Pete Logan: Building Resilience in High-Stake Situations #211

When stakes are high, most teams don’t fail because they lack effort. They fail because they lack clarity, rehearsal, trust, and emotional control when pressure rises. This conversation breaks down how high-performance teams prepare for uncertainty before it arrives, and why those same principles apply far beyond combat or special operations.

A central idea is that strong execution starts with a clear shared vision. In military planning, that vision is captured through “commander’s intent,” which includes three parts: purpose, key tasks, and end state. The value of that framework is simple: when everyone understands the mission’s purpose and the desired outcome, they can adapt under pressure without losing alignment. For leaders in business, sports, or life, this becomes a practical way to create clarity before action.

The episode also explores visualization as a performance tool. Pete describes learning mental rehearsal as a competitive swimmer, where repeated guided visualization helped athletes match goal times without additional physical strain. He later applied similar methods in special operations, where teams used “dirt dives” to rehearse complex underwater missions step by step. The lesson is that mental reps sharpen execution, expose threats, and improve decision-making before real consequences arrive.

Another major theme is resilience. Rather than treating resilience as a motivational slogan, the conversation frames it as something earned through repeated exposure, disciplined preparation, and emotional control. In demanding environments, composure is not accidental. It is trained. That includes learning to act methodically under stress, receiving feedback with humility, and staying focused on the next step instead of reacting emotionally in the moment.

Trust is presented as the currency of leadership. It is not assumed because people share a title or a team. It is built over time through shared hardship, competence, consistency, and visible commitment to others. The discussion highlights how trust grows during long preparation cycles, and why teams perform at their best when members know others will do their part under pressure.

The conversation also touches on transition and reinvention after military service, as well as coaching athletes, executives, and first responders. Across all of it, the message is consistent: leadership is built, not born. Growth requires honest self-assessment, actionable feedback, and deliberate practices like journaling, reflection, and meditation. Listeners will come away with practical ways to lead more clearly, train composure, and build trust that holds when conditions get hard.

Highlights

• Create alignment faster with purpose, key tasks, and end state
• Use mental rehearsal to improve performance without extra physical strain
• Build resilience through repetition, difficulty, and emotional control
• Turn feedback into growth through humility and disciplined follow-through
• Strengthen trust through shared hardship, competence, and consistency
• Use meditation and reflection to improve composure and judgment

Important Concepts and Frameworks

• Commander’s Intent — a planning framework built around purpose, key tasks, and end state
• End State — the clearly defined desired outcome that aligns teams across levels
• Visualization — mentally rehearsing successful execution to improve performance and readiness
• Dirt Dives — physical walk-through rehearsals of complex dive routes and obstacles
• Emotional Control — trained composure that supports execution under stress
• 360-Degree Survey — structured feedback used to identify habits and leadership gaps
• Trust as the Currency of Leadership — the idea that respect follows earned trust
• Leadership with Character — leadership development grounded in humility, integrity, and responsibility
• Journaling and Reflection — practices for processing experience and extracting lessons
• Meditation — a discipline for calming the mind and improving self-regulation

Tools & Resources Mentioned

• Invictus Games — competition for injured veterans that illustrates recovery and resilience
• Warrior Games — adaptive sports event mentioned as part of long-term recovery
• LinkedIn — platform mentioned for connecting with Pete Logan
• Facebook — platform mentioned for connecting with Pete Logan
• Sharp Performance — coaching company supporting first responders through mentoring
• Ascend Leadership Group — Pete Logan’s company focused on coaching team captains and executives

Calls to Action

1. Define your next important mission using purpose, key tasks, and end state before execution begins.
2. Add short daily visualization sessions to rehearse critical conversations, presentations, or performance moments.
3. Ask for direct feedback from trusted peers and convert two insights into a written improvement plan.
4. Build trust intentionally by training, solving problems, and facing difficulty alongside your team.
5. Start a reflection practice through journaling or meditation to improve composure and decision-making under stress.

