Never Stop Working the Problem: A Story on Leadership from Jon Fussell

TDJS Episode3 Jon Fussell Leadership

The latest guest on The David Johnson Show is Lt. Commander Retired Navy SEAL Jon Fussell. Jon is a former Business Manager at Wellington Management Company, the largest independent investment management firm in the world, and founder of Patriot Leadership Development, a consultancy in which Jon teaches physical and mental approaches to leadership for corporate executives. 

In the full episode below, Jon speaks about the importance of coming together and working as a team; his business work in the corporate world; how his military training and leadership has impacted what he does today; and how veterans can adapt to new situations to understand how to move ahead. 

“You have to figure out how to work as a team,” says Jon in the episode. “Going through SEAL training, you can’t survive that as an individual. You’re not getting through there. I’m not going for miles, and miles, and miles, of running with a 400 lb. telephone pole on my shoulder. I certainly didn’t do that as an individual. Miles of paddling and rowing, with a 400 lb. boat on your head. You’re not doing that as an individual.”

Click below to the video from the full interview. 

On the topic of similarities between the military world and the civilian world, Jon speaks of the human component of leadership. “Driven people want leadership,” Jon remarks. “They have a hunger for leadership. They want leaders to step up and make calls. I saw that universally.” 

In the episode on The David Johnson Show, Commander Fussell describes his time and shares some of his insights gained while earning his Master’s Degree in Defense Analysis from Naval Postgraduate School. His team’s thesis consisted of partnering with dozens of fortune 500 companies to learn how these companies identified, groomed and retained high potential leaders within the organizations. 

“We had to do a lot of research,” remembers Fussell in the episode. “We did go out and connect with every company that we could get our hands-on, to talk to them about, “What are you doing for your people? How do you bring your high potentials in? What are you doing to separate them from the pack, let them know that you care about them? It was a great process. We enjoyed doing it.”

“I truly admire Jon,” said David Johnson.”What a leader! From his times in the SEAL teams to what he has done to date after retirement. 

“The David Johnson Show” is a national voice that talks about points of interest in the American military and veteran subculture. Each show episode showcases a different guest with a different story.

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