A surprising discussion about why members of SEAL teams need to learn public speaking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Boise Public Library I found a 2025 book by Mike Hayes titled Mission Driven: The path to a life of purpose. Mike was former commanding officer of SEAL Team Two. There is a preview at Google Books. Chapter Three discusses The Meta-Skills That Matter, which are:

 

META-SKILL 1: Understand and Create Value

META-SKILL 2: Know How to Influence Others

META-SKILL 3: Never Stop Learning

 

His discussion of how to influence others (starting on page 81) describes how important public speaking is:

 

“Influencing others is a vitally important meta-skill to have. When you can influence the behavior of the people around you, you become someone who can get things done for the mission you’re pursuing, organizational or personal. When you understand what motivates someone, you can drive their behavior to help you achieve your goals.

 

.…Embedded within this lesson are three points. One is about political capital. When you understand what motivates someone, you can choose what to ask of them, and how to ask it. You can get people to want to do something rather than having to convince them or, if you’re in a position to do so, to force them.

 

.…The second point is about challenging the status quo. When you understand what drives people, you can push for change in constructive ways.

 

….The third point here is about communication. Communication is about more than the concrete outputs we typically associate with people who work in a communications role – website content, white papers, etc. Communication is about being able to effectively transmit your thinking process. And it’s a critical meta-skill no matter your job. To wit: If asked to list the kinds of skills a SEAL needs, most people would land on a few predictable answers – strength, agility, calm inrensity, focus. Which is why my teams were sometimes confused when I’d sit them down on a day when the weather was keeping us from training and I’d give each SEAL a topic. ‘Take the next two minutes to prepare a two-minute speech on this subject,’ I’d say.

 

‘Public speaking?’ they would ask, incredulous. Why did they need to work on public speaking? It made no sense to some of them, until I explained it on two levels. First, at some point all SEALs will have to represent themselves and their unit to people in the community or to leaders we might have to interact with. Just like they needed negotiation skills, they also needed to be able to express themselves well, in case I or another leader was unavailable and the responsibility fell to them. Second, becoming a better speaker is really about becoming a better thinker, organizing thoughts and defining goals – and that is a skill that transfers to everything we do.

 

The best communicators have a tightness of thought. They set goals at the beginning of a meeting, to put everyone on the same page. They stay focused on the mission. They avoid needlessly wasting other people’s time. We’ve all been in rooms where someone starts vacuuming up attention needlessly by asking a question that either never gets to the question mark or is being asked for a self-indulgent purpose rather than focused on the end value. This is a communication problem (also sometimes an attitude problem, another meta-skill we’ll look at in a moment), and if you are the one being stared at by a bunch of people who feel like you’re wasting their time, you’re doing something wrong. There’s an age-old saying in the SEAL Teams, where platoons are made up of sixteen men: ‘When fifteen men are wrong, look in the mirror.’ It may well be that you are failing to influence in a positive, effective way.

 

In my public speaking exercise, all the SEALs listening gave feedback to the presenters, just like we did after missions. The feedback was another way to make us all better.”  

 

This book has two sections, on The Long Game and The Short Game, with the following chapters and starting page numbers:

 

THE LONG GAME

CHAPTER 1: Who, Not What You Want to Be  15

CHAPTER 2: Defining Success  43

CHAPTER 3: The Meta-Skills That Matter  69

CHAPTER 4: Helping Others Helps Us More  97

CHAPTER 5: Plans Will Always Change  119  

 

THE SHORT GAME

CHAPTER 6: Getting Comfortable Making Decisions  143

CHAPTER 7: Mission Driven in the Ways We Spend Our Time  161

CHAPTER 8: Mission Driven in Our Relationships  189

CHAPTER 9: Mission Driven through the Stages of Life  207

CHAPTER 10: Mission Driven to Change the World  221

 

The insignia for SEAL TEAM 2 came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Comedian Conan O’Brien gave the 2026 commencement address at Harvard University

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday May 28, 2026 comedian Conan O’Brien gave the commencement address at Harvard University. (He has a degree in history and literature from there). You can watch a 25-minute video of his speech either at Harvard University and Conan O’Brien or on C-SPAN.

 

And the text is on pages 187 to 190 in the August 2026 issue of Vital Speeches of the Day titled Your Real Education Starts Now. Four sentences printed in bold there are:

 

“The first is that I endeavor to always remind myself that I have done absolutely nothing alone.

 

…Another thing I learned to do that has saved me repeatedly is to pivot.

 

…I always recognize the enormous role of luck in my life.

 

…let yourself be bad at things.”  