Key Quotes

• "Trust is the currency of any leader." — Pete Logan
• "Leaders are made, they're not born." — Pete Logan
• "Feedback is great, but if you're not doing anything with it, it's kind of worthless." — Pete Logan
• "You take care of your teammates, protect your teammates, and then execute the mission." — Pete Logan
• "Having a disciplined practice... probably saved my life and saved my marriage." — Pete Logan

Chapters
00:00 — Consequences That Redefine Preparation
05:11 — The Three-Part Framework for Mission Clarity
07:17 — Visualization as a Performance Multiplier
11:14 — Dirt Dives and Rehearsing Underwater Risk
13:54 — How Emotional Control Gets Trained
17:52 — Feedback, Humility, and Leadership Growth
21:31 — Why Trust Determines Team Performance
26:14 — The Identity Shift After High-Stakes Service
29:06 — Coaching Captains, Executives, and First Responders
35:59 — Meditation as a Tool for Composure


This Episode's Guest:

Pete Logan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-logan/
Website: https://www.ascendleadershipgroup.net/


About the Host

Simon Vetter
Website: https://simonvetter.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thevisionarchitect/

Creators and Guests

Host

Simon Vetter

Simon Vetter, known as The Vision Architect, is an international executive coach, professional speaker and author of "Leading with Vision". He helps leaders create crystal-clear vision and practical execution, aligning teams and accelerating performance. His work is trusted by organizations including AbbVie, Cisco, Lennar, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Siemens. Born in Switzerland and shaped by 27+ years in San Diego, Simon blends Swiss precision with Californian innovation: pragmatic, energizing and actionable for real-world leadership pressure.

What is The Vision Architect?

The Vision Architect is the podcast about crafting bold, aspiring futures that inspires lasting change. It is for leaders facing pivotal moments or crucial challenges - those crucible experiences where big decisions shape the future. Each episode is filled with stories, ideas and tools to intentionally design a meaningful path forward, gain clarity amid uncertainty, and ignite the courage needed for enduring change. It's a powerful conversation about what's next - for your life, career, team, and organization.

[video] VISION 211 - Pete Logan
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[00:00:00] Simon Vetter: Welcome to another session of The Vision Architect. I'm honored to have Pete Logan today for our episode. Just a little background, Pete Logan just, retired recently of 26 years as a Navy SEAL in the US Navy as a captain. he was completing a total of nine deployments.

He also spent four years overseas in Europe, South America, Japan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the last two years, he was commanding a SEAL team of about 2 to 300, people preparing, planning, and executing, special operation missions. And he retired and now lives in Florida with his, wife of 18 years and three children.

So Pete, great to have you here.

[00:00:50] Pete Logan: Yeah, thanks. Thanks. Great, topic to be talking about and, looking forward to it

[00:00:54] Simon Vetter: So we'll dive into vision, mental rehearsal, visualization, resilience. And so when you think of your 26 years of, servicing in the s- Navy, what is a, an experience that stands out? What was one of the most challenging experience that, that you can think of that impacted you?

[00:01:18] Pete Logan: Yeah. I mean, most people when they talk to SEALs, retired SEALs, they'll hear about stories from BUD/S or Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL Training, right? It's a pretty intensive training just to get into it. in there you, you don't have significant consequences. You're in a training environment. when you're actually out leading troops for real, in combat, in training, forward, the consequences matter a lot more, and they're pretty significant.

And, you know, I'd say one of the most significant events I had in my career was when I was commanding SEAL Team One, in the, in 2019. we had some guys training up in Alaska, cold weather training and riding some boats in, the middle of the winter in some very rough sea states. And, there was a, tragic collision between one of our boats.

It was about a 45-foot boat collided with another Coast Guard RIB, and the RIB was going about 30 knots, broadsided our boat and, one of our guys, who was inches from the bow of the Coast Guard RIB when it collided, really took the brunt of the impact and was pinned inside the wreckage. so I as a commanding officer,he was, one of the troop commanders, one of my direct reports leading a training mission up there in some austere conditions.

so I was overseeing it from California. He was on the ground as the forward deployed leader, as he would when we deploy, for real, leading this training ex-exercise. so he was immediately unconscious. a lot of guys on the boat were injured, and immediately the guys, thinking on their feet First tried to save his life, tried to get him out of the wreckage, and had to move him, all the way back to the first line of care that they could get him to, because his,life was in danger.

