and leverage the value of the human side of the business. Corporations shy away from putting a lot of capital in that part of the equation because it’s so hard to quantify the return on investment. That’s ironic, because it’s the workforce that sustains a competitive advantage.
Every company has technology—tools of the trade—and can acquire upgraded and new technology similar to its competitors. Every company also has a continuous improvement program, or at least a mindset and mantra, that says, "We can do it better, faster, cheaper." So what distinguishes one company from its competition? The people. The factor that sets one company above another is the performance of the workforce. It’s teamwork, leadership, and communication thriving within a pervasive and positive corporate culture. If your tangible assets are roughly equal to that of your competitors, it’s your teamwork, your leadership, your communication, and your corporate culture that give you the advantage. You win!
As the movie Black Hawk Down depicts, Rangers have a well-deserved reputation for unflinching loyalty to each other, stepping into a leadership role when needed, and keeping comrades informed for the safety of all and achievement of the mission. This portrayal of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu shows how Rangers live the Ranger Creed—a guide to putting teamwork, leadership, and communication into action to achieve a common goal. In the Creed, which gets a close look in Chapter 6, phrases such as "Never shall I fail my comrades," and "Gallantly will I show the world that I am a specially selected" are elements of a firm pledge to "complete the mission" as members of a elite team, leaders of men, and men of honor. The Creed is about people creating advantages through their behavior. There’s no reference to better guns, bigger bombs, or faster planes.
So many companies spend enormous resources on continuous improvement in the tangible assets because they can point to the result. Many do it just to keep pace with their competition. In many cases, the net competitive advantage gained at the end of the year is zero. With the pace of technological advancement, the upgrades that you and competition make today may be in need of upgrading in a matter of months. Both of you keep ratcheting up the investments in those tangible assets and look to them give you an edge. The other guys improve on what you’ve done and you see that and improve on what they’ve done.
Winning is not just about trying to beat your competition technically. Your best competitors will always challenge you. They will always be at your heels. If you really want to blast ahead in terms of profitability and performance, you have to tweak your TLC. The investments you make in doing that tweaking will pay off over and over again, year after year. And it is possible for one company to approach the improvements to TLC much better than the competition. In that case, the sustainable competitive advantage grows even larger.