 

He also seriously says that:

 

“I understand that I am preaching modesty and connection at a time when this is not in style. We are living through a period of extreme narcissism. 

Our current leadership in Washington believes that empathy is a weakness, and that our nation stands supreme and alone. Add to that, everyone here today has a phone in their pocket that is algorithmically programmed to celebrate you and you alone by making you the protein-maxing hero of your own special journey. 

Much has been written about how isolated and siloed we’ve become, but for me the antidote is quite simple. By de-emphasizing what makes us special, in your case, a prize degree, we can really find one another, not as an exercise in virtue, but as a path towards greater laughter, love, and real growth. And believe me, I struggle daily with my own pretensions.

I am aware that I am telling you to transcend your glories as I stand on this stage accepting a doctorate I didn’t really earn, well dressed like a 12th century pope. Big surprise, I have a giant ego.”

An image of Conan was modified from one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

A new book by Jason VanRuler about discovering your communication type

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on February 4, 2020 I blogged about how The Toastmasters Pathways Level 2 project on Understanding Your Communication Style says there are four communication styles. Where did they come from?

 

At my friendly, local Ada Community Library I found and am reading a useful 2026 book by Jason VanRuler titled Discovering Your Communication Type: The 5 paths to deeper connections and stronger relationships. He asserts that there are five different types (as shown above), described by the acronym of PATHS: Peacemaker, Advocate, Thinker, Harbor, Spark. There is a brief preview just through page 17 at Google Books.

 

PART 1 has the following eight chapters (and starting page numbers):

 

1] PATHS Overview                03

    Discover Your Type        15

2] Peacemaker                       21

3] Advocate                             31

4] Thinker                                41

5] Harbor                                 51

6] Spark                                    59

7] Attachments and PATHS  67

8] The PATHS Effect               79

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Information about the five types is presented in those separate ~ten-page chapters. I have summarized them via a series of tables. Two-sentence summaries for those five types are shown above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four-sentence descriptions of the communication patterns for those five types also are shown above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And three-sentence descriptions of the Strengths and Challenges for those five types are shown above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, one-sentence descriptions of the Core Fears for those five types are shown above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, how those five communication types are wired relative to the Big Five and the nine Enneagrams are shown above. Jason’s types are different from the Big Five personality traits of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness. 

 

PART 2 is about applications and has the following eight chapters (and starting page numbers):

 

 9] Off-Ramps to Communication         087

10] On-Ramps to Communication          103

11] Conflict                                                  117

12] Saying Hard Things                              131

13] Practicing Communication                147

14] Responding to Hard Things               159

15] Communicating with the                   169

16] Uncommunicative                 

17] Special Circumstances                        181

18] Using the PATHS framework             195

      Conclusion                                             203

 

Jason has a 46-minute Typology Podcast on June 4, 2026 titled The Way You Communicate Is Costing You Connection | Jason VanRuler.

 

The pentagram was adapted from OpenClipArt.

 

 

The academic plagiarism saga of Jason Arday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Wikipedia page says that Jason Arday was appointed as a professor of Sociology of Education at Cambridge University in March 2023. In April 2026 he gave a keynote speech at the seventy-fifth anniversary conference of the British Sociological Association that was titled Wanted Dead or Alive: The Playbook. It was discussed in an article by Lanre Bakare at The Guardian on August 1, 2026 titled Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor. That article described that Arday had plagiarized his 2015 PhD thesis from one six years earlier by Paula Zwozdiak-Myers.

 

A second article by Caitlin Doherty at BBC News on August 5, 2026 is titled Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism row resigns. A third article by Danica Kirka at the Associated Press [The Hill] on August 6, 2026 is titled Youngest Black professor at Cambridge resigns as university investigates allegations of plagiarism.

 

His memoir Great and Unfortunate Things just was published. Yet another article by Rikki Schlott at the New York Post on August 10, 2026 is titled Plagiarist prof Jason Arday’s life story is published tomorrow, and it gets more unbelievable by the page.

 

I first saw the professor mentioned in still another article by Edzard Ernst on August 10, 2026 titled The Jason Arday saga – a “vile campaign to undermine his credibility”???.

 

The grasping hand image came from Wikimedia Commons.  

 

 

Who really is a thought leader?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A thought leader is a real expert, with a capital E. (On June 20, 2026 I blogged about Who is a pseudoexpert?) There are two posts by Nick Morgan at Public Words titled What’s a Thought Leader. Nick begins his first post on July 1, 2025 by stating:

 

“What’s a thought leader?  It’s someone who understands a particular sliver of knowledge as well or better than everyone else.  It’s someone who has added to the world’s awareness of the possibilities that exist for a group of people so that they see themselves in a new way.  It’s someone who understands how to apply one kind of expertise to a field where it hasn’t been applied before.

