Stories | 3 min read
We Make Marines
The short version
What the Marine Corps taught me about leadership: a person can’t be copied, a process can. That’s how you make leaders.
There’s a sentence I keep coming back to, because everything I teach about leadership sits on top of it.
“In the Marine Corps, we make Marines, period. There’s a proven repeatable process.”
Where I learned it
I joined the United States Marine Corps in 1995, and in 1996 I started training in public affairs.
This isn’t a story about the uniform. This is about something quieter that I watched happen, and that I didn’t fully understand until years later, when I was trying to build businesses that didn’t fall apart without me.
The Corps takes people who can’t do the job yet and makes them able to do it. Not by finding the gifted few. By running everyone through the same proven steps.
It doesn’t do that with speeches. It does it with a process.
What the process actually is
This is what I saw, and what I still use.
Step by step, with checkpoints. Nobody gets handed the whole thing at once. You learn one piece. You show you’ve got it. Then you get the next piece. In my own work today I put it this way: we don’t move on to the next step until they actually get it.
The right person in the right position. The Corps taught me that not everyone belongs in every position, and putting the wrong person in the wrong position is how you get people hurt. Here’s how I wrote it down later:
You do not hand a responsibility to someone who cannot carry it yet and call that generosity. You build them up to it. You clear them to it. You protect them until they are ready.
Communication as a discipline. The Corps drilled one idea into me: communication is a discipline, and chaos is a choice. When the words are clear, people can act. When they’re not, you’ve chosen confusion, whether you meant to or not.
It doesn’t depend on one person. This is the part that matters most. The process works whether or not a particular instructor is having a good day. It’s written down, it’s repeatable, and it’s taught by people who went through it themselves.
A personality can’t be copied.
Why a guru can’t do this
When I look at a lot of the leadership advice out there, I see the opposite. One charismatic person, a big stage, and a lot of inspiration that leaves the room when they do.
I’ve said it plainly: “the guru is not duplicatable. This is. That’s what makes a difference. Just like we’re able to make Marines.”
A personality can’t be copied. A process can. If your company only works because you’re in the building, you’ve built something like a guru. It runs on you. And the day you’re not there, it doesn’t run.
Rather watch than read? New videos go up on the Lead Your Power channel.
What this means for you as a leader
A lot of owners try to lead the way a guru does. They carry the vision in their head. They make the calls. They fix the fires. They’re the best salesperson, the best problem solver, and the final word.
It works, for a while. Then it caps out at exactly the size of one person.
The Corps model asks a different question. Not “how do I do more?” but “how do I make someone else able to do this?”
That’s where “We make leaders” comes from. It’s the same idea, carried out of the Corps and into business:
- Write down how the job is done, so it lives on paper and not just in your head.
- Teach it one step at a time, and check that each step landed before you add the next.
- Put people in positions they’re ready for, and build them up to the ones they’re not ready for yet.
- Have the people who learned it teach the next ones.
None of this is glamorous. It’s boring on purpose. But boring and repeatable beats brilliant and fragile when you need it to still work next year.
The lesson
Leaders don’t scale by getting better at doing everything. They scale by making more leaders.
If the way you lead can’t be taught, written down and handed to someone else, it isn’t a system yet. It’s a personality. And personalities don’t duplicate.
So pick one thing only you do. Write down how you do it. Teach it to one person, step by step, and don’t move on until they’ve got it.
That’s how the Corps makes Marines. It’s how you make leaders.
Common questions
What does the Corps have to do with running a company?
The Corps takes people who can't do the job yet and makes them able to do it. It doesn't do that with speeches. It does it with a process.
Why can't I just lead on personality?
A personality can't be copied. A process can. If your company only works because you're in the building, you've built something like a guru.
Where do I start?
Pick one thing only you do. Write down how you do it. Teach it to one person, step by step, and don't move on until they've got it.
If this sounded like your week
Do a little homework on where you are, then pick fifteen minutes on the calendar. If it feels right to us both, we’ll keep talking. No pressure, and no promises.
Not ready? Start here or watch on YouTube.
Lead your power.
Decision Fatigue Is a Leadership Problem, Not a Willpower Problem
Decision fatigue in leaders is a structure problem, not willpower. Why, then who, then what: how to get fewer decisions on your desk.
Stories: A Message Is Not Decoration
Public affairs training taught me a message is an instrument, not decoration. What that means for how leaders talk to their teams.
Why Success Feels Empty, and What It's Telling You as a Leader
Feel successful but empty? It's not ingratitude. It's a signal about how you've been building. Three causes and four steps to take this week.
Let someone fill your cup for a change
You’ve given so much, for so long, to so many people. You’re allowed to receive a little of it back.
The first step is small. Do a little homework on where you are, then pick fifteen minutes on the calendar.
Not ready to talk yet? That’s fine. Start here, with short reads sorted by what’s on your mind.