So, I was removed by, couple thousand miles, but immediately had to,you know, notify the right people, got in touch with his wife,had to take care of, the back end details. And then, you know, we flew up there and, and got to sit with him while he was in his coma and,and the rest of the team was recovering from that accident.

but it was a, a very stark reminder as I've had, you know, unfortunately several times in my career, a reminder of the consequences of the job and how important, all the little things are that you do in preparation for training, in preparation for deployment. and this individual, was in a coma for months, and one day wiggled his toe.

a week later wiggled three toes. A month later opened his eyes, and six months later he's up and walking and, and then was able to walk through the medical retirement ceremony that we had for him. And, and he's slowly recovering to this day, and competing in, you know, Invictus Games and Warrior Games as a, as an injured veteran and doing inspirational things that you wouldn't believe.

So, really a testament to the heart of the guys in our community that they, you know, they don't give up despite the adversity they come across. they keep fighting, they keep trying to excel and keep trying to, serve their country whatever way, way they can.

[00:04:29] Simon Vetter: And the story illustrates also the, life and death situations that you get into. And so in special operations, what's the role of preparation, for a mission and have clarity of vision? Can you expand a little bit on that?

a lot depends on the position you're in. for the leader,of a mission, and we have so many echelons for approvals of these missions, each leader, needs to buy into and be aligned with the vision of the senior commander. And typically the senior commander is the one that has the authority to approve it, and he's the one that issues the commander's intent, a term we use in the military often.

[00:05:11] Pete Logan: And in that commander's intent, there's three key aspects of that. There's the purpose, there's the key tasks, and there's the end state. So a well-planned mission will think carefully about those three things, and a good commander will a- be able to communicate those clearly so everyone understands that, this is the end state we're going for, in other words, the vision we're going for

[00:05:36] Simon Vetter: So three things, purpose, key tasks, and end state. Can you tell a bit about how the end state is getting clarified and communicated?

[00:05:47] Pete Logan: Yeah. The end state has to align with all levels, all echelons above us to make sure,that end state is, a term we use is nested within higher headquarters vision, higher headquarters end state. And you could see how there's a overarching operation, say, in, uh, in Iraq, it was to pacify one region or one province,you know, to, to use the whole of government to leverage the Iraqis and leverage, leverage the, population to meet our military objectives.

And then each echelon beneath that has to have their own unique vision that supports the overarching one. the commanders that have the approval authority will seek guidance from the higher headquarters and say, "Hey, this is the end state I'm trying to seek, for my mission in this period in time.

Do you agree it nests well and it supports your overarching vision?" and when you get that approval back,you're free to execute. it's not as simple as that. There's a lot more rehearsals. There's, planning, preparation, and, making sure the right resources and assets are aligned, but that's generally how the end states at more tactical levels are nested with higher level end states.

[00:07:04] Simon Vetter: How did you apply this concept of visualization to make sure everybody on your team in- sees and has the same ideal outcome that they strive for?

[00:07:17] Pete Logan: Yeah. So visualization is, a really interesting term that I was introduced to as a, competitive athlete in high school and then later in college and, in the SEAL teams, typically everybody in the SEAL teams is, some form or fashion of an athlete that has competed before. a lot of high-level athletes, coming together to do,a new unique form of teamwork and,high-performing organizations.

So my first exposure to visualization was as a swimmer in high school, and, as we were preparing for the final meets of our season, we'd use visualization as, you know, our coaches wanted us to rest a little bit more so we're ready for the biggest meets, but also exercise our brains to make sure we are,preparing to see what success looked like.

And it was a, an incredible eye-opening exercise where we would lay down after practice in a dark room, close our eyes,and have a clock on the wall, and the clock on the wall we could all see, right when we opened our eyes. And the coach would walk us through the entire pre-race rituals, walk through us getting on the block, and we would do all this, you know, visualization with our eyes closed.

We'd get up on the blocks, close our eyes, and he would say, "Go." And right when he said go, the clock would start. And our goal was to see ourselves diving into the pool, doing our first strokes, you know, breathing, struggling, straining, and then doing the flip turn, coming back and touching the wall. And while you're doing that, your muscles are firing, your, brain is thinking through every single step, and you're doing as many strokes as you should be doing in the pool.

And when you touch at the wall, you should be looking up at the clock at your goal time, the goal time that you should set for the entire season So obviously the first time you do it, you may be 30 seconds, 40 seconds off. But when we consistently did it every day after practice, we got better and we got better and closer to our goal times.

And by the end, the last three days before our championship meets, we were hitting our goal times like within tenths of seconds, and it was pretty remarkable. And we're doing these reps mentally, and I'm confident it was, it was saving our energy. our muscular endurance was saved because we were just doing the reps of, the brain to muscle connection while laying there in a dark room.

