Leading Through Chaos — Lessons From an Elite Special Ops Commander | Phil Kornachuk

Philip Kornachuk (0:00)

We're going to point positive. If something goes sideways, we're going to point where you need to go, what you need to do. So focus on the actions you need to take. Don't focus on, well, what could go wrong if I do this or if I do that or that don't screw up mentality.

Like that will absolutely be a cancer in your mind and inhibit your performance. Don't dwell on what could go wrong and focus on what must happen to do this excellent.

And if you can get into that condition, I think you'll excel under stress and pressure. Pressure.

Michael Gervais (0:37)

Okay, welcome back, or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade in training a high-performance psychologist. And I am really excited to sit down with Phil Kornachuk for this week's conversation. Phil has forged an incredible path. He's a highly trained military expert with 22 years of service in the US. Army Special Ops Command, during which he served with the 2nd Battalion Rangers, the Green Berets, was deployed 12 times and received a Silver Star. That's the 3rd highest award for valor in combat.

We explore that incredible story throughout this conversation. Now, after retiring from the Army, he decided to dedicate his expertise to a new mission, helping people and businesses forge high-performance leadership skills.

Indexing on self-mastery, mindset training and discipline, Phil is following his passion for developing purpose-driven leaders and high-performing teams through his company, Stone Water Training. Phil and I share the belief that there are no shortcuts. And you'll hear all about how this high school dropout who grew up on a dairy farm in rural Ontario, cultivated mental toughness, leadership acumen, and a life perspective that we can all benefit from.

With that, let's get right into this week's conversation with Phil Kornachuk. Okay, Phil, you have had an incredible life. From high school dropout to Green Beret to owning your own company, let's give a quick flyover of the, let's call it the chapters of your life. For folks that don't know your full history, where do we start?

Philip Kornachuk (2:19)

So I was born at a very young age in Eastern Canada. And essentially, I'll kind of fast forward.

Michael Gervais (2:26)

You set the tone already. Okay, here we go.

Philip Kornachuk (2:29)

It's true, it's a fact. I try to work in facts.

But yeah, really kind of a conservative upbringing. You know, dad was a hardcore old school Baptist minister, mom stayed at home.

Michael Gervais (2:39)

Like, I think I'm gonna find a way to use that at some point in my life. That's brilliant. I was born at a very young age. Okay. I was still stuck. You can own it.

Philip Kornachuk (2:48)

I stole it off someone else before, too. So it's all yours now.

But yeah.

Michael Gervais (2:53)

So conservative upbringing.

Philip Kornachuk (2:54)

Yeah, conservative upbringing, rural Eastern Canada, cow country.

And I actually ended up, I was in a very small, very strict private school that I really didn't work for me. And so when I was 16, I just walked away from home and didn't go back.

Michael Gervais (3:12)

Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. So there's a gap in there somewhere. Okay, so rural, conservative, and it didn't work for you.

So you hung it up at the ripe age of 16

Philip Kornachuk (3:24)

Yeah, well, cause I had all the answers. I had everything figured out.

Michael Gervais (3:26)

Oh, now I understand.

Philip Kornachuk (3:28)

Yeah, no, I think the reality was, you know, obviously it was something where, yeah, it just, it wasn't right for me. The world wasn't that binary black and white.

I hadn't seen a lot, but I knew I wanted to see more. I wanted to experience more. I wanted to get out and see what was outside of this bubble.

And so, you know, like I said, I left home shortly after my 16th birthday and kind of stumbled around making all kinds of bad decisions that you do when you're that age. And my saving grace was on my 17th birthday, I actually enlisted in the Canadian Army. So I was in the reserves, nothing sexy.

But that was my first introduction to leaders that were kind of no bullshit and held you to a standard. They're like, all right, sign on the dotted line. Okay, now you're here and this is what you're gonna do. And they didn't care if you wanted to or you didn't want to or you could or you couldn't. That was the standard and you were expected to meet it. And at first, you know, that rankled me. And then I realized, like, A, I can do this. And B, if I don't quit, I can actually do this fairly well. So I did that for, you know, roughly about two years and-