#177 - Dave Berke: "The Need to Lead" - Former Top Gun Instructor & F-35 Commander on Why Every Problem is a Leadership Problem ✈️
Dave Berke: "The Need to Lead" - Former Top Gun Instructor & F-35 Commander on Why Every Problem is a Leadership Problem ✈️
Former Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Dave Berke shares his journey from Top Gun instructor to F-35 squadron commander to combat veteran fighting alongside Navy SEALs in Ramadi.
Now a leadership instructor at Echelon Front with Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, Dave reveals lessons from his new book "The Need to Lead" - the third in the Extreme Ownership series.
What You'll Learn:
• Why every problem is a leadership problem (and how that empowers you to solve it)
• The difference between extreme ownership and preemptive ownership
• Why "someone's gonna do it, it might as well be you" changes everything
• How to lead when you're leading your equals and peers
• Why good leadership must outlast the leader
• The power of being a leader who listens first
Key Quote:
"Someone's going to do it, it might as well be you. Every person needs to lead in order to succeed, no matter the environment." - Dave Berke
Timestamps:
🛩️ 00:00 - The Star Wars moment that sparked a fighter pilot dream
🛩️ 08:15 - Mom's powerful advice: "Someone's gonna do it, might as well be you"
🛩️ 15:30 - Growing up in Marine Corps town: El Toro flight path childhood
🛩️ 22:45 - First time behind the controls and the road to Top Gun
🛩️ 28:20 - Only Marine to fly both F-22 Raptor and F-35B Lightning
🛩️ 35:40 - Mom watching his first F-35B vertical landing - full circle moment
🛩️ 42:15 - Becoming a Top Gun instructor: Leading your peers
🛩️ 48:30 - Humble, credible, approachable: The ultimate teaching framework
🛩️ 55:20 - Leaving the cockpit for combat on the ground in Ramadi
🛩️ 62:45 - Fighting alongside Jocko and Leif's SEAL Team in 2006
🛩️ 68:30 - The dichotomy: Coming home to San Diego after losing a Marine
🛩️ 75:10 - Reconnecting with Jocko and Leif to join Echelon Front
🛩️ 82:40 - Writing the third book in the Extreme Ownership series
🛩️ 88:15 - Every problem is a leadership problem (and every solution is too)
🛩️ 94:20 - Preemptive ownership: Solving problems before they happen
🛩️ 101:30 - The leader as listener: Why talking less makes you more effective
🛩️ 107:45 - Good leadership outlasts the leader - you don't pick when you leave
🛩️ 114:20 - Everyone is a leader: Why title and rank don't matter
🛩️ 120:15 - The brutal truth about writing: First drafts are humbling
🛩️ 125:30 - Final lesson: Leadership is a skill anyone can learn
Third book in the Extreme Ownership series following "Extreme Ownership" and "The Dichotomy of Leadership"
Connect with Dave Berke:
• Company: Echelon Front (with Jocko Willink & Leif Babin)
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© Joe Ciccarone - Built Not Born Podcast. All Rights Reserved.
Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host.