But, those were the best performance I ever had by doing those guided visualizations of how to perform like that. And,I took that practice into the SEAL teams, and it was already being done just in different levels. We weren't really racing against the clock. we were doing the maneuvers exactly like they should be done, but in a different manner.

[00:10:01] Simon Vetter: Yeah. It's very remarkable. It's like that you kept practicing your competitive swim in your mind over, over again, and the mind, didn't differentiate if it's real or mental, every mental practice was like a physical practice. That's very remarkable

[00:10:23] Pete Logan: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you're feeling very similar, effects. You know, your body temperature is raised. We were in cold rooms, but we were completely warm enough, because we felt like we were straining ourselves in a race. And, it's an incredible experience, and it was eye-opening, too, about the power of the mind and what the mind can do for you,in any setting, right?

I--applied that confidence in my mind's ability to see and visualize, exceptional performance to nearly everything else I did after experiencing that

[00:10:54] Simon Vetter: And it also shows how important it is to practice and do repetition of the practice. How did you apply that in special operations when you prepare for critical absolutely, high-stake m- mission?

[00:11:10] Pete Logan: Yeah. Yeah,

[00:11:11] Simon Vetter: of the rituals went through with your team?

[00:11:14] Pete Logan: Yeah. The first, place I saw it applied, was in diving. And diving is a definitely a high-risk evolution that we conduct all the time. it's one thing that separates SEALs from most other special operations forces is, we consider ourselves to be masters of the maritime environment and especially the undersea.

You know, a lot of people can, can raid targets on land. Very few people can, get to those targets by diving for miles and miles undetected underwater, in very tough environments,tough temperatures, and arrive safely. So in order to do that insertion method of diving to a target, you have to rehearse it a lot.

And every dive we would do, we would do what we call dirt dives. And if you know, say you're inserted at a, pier and you're trying to travel, I don't know, three miles to a target location at a different pier, you would very carefully plan the route and understand the tides and currents and depths and any o- potential obstacles in your way.

but doing all that requires a two-man pair to, get out and rehearse exactly what happened. So, so we would, leave the planning rooms and go out to giant open room, and we would, on the floor, tape out the obstacles that we could potentially face underwater so we could see what the entire, maritime environment in front of us from insertion to target looks like.

And then we would actually walk, in a smaller scale environment every single leg. And say I was the one navigating, I would hold a compass on an attack board. I would hold that compass. I would communicate to my buddy without communicating. We would do hand and arm signals and squeezes, because you can't talk underwater that, that well.

and we would do the squeeze, and we would move a certain distance, and then we would turn. Then we'd do the squeeze, move a certain distance, and then turn. And this is a rehearsal we would do over and over and over until we knew it, cold. we were able to visualize all potential obstacles in the way, and doing,the dirt dive allowed us to understand, hey, you know, we could be coming at this location as the moon is rising here, and that could be a factor, or if we're too close to this pier, lights from the pier could give away our location.

So the rehearsal of the visualization, allowed us to understand more about the threats and opportunities, that we could face on our path

[00:13:42] Simon Vetter: That's amazing. Yeah. How you prepare. What's the, emotional resilience and composure that is necessary when you, do those preparations

[00:13:54] Pete Logan: Yeah. It's something that's built up over time. So obviously if, you're assessed and selected to go to BUD/S and then make it through every - phase of BUD/S, you've build up some resilience and you're able to control your emotions a lot more because you've, probably been very stressed out or very frustrated or tired, and you may have reacted in training, but you are immediately given feedback that is not how you need to act because that will get you killed.

so you're conditioned to control your emotions a lot better through time. And when you're working on very challenging problems, say a very long dive to a target, you're stuck in the moment of execution and because you've rehearsed it so many times, you're going step by step.

You don't really have the time to, think about emotions. You're just executing and you're doing what you're trained, and that's, the beauty of our training. You we train very hard and we lose guys in training. You know, like the example I talked about early in the, in this discussion.

they were training in the toughest conditions we could find in the United States, tougher than any environments that they would operate overseas. you know, pitch black, the darkest night of the month. and we had to do that because in, in the actual envi- environment that you're operating in for real,you want to make it as easy as possible and you want to be as, as ready as possible.

