How do we define the term "best performance?" Is it elite? Is it peak? Is it simply human? For our first episode of 2022, host Fran Racioppi starts 2022 with a conversation on first defining “optimal performance” and second on understanding the core fundamentals that make up our character and our personality...The Attributes.

Fran is joined by Rich Diviney; a former Navy SEAL who revolutionized the way Navy SEALS are assessed and selected for our nation's premier counter-terrorism forces. He has taught leadership and the concept of optimal performance to thousands of businesses, and recently launched his new book called The Attributes.

2020 and 2021 tested many of our attributes. We may not have even realized it. We don't know what 2022 will bring, but we know that any success starts with our ability to understand ourselves.  

Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website.

Highlights:

-Rich distinguishes between traits and attributes, defines optimal performance vs peak performance, separates skills from attributes, and shows the importance of selecting those who “could” do the job vs those who know “how” to do the job.

-How the lessons of the US Navy SEAL assessment & selection process can be used in any organization and how to apply it today. Plus a short history of the SEALS and the evolution of training through today’s Hell Week.

-Fran and Rich cover 22 of The Attributes through a discussion on the five categories: Grit, Mental Acuity, Leadership, Drive, and Team Ability.

-A detailed breakdown of discipline vs self-discipline, sympathy vs empathy, decisiveness vs decision-making; and how they each affect our roles as leaders.

-Rich provides the “how-to” assessment to understand our core values to determine which attributes are most important to our organizations. 

 -START is the five-step process to improve ourselves and the quality of our attributes.

-Fran gets Rich to pick the attribute that best defines him; and what he is looking to improve in 2022.

Quotes:

-”If you want to understand human performance—yours and others’—the first step is to understand attributes.”

-”Personality traits are who we are on any given day.”

-”Optimal performance is about doing the best you can in the moment.”

-“Skills are not inherent to our nature…skills direct our behavior in known situations.”

-”Attributes…inform our behavior. They don’t direct our behavior.”

-”Talent is a dynamic dance between skills and attributes.”

-”Grit can be described as the ability to push through and achieve those acute challenges and goals.”

-“Mental Acuity is the one that all of these are actually inter-related.”

-“When someone leaves the group of a narcissist, that person is immediately enemy #1.”

-“Self-Discipline involves those things that the external world has no say in. Discipline involves those things that the external world does have a say in.”

-“The confusing thing about leadership is that we often think of leadership as a noun…in fact is a verb. It’s a behavior”

-”A decisive person understands that a decision can be final, but not permanent.”

Rich’s Three Daily Foundations to Success:

-Hug my wife and kids

-Tell them I love them multiple times 

-Keep moving forward; even if just a small step

This episode is brought to you by Jersey Mike’s, 18A Fitness and Analytix Solutions.