“Leaders must always operate with the understanding that they are part of something greater than themselves and their own personal interests.”

The test for a successful brief is simple: Do the team and the supporting elements understand it?

Staying ahead of the curve prevents a leader from being overwhelmed when pressure is applied and enables greater decisiveness.

A good leader does not get bogged down in the minutia of a tactical problem at the expense of strategic success.

His realistic assessment, acknowledgment of failure, and ownership of the problem were key to developing a plan to improve performance and ultimately win.

There is only hard work, late nights, early mornings, practice, rehearsal, repetition, study, sweat, blood, toil, frustration, and discipline.

Leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities, between one extreme and another.

A mission statement tells your troops what you are doing.

People do not follow robots.

A good leader has nothing to prove, but everything to prove.

If we could execute with a monumental effort just to reach an immediate goal that everyone could see, we could then continue to the next visually.

I can remember many times when my boat crew struggled. It was easy to make excuses for our team’s performance and why it wasn’t what it should have been. But I learned that good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done and win.

Repetitive exceptional performance became a habit.

All elements within the greater team are crucial and must work together to accomplish the mission, mutually supporting one another for that singular purpose.

But we can’t ever think we are too good to fail or that our enemies are not capable, deadly, and eager to exploit our weaknesses. We must never get complacent. This is where controlling the ego is most important.

Get after it.

Generally, when a leader struggles, the root cause behind the problem is that the leader has leaned too far in one direction and steered off course. Awareness.

That’s one of the great things about music. You can sing a song to 85,000 people and they’ll sing it back for 85,000 different reasons.

The tusk is a very tactile shape, looks great among the other charms and is a cool piece that I like.

The small courtesies sweeten life; the greater ennoble it.

I feel like acting is something I’ve been working towards longer. And it would be great to win a Grammy, of course, but for some reason, an Oscar speaks more to me.

There’s not an instruction manual on how to deal with success, so you just have to rely on having great friends and a good team.

Good company, lively conversation, and the endearments of friendship fill the mind with great pleasure.

I’ve experienced great things, I’ve experienced great tragedies. I’ve done almost everything I could possibly ever imagine doing, but I just know that there’s more.

The greatest gift you can give someone is your time.