So, so emotional control is core to who we are from training on. And, and it starts with the leadership. The leadership has to, demonstrate that, that they are in control and they are confident, and demonstrate that, they have the ability to be calm under pressure

[00:15:37] Simon Vetter: Yeah. And it's, when we translate that to businesses or even to, to life, we talk a lot about resilience. People need to be more resilient, and they expect just to do a few things. But we are not always committed to do the training and what it takes. I'm curious. you have three young children.

How do you teach them, resilience and emotional control? and what are some of the ways you apply that to your family?

[00:16:04] Pete Logan: Yeah. Well, they don't listen to me. They, uh, no, they, they're, they're great kids and, it's funny, I, you know, I have a, a teenage daughter and a 11-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter, and all great kids and it's very hard to, you know, all right, hey, I got a class. We're gonna teach about emotional control or resilience.

I think the way you teach it best is just demonstrating it. they've seen myself and my wife together, through some tough times like, in 2019 when we, had one of my guys severely injured and, you know, two days before that my, my wife tragically lost a brother, right? So, those are the opportunities, those are the classrooms that we demonstrate what resilience is and we demonstrate so many more lessons in that adversity.

what does community look like? what does faith look like? and we talk to them when we tuck them in at, at bedtime and, you know, I'm a big fan of journaling and, reflecting on what you've learned and I'm, you know, I try to instill that in my two oldest kids. My, my third kid is-- we're coming along on that.

But that's an opportunity where, we're coaching them reflecting yourself on what,happened that day. And if we can seed a little, nugget of wisdom about it and, show some vulnerability like, "This is what I went through today. it was a tough day for me. I had to fire somebody and this is what I felt and these are the emotions I went through and this is why it matters.

You know, this is why it hurts to make this decision." having those little conversations at night I think will stick in, their brains over time. But, yeah, I think the thing they love doing the most is telling us, "No, I can't teach you anything and, uh, I don't, I don't need you, I don't need you trying to teach me anything, Dad."

[00:17:52] Simon Vetter: Yeah. And there's an element of feedback, especially when you go through the training and you went through very tough training as a Navy SEAL. Feedback is a way to help people understand and learn. How did you use feedback? Again, let's talk about resilience and mental toughness. How did you use feedback to, to strengthen traits?

[00:18:15] Pete Logan: Yeah. so feedback, you're getting it all the time. And whether you wanna receive it and acknowledge it, I think that matters more than getting the feedback. There are times where I got exceptional feedback from bosses, from peers, from senior enlisted guys, and I didn't grasp onto it and really appreciate how powerful and how meaningful and valuable it was.

and I just-- I wasn't ready in that moment, in a handful of moments to really a-appreciate it and use it. as you develop your humility and learn some hard lessons, you cherish that feedback and you seek it out, and you find those opportunities to, be vulnerable and go to your, you know, command master chief or your, you know, you name a, a,peer commanding officer and say, "Hey, this is what I'm thinking of doing to present to my guys.

Do you think this is a good idea?" Or, "this is feedback I got from a 360-degree survey." I am gonna take these two nuggets and build a plan to actually, fix this habit." so it takes humility to receive feedback and then a discipline to apply it to your life. Feedback is great, and you get a lot of it, but if you're not doing anything with it, it's kind of worthless and you're losing credibility and losing respect from the people and losing trust, if you do not take that feedback.

I think one of the most important forms of feedback is just, interpersonal relationships. And when you have a communication , you're sitting down and talking to somebody virtually or in person, you're able to pick up on cues of what that person is communicating with you, right?

Nonverbal cues are incredibly powerful, and if you're not able to sense those and see those and feel those and then act on those, you're missing a,lot of very valuable feedback. I've seen in our community, em-empathic, empathetic, leaders are some of the best leaders because they sense what the message is or how the message is being received

[00:20:17] Simon Vetter: yeah. feedback is, I think it's very powerful. I use it a lot. And it's also how you give feedback. And then to your point is how does the receiver take it? And are they listen, are they paying attention? Do they use it as a way to, to learn from it? And sometimes people tend to resist

[00:20:34] Pete Logan: Mm-hmm. Yeah

[00:20:35] Simon Vetter: or not wanting to listen.

and I think that's to their detriment, because they're missing a great opportunity to change something that really helps them and the team. Yeah

[00:20:45] Pete Logan: Yeah. And giving feedback is, is an art form in itself. and it's different for everybody. You know, you have to first measure what's my level of trust in my relationship with this individual before I give them feedback. are they ready for it? Are they-- Do they have the humility and the personality to accept it?

and is it that important to, you know, give them this feedback right now? The timing matters. it's an art form, and I think you wanna lead them to, understanding what needs to be fixed. And if they discover it first, it'll probably stick better than you just saying, "Hey, do this."

