Why this book: Selected as a book to discuss by the group of young men I meet with who are preparing to begin SEAL and SWCC basic training.  One of them had read it and said it would be a really good one for us to read and talk about. He was right.

Summary in 3 sentences.  This book is an expansion on the speech Adm Bill McRaven gave as the graduation commencement speaker for the University of Texas in 2014 which went viral and became an internet hit.  He offers the graduating seniors 10 lessons he learned during his career in the SEALs that may help them in their lives after graduation, in whatever field they go into.  Each lesson is from his SEAL experience, and begins with “If you want to change the world…..”

My Impressions: This is a  short, fun-to-read book that captures highlights of the wisdom  that Bill McRaven gleaned from his 36 years in the Navy, amplified by some great stories that drive home the lessons he intends to impart.  It is not an academic or pretentious book – very down to earth – and he tells simple stories from his life in the SEAL Teams and translates the lessons to apply to any walk of life.

Most of the 10 chapters begin with a story from his time in Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training, with an instructor making him or his boat crew do something that they really didn’t want to do, but they did it anyway – because in order to become SEALs, they had to.  It wasn’t pleasant, but Bill shares why and how bearing down and completing as best he could these unpleasant tasks taught him lessons that helped him succeed throughout his career.

There are ten chapters in the book, each entitled with the lesson that chapter will impart, such as,  “Chapter One: Start Your Day with a Task Completed.”  And then each chapter gives a specific action to fulfill that lesson – “If you want to change the world….Start off by making your bed.” And then he launches into the stories that support that lesson.

Another example: “Chapter Five: Failure can make you stronger.  If you want to change the world…Don’t be afraid of The Circus.”   In the chapter he explains “The Circus” as a punishment meted out to BUD/S trainees who did not meet instructor standards.

Or “Chapter Three: Only the Size of your Heart Matters.  If you want to change the world…measure a person by the size of their heart.”  And here he goes on to tell a story from SEAL training how often the little guys, the ones who didn’t look like Hollywood’s version of a Navy SEAL, were often the ones who succeeded, while the biggest and the strongest often weren’t there at the end. That was also my experience.   Some of the most athletically gifted didn’t have the heart, the grit, or the desire necessary to get through the tough challenges of SEAL training. .

The beauty of this little book is in it’s simplicity.  It is short, easy and enjoyable to read, and profound in the lessons taken from the challenges one of our nations most prominent military leaders faced as a young man and what he learned from them to help him succeed in serving our nation.  How he applied his insights to overcoming challenges large and small offers wisdom that anyone in any walk of life can relate to. The final chapter is “Never Ever Quit. If you want to change the world….Don’t ever , ever ring the bell.”

At the conclusion of the book,  he includes the full text of his speech at the 2014 University of Texas commencement which inspired the book, and helped launch Adm Bill McRaven’s post-Navy career as an inspirational leader in the world outside the military and the Navy SEALs.

My good friend YK, an experienced and well educated  banking executive, tells me that she loves Make Your Bed,  as it picks her up and inspires her after a long day of dealing with difficult people and difficult issues.  It also inspired my young SEAL candidates, nervously preparing for basic SEAL training. And it inspires me as I deal with my own challenges, as a middle aged man making his way in a rapidly changing world.

It is a book I will gift to friends – it is short and easy enough to read that my non-reading friends will probably read it, enjoy it, be inspired by it, and gift it to others.  If you want to change the world….gift an inspiring book to those who will read it and learn from it.

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Bill McRaven is a friends of mine – I admired him when we served together during our careers in the SEALS, and I admire him even more today for his sacrifices and successes as a leader as his career continued, and mine was over. I also admire his courage in speaking up for what he believes in and subjecting himself to a lot of criticism.  So when our reading group selected this book, I reached out to him and asked him if he could join our discussion, answer questions from the young men and share his wisdom and insights with them directly.  He agreed and for an hour on Zoom, Bill answered questions about  some of his stories in the book, shared a few additional stories that reinforced his points, and answered questions about serving in combat that were not addressed in a book written for general consumption.  It was a great session, he was full of his characteristic positive energy and passion and he inspired these young men with simple lessons and wisdom that should help them succeed at whatever they end up doing – hopefully becoming Navy SEALs.  It was fully characteristic of him to willingly give up an hour of his time in the evening to meet with a group of young men who aspire to be better.