That knowledge is usually developed over a decade or more, and it comes from a genuine passion, a desire to break open some locked mystery box that has puzzled everyone up until now.”

Nick then said in his second post on July 15 that people are paid to speak for three reasons. One is that they are a celebrity. Another is that they have an important title. And the third is they have marketable expertise. The fourth paragraph of his second post says:

 

“To be able to join that coveted third category of speaker you have to become a thought leader first – a recognized expert in a category of knowledge.  Speaking is something you do once you’ve established that expertise.  You might have an academic title, you might teach, you might do research, you might invent a process, you might coach people to achieve extraordinary things, you might write a book about a compelling subject – all of these are ways to become recognized as a thought leader.  Once you’ve established that expertise, you can then start the next chapter of your thought leadership career.”

 

And in an article at Medium on January 23, 2021 by Mike Olson titled Thought follower he said:

 

“When someone claims that they themselves are a thought leader, I assume they’re really not, and also that they are a little bit of a dick.”

 

Similarly, I ended a post on July 10, 2014 titled Is the advice you’re getting about public speaking almost as ancient as a fossilized tribolite? by saying thought leader means that I thought I was a leader, but I’m not.

 

The paper plane was adapted from here at Wikimedia Commons.  

 

 

A blog post from Seth Godin about having or doing a good job

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A simple graphic like a 2x2 table can explain something more clearly than lots of words. There is a post by Seth Godin on July 21, 2026 at Seth’s Blog titled The Having/Doing job gap. His six-paragraph post is neither concise nor clear. I have described things more clearly, as shown above, via a 2x2 table with four quadrants. On January 19, 2024 I blogged about The joy of 2x2 tables, or charts, or matrixes.

 

At the upper left is when you don’t have a good job but still do a good job, which is better than expected and thus is a gap. At the lower right is another gap when you have a good job but don’t do a good job, and need to improve.

 

At the lower left is when you neither have nor do a good job, which is the worst situation. Finally, at the upper right, is when you both have a good job and do a good job, which is the very best situation and a success.

 

Seth’s long, full post is as follows:

 

“It’s a dance between workers, bosses, and the market.

 

The most stable quadrant happens when a thoughtful and consistent boss hires the right person, pays them fairly, creates positive working conditions and useful training. In return, the company gets extraordinary performance. That’s someone doing a good job who also has a good job.

 

A particularly unstable quadrant is the worker who gets all of the above, but because of culture, choice, or lack of enrollment doesn’t do a good job. That mismatch could last for a while, but it’s shaky.

 

Consider for a moment the boss who takes advantage of people (and the system) by creating lousy conditions and paying too little but still manages to enforce output that they consider acceptable. Once workers realize that they don’t have a good job, they leave, if the culture and economy permit it. Government is critical in helping people doing a good job get unstuck once they realize they don’t have a good job.

 

And the last quadrant is all too common: you don’t have a good job and you don’t do a good job. It’s not clear which came first, but they often go together.

 

Everyone deserves to have a good job. And smart bosses show up to help make that possible.”

 

 

Ending your speech by circling back, also known as using a callback

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On April 21, 2022 I blogged about a Free e-book on Advanced Public Speaking from the University of Arkansas. Chapter 9 is titled Closing a Speech: End with Power and Let Them Know It is Time to Clap. Lynn Meade says to End by Circling Back to the Opening:

 

“Another type of ending is to circle back to what you said in the beginning. You can revisit a quote, share the end to an illustration that was begun in the beginning, or you can put away a prop you got out in the beginning.”

 

Similarly, an article in the April 2023 Toastmaster magazine on pages 15 and 16 titled 5 Simple Tips for Better Speechwriting says:

 

“There are two common ways to wrap up your speech. First, you can do a callback, where you refer back to the story, question, or quip you told at the beginning. Or you can summarize the three points you made in your speech (based on your outline).”

 

And there is a post at the Benjamin Ball Associates blog on June 30, 2016 titled How to End a Speech – 9 Great Examples. The first one is to Close Your Speech by Circling Back to the Beginning:

 

“Refer to an anecdote, quote, or case study from the start of your speech. Reiterate the message you want people to remember. If you can, expand on the anecdote or re-conceptualise the quote. Or provide a follow-up result from your case study. This will feel even more satisfying for your audience.”

 

Back on March 22, 2011 I blogged about Speech geometry: lines, circles, forks, and combs.

 

Images of a woman using a telephone and a circular arrow were adapted from OpenClipArt.