[00:21:21] Simon Vetter: And the better you do it, it also develops a stronger bond and level of trust between the interpersonal relationship.

[00:21:29] Pete Logan: Yeah, absolutely. Yep

[00:21:31] Simon Vetter: What's the role of trust in the team? How do you infuse trust? Because when you do operations, you really have to have each other's back. do you infuse trust into your teams if you bring a new team together and they don't know each other? What were some of the practices did you apply to bring this team close together?

[00:21:51] Pete Logan: Yeah. Yeah, I've always thought trust is the currency of any leader, and it should be a final goal to have respect of your people, right? And you won't have respect until you first earn their trust. a lot of trust is passed on or built through your reputation. So, from day one, you are trying to build your reputation as a SEAL that you are a team player, you are looking out for your guys if you are a leader, that you will do whatever it takes to,suffer or,strain or,persevere for your teammates.

that's kind of the remarkable thing about our community. You know, we, there's so many Medal of Honor recipients in our community, but I'm confident ninety-plus percent of the guys, if they were faced in the same situation, would do the same thing and do something unbelievably heroic to sacrifice their lives to save a teammate and accomplish a mission.

so having that level of,dedication to your teammates, it, there are opportunities where it can clearly, be demonstrated or not demonstrated. So any of those opportunities that come up, you have to take advantage of it and just trust in your training and you,do what's right for your guys.

You take care of your teammates, protect your teammates, and then execute the mission, and then your trust builds slowly. And our units will form on average every two years or so. Say a platoon will, form, will work together for 18 months, deploy for six months, and then come back, for a typical SEAL team In those 18 months when you're training together, that is where you're building trust among everybody.

You're learning and challenged in the training environments, but you're also, building trust. Trust among peers, trust among, you know, leaders to followers. And,the point is to suffer together, to train together, to learn together, and then you build up that 18 months worth of,trust, and then you deploy.

So very rarely will we take an extra person onto that unit unless they absolutely know the standard operating procedures and tactics that this unit will use. and then there's even tougher trust that is tested when you start working with foreign partners. so you have to build in deliberate barriers, firewalls sometimes between partners to make sure that, each unit is accomplishing their side of the mission.

they're contributing their own way, but,you're still safely separated, so to speak. So, so trust is key, and, not having that trust leads to lack of respect in leaders. It leads to breakdown in good order and discipline, and it leads to casualties on the target. And, so yeah, we do whatever it takes to build that trust and maintain it.

[00:24:45] Simon Vetter: Yeah. And I li- I like what you said, trust is a currency of leadership. and it also shows, like, you spent 18 months together in the midst and struggles and training. So it takes time. you deliberately get together to infuse and build that trust, and, it's not just,you're on a team, you're supposed to trust each other.

That's not how it works.

[00:25:08] Pete Logan: No, it takes time. And it's, it's amazing the level of trust you have, once a team is functioning at the highest capacity. you know the silhouettes of your teammates when you see them in a,completely dark room, and you know that this guy, has my back when,there's a, a shooter down the hall.

And you know that, this other guy brought the right charges to the problem, and knows how to set them safely, and knows where to move us so we're not within range to, that we would get fragged from an explosion, so. but it's a beautiful thing when the guys are working together and,it's one of the things that I think attracts team guys to, staying in the community and working with,teammates of this level, and why so many guys have a hard time leaving the community.

it is a, it's a powerful thing, and it's a great camaraderie, great brotherhood

[00:26:02] Simon Vetter: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and it's a tightness. it feels family and again, you get each other's back and you know you have people who have all the commitment for you. Yeah.

[00:26:14] Pete Logan: Yeah

[00:26:14] Simon Vetter: So you retired about a year ago and after 26 years, I mean, you really create an identity as a commander and captain in Navy SEAL, and now you're moving into civil life. how has that transition been for you?

