695: Andy Stumpf - Leadership Lessons From SEAL Team Six, Discipline vs. Motivation, Team Guy vs. Navy SEAL, High Standards, and How To Be Drownproof

**Ryan Hawk** (0:00)
My next book, The Price of Becoming, will be out in a couple of months. In the meantime, I have sent it to a few authors who I deeply admire and look up to. One of them is Jack Carr, the incredible Navy SEAL who's also written a number of New York Times bestsellers. And this is what Jack said about The Price of Becoming. Quote, The Price of Becoming is a clear-eyed look at transformation and the cost that comes with it. No hype, no shortcuts, just the truth about change and the discipline required to sustain it. This is a must read if you are serious about doing work. That matters. Buy it, read it, then go forth and crush. Again, that's from Jack Carr, United States Navy SEAL and number one New York Times best-selling author. I would love if you would pre-order The Price of Becoming right now. You can do it at learningleader.com or go straight to Amazon and order The Price of Becoming. Thank you so much.
Welcome to The Learning Leader Show presented by Insight Global. I am your host, Ryan Hawk. Thank you so much for being here. Go to learningleader.com for show notes of this and all podcast episodes. Go to learningleader.com. Now, on to tonight's featured leader, Andy Stumpf enlisted at age 17, became a Navy SEAL, eventually made it to SEAL Team Six, completed 10 combat deployments, was shot at close range by an AK-47 in Iraq and returned to duty when doctors said he might not walk again.
He just released his instant New York Times bestseller called Drownproof, Eight Life Lessons to Keep Your Head Above Water. During our conversation, we discussed the real difference between motivation and discipline and why one of them cannot be outsourced and the other one can. Then, why the people with the highest standards can be the most at risk. What Andy learned the hard way from losing a mentor. Then, what post-dramatic growth looks like and why Andy thinks we've been focused on the wrong half of that conversation. There was so much we covered. Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy my conversation with Andy Stumpf.
I love the mantra that's both in your book and on your website. That is, quote, what you allow in your presence is your standard. Can you tell me more what that mantra means?

**Andy Stumpf** (2:59)
I mean, it's pretty straightforward. I was talking with you before we went live. I was doing a corporate speaking engagement, the coolest venue ever at the Red Rocks. Amphitheater, I was not on stage.
I went through a slide deck and literally, I have a slide that says Questions. Then I tell the audience, I'm going to leave you with one more thing.
I click it, and that's how I end my presentations, is what you allow in your presence is your standard. Or I'll say, another way to phrase it is, what you walk past is your standard. It's pretty clear what it means and it sucks because it applies to everybody watching or listening this. It doesn't matter what your corporate ethos is, it doesn't matter what your personal ethos is. It can be tattooed, it can be on a wall, behind you a sticker, a banner. That's all great. But if your actions don't align with your speech, it means nothing. And speech really, we could argue about the value and the impact it can have. Actions truly have impact. So what you allow, what you choose not to address is the actual standard for yourself as an individual and as a business regardless of whatever you may have written somewhere else. It's tough. It sucks.

**Ryan Hawk** (4:14)
I love that you, because when I first read it, I thought about the people you allow in your life. And you focused most of that though on holding yourself to the standard and that whatever you say is fine. It's what you actually do. Now let's expand on it though. How does that apply to the people in your life, the people you choose to surround yourself with?

**Andy Stumpf** (4:35)
You hit the nail on the head with who you allow into your life. We live in a world where I think it tugs at everybody. If they are, we'll call it consumer facing at all. If you participate in the social media ecosystem, which you and I do because we can tell ourselves it's a part of our business. And it is a part of our business, but also it feels nice to be recognized. It can feel nice. And we all have egos. That's totally fine. You know, I always advocate for keeping it in check, but I never tell people not to have one because that's impossible.