Advice from an Army Ranger

A couple summers ago, on a drive across America, I made a stop in Northwest Arkansas.

My friend Raye, a retired Army Ranger, lives there, and we planned to spend a morning training together. Raye found a trail running park with a 10-story flight of stairs, and we did stair repeats for an hour in the July humidity. 

As we hiked up and down the stairs, I peppered Raye with questions.

• the stresses of combat

• how to train and develop people

• how to make impossible decisions

• how to execute with limited information

• what separates “professionals” from the rest

It was a masterclass in mindset and high-performance.

There was one insight and piece of advice in particular Raye shared that I’ve thought about often since.

During his career, Raye had the opportunity to run the Ranger training pipeline. His job was to select and develop the next generation of Regiment guys.

After training hundreds of guys, he started noticing something.

“Some guys looked the part – Division I athletes, strong, good endurance, skilled, did almost everything well,” Raye said. “Then in combat, they got exposed.”

What Raye learned was looking ready and being ready are two entirely different things.

Guys who looked ready for combat weren’t necessarily those who were ready for combat.

The difference was mental.

What’s needed in a chaotic environment like combat is the capacity to handle extreme stress and the cognitive ability to make good decisions on the fly.

The same principle applies in any field.

Every job requires baseline tactical skills to perform. These are the cost of entry.

But what usually separates top performers are the skills that are harder to see. 

The emotional capacity to handle stress. The mental acuity to focus and process information. The discernment and judgment to assess risk. The courage to make high-stakes decisions. The willingness to lead.

As we ascended another flight of stairs, I asked Raye what someone should do with this insight.

“Don’t worry at all about looking ready,” he said. “Give all your attention, time and energy to being ready.”

Teddy is the author of The Process. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his wife and kids. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or X, or reply to this email.

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