[00:26:29] Pete Logan: it's challenging, to be honest. you know, being a SEAL is something I wanted to do my entire life and, you know, from a young kid, competitive athlete, I wanted to go to the Naval Academy just to become a SEAL. So probably from the age of 10, I knew what SEALs were. got serious about competing to be one at the age of 17, and then finally became one at about the age of 25, I think.

so, from age 25 until almost 50, 50-something, I was in that community and they protected me, they protected my family. I did the same in return, and I was willing to risk my life for it for decades. when you have that much dedication for a community, for a family, for a tribe, and then you all of a sudden retire and leave and try and find something else, and not to mention I moved, you know, 3,000 miles away for, you know, to be closer to, my other family.

it's tough. It's not easy, and it is something that our community has identified as something we need to address, and we've had incredible, nonprofits help us manage that transition a little bit better, especially before we get out. And then we've had, uh, fellow SEALs that have retired that have been stepping it up and connecting some of these communities.

Like, you know, I had beers last night with some SEALs that have retired, before me, but understood the transition and understood how hard it was and understood that, sometimes as a SEAL leaving the community, the thing that can help you the most is talking to more SEALs about it who have done it successfully and, have weathered the storm of transitioning.

So, I've been lucky to fall into a, you know, a retired brotherhood, out here close to my house, and they've been, great people and I'm trying to help them back too. So, it's a work in progress and I'm, maybe a,year into the transition so far, but learning every step of the way and trying to find opportunities to, to pass that on to other guys that are about to get out.

Yeah. And it shows like it's a huge life transition. And, again, it's about redefining, it's, reinventing. And, I think the key here is it's important to have a support group behind us, to have people who can really help us making that shift. Yeah, ha-having a family behind you, immediate family is, incredible and,I've been blessed to have very supportive wife and kids. Kids are demonstrating resilience every day,just dealing with a giant move, taking them from one school to another. but they're adapting and they're learning from the adversity.

Yeah. Uh, now, uh, moving into performance coaching. you work with athletes, captains of teams, and then, also in, businesses. So when you work with, young athletes, what do you wanna teach them, and what do they need that, they can take from all your experience?

Yeah. Yeah, thanks for asking that. It's, a new ad- adventure and new endeavor of mine that, I'm passionate about, and I've always been passionate about leadership as, someone who's, who I've always wanted to lead better at every level. And I've, made plenty of mistakes, like every good leader should, and, learned from them.

And I'm focusing on teaching leadership to sport team captains, high school, college levels at a minimum. And none of these team captains have been taught leadership, right? And none of the coaches are trained or, hired to teach leadership as well. So I think there's a need there to get the leaders of these teams, able to lead peers better, able to lead, a cohesive team that has a great team culture.

it's fascinating too how much these team captains wanna learn. they're really eager to become better, just like they wanna become better at their sport and be more competitive. they're buying into the value of leadership as a multiplier of a team's performance.

and I've,seen it. I was lucky enough to be a,team captain in high school twice, and then, a D1 level in college. And again, I was not taught how to lead these teams. and I look back on it and I think, "Man, we could've performed so much better if I was able to maybe be a little bit more patient with some conversations or be a little bit more direct with other conversations, and really think about my communication and my delivery, my, passion for leading and passion for setting an example for the team."

It could've made, y- you know, incredible differences in the team culture and cohesion that we've had. But, um, it's going well and,I can't wait to see where it goes. And, you know, on, on that,I've also been, coaching, first responders as well through a company called Sharp Performance.

And, it's a company that brings in ex-special operations guys, and also ex-first responders to coach and mentor, currently active first responders, typically police and firefighters. And I get opportunities to get on a call similar to this and just chat with these guys. I share my background and experiences and I'm vulnerable with what I've, dealt with in our, in my community and in my time serving in high-risk profession.

And these guys are able to open up and share, what they're dealing with, and we start a, conversation, we build rapport, we build a relationship And, you know, we start healing and we keep them, thinking about what matters in life and help, help keep them on the line and,supporting our communities, even more.

So it's really been fulfilling for me to help these guys out. And I think between coaching team captains, a little bit of executive coaching and,coaching first responders, it's filling a void in my life of helping others and staying connected to,an art and a science of leadership that, that matters so much in, in, in life today.

[00:32:20] Simon Vetter: Yeah. And I can see there's all those who you teach, they can be lucky and fortunate to have you because you can bring in all your wealth of experience and learning and being out there in,critical and high-stake situations. if you could teach every professional, every executive,one key principle, that you learned from special operations, what would that be?

