Still, he learned a profound lesson about leadership: "There are no bad teams, only bad leaders..."
In one exercise, Babin explained, SEAL candidates were grouped by height into boat crews of seven men and assigned to a WWII-relic inflatable boat that weighed more than 200 pounds. The most senior-ranking sailor became the boat-crew leader responsible for receiving, transmitting, and overseeing the execution of the lead instructor's orders. They were to go through a grueling string of races that involved running with the boat and then paddling it in the ocean.
After several rounds, one particular team came in first and another in last nearly every time. The instructors decided to switch the leaders of the best and worst teams, and the results were remarkable. Under new leadership, the formerly great team did relatively well but was a shadow of its past self, and the formerly terrible team placed first in nearly every race.
The once-great team had practiced enough with each other to accomplish something even under bad management, but the bad leader was unable to command respect or maintain synchronicity.
Meanwhile, the excellent leader had taken his new team from last to first by getting them to believe that they were just as capable as his former team, and that bickering with each other during the exercise would not be tolerated...
"One of the things that I learned from that boat-crew example is that most people want to lead," Babin said. "The team that was failing there, they didn't want to be on the failing team. They wanted to win. ... It's about checking the ego — it's about being humble, to recognize what can I do better to lead my team."
Richard Feloni
"Former Navy SEAL commanders explain why 'there are no bad teams, only bad leaders'" Business Insider. October 1, 2016
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