To my Fallen Brothers. You will never be forgotten.
Michael Murphy
Clark Schwedler
Mark Carter
Tommy Valentine
Mike Koch
Nate Hardy
Lance Vaccaro
Sean Flynn
Josh Harris
Jason Friewald
John Marcum
Colin Thomas
Adam Brown
Extortion 17
Turbine 33
Brett Shadle
Nicolas Checque
*A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the SEAL Future Fund. Visit www.sealfuturefund.org for more information.
a genuine archer book
Copyright © 2015 by Jeff Boss
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below:
Archer/Rare Bird
601 West 26th Street · Suite 325 · New York · NY 10001
archerlit.com
Set in Minion
ePub ISBN: 9781941729106
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Names: Boss, Jeff, author.
Title: Navigating chaos : how to find certainty in uncertain situations / by Jeff Boss.
Description: First hardcover edition. | New York [New York] ; Los Angeles [California] : Archer,
2015 | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: ISBN 978-1-941729-06-9
Subjects: LCSH: Leadership. | Self-actualization. | United States. Navy.
SEALs—Anecdotes. |
Executive coaching. | BISAC: Business & Economics | Leadership.
Classification: LCC HD57.7 B678 2015 | DDC 658.4—dc23
Contents
Performance and The PAL Model©
The First “C” of Chaos: Competence
The Second “C” of Chaos: Character and Confidence
Filling the Knowledge Gap: Curiosity
Just When You Thought You Had Enough
Adapting to Uncertainty: How Chaos Drives Chaos
The Door: Bridging The Gap Between Adaptability And Leadership
Introduction
This is not a book on how to be a badass, jump out of planes, or shoot a piece of barbed wire from a mile away—you know, the stuff that SEALs are famous for? Instead, what this book is about is how to learn to be a badass on your own—at whatever it is that you set your mind to achieving. As a teenager and an early adult, my life’s mission was to become a Navy SEAL. That’s what I worked toward and what I succeeded in. The principles that governed my learning process, however, are something that can be applicable to anyone who seeks to become a top-tier performer in whatever their chosen field happens to be. The professional football player or Fortune 500 CEO, yes, but also the stay-at-home mom or the twenty-five-year-old entrepreneur. Anyone who is seeking high performance has come to the right place.
Why the title Navigating Chaos? Because, as you will learn in this book, the ability to comport yourself in uncertain situations—which is actually most situations, if you really think about it—is the most important skill you need to develop if you are going to become a top-tier performer. I had the opportunity to learn this the hard way through thirteen years on the SEAL Teams, working at the highest level with other high-performing and hard-driving individuals. However, what you will learn about us from this book is that we are far from the one-dimensional, knuckle-dragging image that the public believes us to be.
Hollywood likes to portray SEALs with a shoot ’em up, almost larger-than-life persona that capitalizes on brawn and bravado, and unfortunately, that’s the only image of us that much of the public will ever know. What is not shown, however, are the mental capacities and emotional