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The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

606: Jack Carr - Writing Thrillers (The Terminal List), Working with Chris Pratt, Fighting Wars as a Navy SEAL, Putting In The Work, & Never Missing an Opportunity To Make Someone's Day

Duration
50m
Broadcast on
27 Oct 2024
Audio Format
other

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3NszPAg

Jack Carr is a former Navy SEAL who for 20 years led special operations teams as a Team Leader, Platoon Commander, Troop Commander, and Task Unit Commander. Jack is also the #1 New York Times Best Selling author of 8 books and his debut novel, The Terminal List, was adapted into the #1 Amazon Prime Video series starring Chris Pratt.

Notes

  • When Jack was little, he hoped to grow up and do two things. Be a Navy SEAL and become an author.
  • Jack's grandfather died at war. "It's in my blood."
    • "You have to prove that you can add value to your tribe."
  • "Great warriors run to the sound of the guns to be with their fellow service members."
  • Commonality of the best SEAL Leaders:
    • Trust, up and down the chain of command
    • High character
    • Good decision-maker: The decisions you've made in the past are your currency.
    • Do things you don't have to do. Run with the squad, put rounds down range. You don't have to be the best at it, but you should be very good at all of the things the people you're leading are doing.
  • Reading novels: "When I was young, I was reading for the magic in those pages."
  • PUT IN THE WORK… Jack has been putting in the work since he was little. He read books for the magic in those pages. All of that reading has helped inform him of what great storytelling looks like. And then he PUT IN THE WORK. If you want to be a published author, you need to WRITE. It's that simple. Do the work, and get the manuscript done. And then take the next step. A lot of people want to be published authors. Not everyone wants to write. Like Ronnie Coleman said, "A lot of people want to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift these heavy weights every day."
  • Mentor, Brad Thor: "Brad told me that the only difference between a published and unpublished author is that the published author doesn't quit."
  • Writers Block – One thing I'll share from Steven Pressfield is that he said "Hey, you never hear of a trucker getting trucker's block". Writer's block does not exist - you just have to go do it.
  • Books to recommend: ONCE AN EAGLE by Anton Myrer.
    • It is advice that a wise Sam Damon shares: "You can't help what you were born and you may not have much to say about where you die, but you can and you should try to pass the days in between as a good man." In the end that really says it all.
  • Advice:
    • Never miss an opportunity to make someone's day… Make that your default setting. Work to add value to others' lives. Make their day. Help them. Make introductions, LISTEN to them, offer ideas to help solve their issues
Put in the work. If you don't put in the work, it's not gonna happen. That, I can guarantee. JACON, former Navy SEAL, turned best-selling thriller writer. He goes full-force with everything he does. What are the qualities in somebody to become a SEAL and then to be a leader amongst leaders? Just like anybody else in life trusts up and down the chain of command. Never miss an opportunity to make somebody's day. It rips your honor by books and up and a love of reading that I got to read all these books just for the magic in those pages. No one will turn your motive. When I got to writing, it wasn't a question of, "Can I do this?" I already knew I had that just in me with the books. I want the next book to be better than this one. I was focused on being the best leader and the best operator that I could possibly be. You have to be ready to make these split-second decisions that are going to affect everyone around you for the rest of their lives. Welcome to The Learning Leaders Show, presented by Insight Global. I am your host, Ryan Hawk. Thank you so much for being here to text Hawk, 266866 to become part of Mindful Monday. You, along with tens of thousands of other learning leaders from all over the world, will receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your regolf. Right? You'll also receive details about how our book, The Score That Matters, will help you become a more effective leader, text Hawk, 266866. Now, on to tonight's featured leader, American hero, Jack Carr is a former Navy SEAL who for 20 years led special operations teams as a team leader, platoon commander, troop commander, and task unit commander. Jack is also the number one New York Times best-selling author of eight books. In his debut novel, the terminal list was adapted into the number one Amazon Prime video series starring Chris Pratt. Wow! During this conversation we discuss how a love of reading impacted Jack as a Navy SEAL and a leader. Then the four attributes that make a great Navy SEAL and leader outside of the SEALs. The Jack shares how to build trust with your team, really good part, and then he finishes with a piece of advice that will change your life. Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy my conversation with American hero, Jack Carr. So, I'm reading that when you grew up hoping to be two things, a Navy SEAL and an author. Where did that come from? How does somebody who's little know they want to grow up to be a Navy SEAL and an author? Yeah, well, I think the military part was just in my blood from an early age. I'm sure there was a lot of influence from popular culture, but my grandfather was killed in World War II. So, I grew up with his medals, pictures of him and his squad. And he flew a plane called the Corsair, which is a plane that had the gold wings that folded up so it fit on aircraft carriers. He was a Marine Corps aviator, so I had his wings, all those things. And there was a show on TV called Black Sheep Squadron with Robert Conrad playing Pappy Boynton. Back then, I caught it in syndication in the early 80s with my dad, but because my dad never knew his father, that was kind of the connection to that generation was through popular culture, movies and TV shows and books. Because there wasn't a Facebook, you couldn't go to the old squadron Facebook page where people could kind of keep up with what was going on. Obviously, that didn't happen. People came back from that war and got to work building this country into what it is today. So, popular culture, I'm sure, played a role, but it was also just in my blood. And I think it's in all of our DNA, because really from the beginning of time, there have been these prerequisites in place before you could join the tribe or the community. You had to prove you could add value to that tribe or community. And if you couldn't do that, well, then you're shunned because your tribe would not be around much longer if you weren't good at the hunting, weren't good at the fighting. Couldn't add value in some way, shape or form to that growing civilization and society. So, I think there's this thing in all of us, which is kind of where that draw comes from, probably in high school for most people, let's say between ages like 13 and 20, somewhere in there. And you feel a need to test yourself some way, because you used to have to do that. It was built in to your progression as a human. That's why I think Marine Corps boot camp is such a draw, that's something that people are drawn to. But really, any of the boot camps or any of the special operations training pipelines, like seal training, which is called buds, a few course, which is for Army Special Forces, Ranger School.

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