[00:32:45] Pete Logan: Yeah, narrowing it down to one is tough. I think if I had focused on the leaders, I would have them honestly and truthfully focus on how your leadership development is going. if you're put in charge of,anybody, you should really be taking that to heart. Whether, you know, in industry, business, military,you're a fire chief, you have a great responsibility and a great opportunity in front of you to mold the future, you know, to shape your legacy by making the people that you're leading better.

So, take the time to really think about how good of a leader am I now? What do I need to work on to get better? And what resources do I need to access to do that? And I think, you know, if there is better leadership out there, and I,really focus on, leadership with character because I don't think you're a good leader if you don't have strong character.

So if you're able to get good feedback on how you are leading and able to apply those lessons with humility, with, some grit and determination, you're gonna do incredible things, and you're not gonna get all the compliments from your subordinates right away. it's a humbling experience being a leader, but you will see change in yourself, change in your people, and you will see progress, whether that's progress is, you know, increased revenue, you know, more clients, more success on the battlefield, you name it.

you're gonna see results. It just, it's a grind, and it takes some time, and it takes some humility to learn those lessons.

[00:34:22] Simon Vetter: Yeah. It's interesting when people get promoted into roles, sometimes they assume the promotion is that to give them the power and responsibility to lead? But I think to your point, we gotta be honest, assess what do I bring and where do I have gaps, and how do I fulfill my role with,full responsibility to serve.

And I think the development piece is so important that we also reach out for help and say, "Hey, this is what I'm good at. Here, I need to get better. I need help." And I think that humility is so critical and I think,I think the military teaches that. And sometimes in businesses I don't see that all the time.

[00:35:05] Pete Logan: that's interesting. And, you know, one thing I always come back to at,the start of any time I,talk with anyone about leadership is making sure they know that leaders are made, they're not born, right? Obviously you n- you need some basic fundamental things that you're born with will help you, be a better leader.

I'm not talking about charisma. I'm not talking about looks or height or anything like that. leadership is built, and there are core skills that you can double down on, that you can work on, that you can improve and see results in. So I think believing that encourages me and c- and should encourage other leaders that they can do a better job and they can help their team out even more by, by leading better

[00:35:49] Simon Vetter: Yeah. Any, last final advice or recommendation for the listeners that any one specific tip that, you would give the audience?

[00:35:59] Pete Logan: I've,learned a ton in my career. I think the one that is most unique and probably different than most SEALs is my experience in meditation. And I never really thought I would learn this in the SEAL community. I learned it through, you know, access to a sports psychologist that we worked through.

but the ability to, you know, we talked about visualization and how,how much confidence I gained in, the power of the mind to overcome things and the power of the mind to, lead you on a journey. going through meditation has shown me even more as I'm, you know, a novice in the art of it, the, you know, the power of the mind to kind of calm yourself and make you a better person by, you know, flushing out the extra thoughts and the negative thoughts.

but having a disciplined practice, learning from others that know meditation, I think is probably saved my life and saved my marriage and made me a better leader, better person. And that's, you know, that's the next thing I'm focusing a little bit more energy on for myself as I develop as a person, a dad, a husband, a father, you know, a leader, going forward.

[00:37:09] Simon Vetter: yeah. It's that mindfulness for me, it's also be intentional what we think, how we think, and how we extend that to the people around us. That kind of leads to composure and trust and,thank you for that. It's a great reminder, and we all can strengthening that muscle in our brain. Yeah.

[00:37:30] Pete Logan: Yeah. Yep. Plenty of muscles to strengthen, but, s- starting there is a good start. Yeah

[00:37:35] Simon Vetter: Pete, thank you so much for the conversations. This has been so insightful, amazing. Thank you for all your service. Thank you for your wisdom. where can we find you?

[00:37:44] Pete Logan: I'm on LinkedIn , and Facebook and talking to other mentors, I know I need to increase my exposure a little bit more on social media, but, the Ascend Leadership Group is the company I founded to focus our coaching of team captains and executives.

And, through Ascend, I think, we'll make some good progress. So thanks for asking.

[00:38:06] Simon Vetter: Awesome. Best of success in your career. I really appreciate it. I feel honored to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much.

Have a great day

[00:38:15] Pete Logan: Take care