SELF-IMPROVEMENT
US Navy admiral William McRaven tells Joe Shute how we can find the hero within by following these
An ex-US navy admiral, William McRaven, pens a book on how to find the superhero within us.
Growing up in the early Sixties on a military base in France, William McRaven devoured superhero comics. His childhood days were Àlled with the exploits of Batman, Spider-Man, The Hulk and – his absolute favourite – Superman.
When the family returned to New York a few years later, his father, an ofÀcer in the US Air Force, caught him scouring the rooftops for signs of the superhero. He pointed to a passing police ofÀcer instead and said: ‘Son, that’s the man who protects New York City’.
Over the course of McRaven’s stellar military career, which has seen him rise to the rank of four-star admiral and commander of all US special operations, experience has further formed his idea of what it means to be a hero; and he has condensed his learnings into a new book, The Hero Code.
In his 37 years as a Navy Seal, the 65-year-old admiral has had a ringside seat for much of the ‘War on Terror’, including leading the capture of Saddam Hussein and being in charge of the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden 10 years ago.
The pandemic has also reshaped the
Texan’s notion of courage. He dedicates The Hero Code to the scientists, healthcare workers, teachers and delivery drivers who have kept working during Covid-19.
‘The point of the book is we can learn to be heroes,’ Admiral McRaven says. ‘You can learn courage from watching someone be courageous. You can learn humility from someone who has achieved so much and is still humble.’
His 2017 bestselling book Make Your Bed was an uplifting self-help guide in which he outlined how perfecting the small things allows you to achieve the bigger things, too.
In The Hero Code McRaven boils down the 10 qualities that comprise true heroism.
Many of them, not least perseverance, sacriÀce, duty and humour, he says, were embodied by the Duke of Edinburgh. ‘He has lived somewhat in the shadow of the 4ueen and that requires sacriÀce, a sense of humility and acceptance he is there to support, which he has done magniÀcently.’
An avowed royalist, McRaven refuses to be drawn on the Duke of Sussex’s decision to move to America. ‘What I do admire about Harry was his willingness to serve,’ he says. ‘He was a great soldier.’
I wonder what McRaven makes of the oft-mentioned criticism levelled against the young as lacking the toughness of previous generations.
‘This is a remarkable generation,’ he says. ‘I don’t agree with everything they do but I would offer where their strengths are. They believe in their friends, ask the hard questions and demand answers.’
And yet William McRaven is resolutely old school.
When we speak via
Zoom he is wearing a suit and tie and is 10 minutes early for the occasion. He has been married to his college sweetheart, Georgeann, for 43 years, and they have three children.
Admiral McRaven describes himself
‘The point of the book is we can learn to be heroes,’ Admiral McRaven says. ‘You can learn courage from watching someone be courageous. You can learn humility from someone who has achieved so much and is still humble.’
as a ‘classic conservative: pro-life, small government, strong defence’. But shortly before the recent US election he broke the unwritten rule that retired senior commanders never publicly criticise the president by backing Joe Biden. He has also spoken out in support of Black Lives Matter and the looming peril of climate change. ‘I’ve taken criticism for speaking out and that is fair,’ he says. ‘But I have to wake up every morning and look myself in the mirror and ask myself if I am doing the right thing.’
He is at pains to stress that his Hero Code is not based upon himself, but rather the men and women he has served alongside.
McRaven insists he has made plenty of mistakes in his life - early on in his Navy Seals career he was Àred by his commanding ofÀcer, who deemed his performance below par. But, he says, it is these errors which make us who we are.
‘Where I’ve stumbled in my life I hope I’ve learnt from those mistakes,’ he says. ‘Life is a constant assessment of where you are and how much better you can be.’