The 2006 Leadership Excellence Summit
"Ethics and Warriorship in Special Operations and the Corporate Culture"
Dick Couch
SEAL Productions LTD
He pointed out that there are differences between the world of the military warrior and the corporate warrior, but there are also similarities. "There are not that many gunfights out there, but there are challenges every day," he said of the corporate world. He stressed the need to empower subordinate leaders to work at the full level of their authority. Micro-managing is an inefficient expenditure of resources. Delegating authority enables subordinates to take responsibility for their leadership decisions. They must be trained, they must be trusted, and they must be held to standard. To Couch, the team is a sacred trust.
Couch also spoke in no uncertain terms about the absolutely necessity of ethical behavior. He insists that people never sacrifice what they know is right for the sake of convenience. He recalled an incident that he was involved in during the Vietnam War, during which he accidentally fired one of his vessel's long-range bombardment cannons into the ocean repeatedly rather than firing it into enemy territory. No harm was done, and the mistake could have been corrected without anybody finding out about it, but Couch insisted on informing his captain of his mistake against the advice of his shipmates. When Couch left that assignment, his captain gave him a glowing review, and cited that incident as one in which Couch demonstrated great character.
Couch recognizes that everybody has things to balance in their lives, between morals, ethics, lifestyle and a career. He feels that lifestyle choices are the most difficult to master. "America eats horribly," he said, "alcohol will cause you headaches." It's influences such as these which can have a great impact on the ability of team members to perform, but Couch believes that everybody has it in them to overcome such weaknesses. "If that warrior princess from Ford Motor Company can put exercise and diet on her list of priorities, I can do the same thing," he said, referring to Anne Stevens.
Couch feels that all a person has in the end is moral character. "We don't need bad guys with guns - they're a dime a dozen," he said. In the end, it's not a career or choice or a label that defines who we are, but how people model human behavior to those they influence. He encourages everybody to think of character as a "personal force multiplier," and asks everybody to make a conscious effort to define the type of warrior that they will be.
Dick Couch was born in Mississippi and raised in Southern Indiana. He is a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served with the Navy Underwater Demolition and SEAL Teams. While a platoon leader with SEAL Team One in 1970, he led one of the only successful POW rescue operations of the Vietnam War. On release from active duty in 1972, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency where he served as a Maritime Operations Officer. Couch retired from the naval Reserve in 1997 with the rank of Captain. He began his writing career in 1990 and published six novels and five non-fiction works.
Couch has been a guest on "The O'Reilly Factor With Bill O'Reilly," on "Hardball" with Chris Matthews, and on the MS/NBC nightly news with Brian Williams. He is frequently heard on National Public Radio and numerous other radio talk shows, including the Jim Bohannon Show and the G. Gordon Liddy Show. He served as an analyst for Fox TV, MS/NBC TV, and ABC radio. He lectures at the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Special Warfare Center, the JFK Special Forces Center and School, the FBI Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Joint Special Operations University on issues of character development, the Warrior Ethic, and counterinsurgency.