Ice Cold Leader

PART 1Prologue: What I Didn't Know Before

IN THE LATE 1990S, I SUFFERED TWO MAJOR HEAD INJURIES while operating as a Navy SEAL officer which led to my medical discharge. This was a difficult time for me because I loved being a Navy SEAL and had every intention of staying in the SEAL Teams for the duration of what I hoped would be a long military career.

The real shame in this is not that I lost a career I loved. As a result of these head injuries, I was unknowingly suffering from a silent injury called Traumatic Brain Injury, aka TBI, for over twenty years.

For those twenty-plus years, this injury wreaked havoc on my physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Bouts of depression, sleeplessness, and an uneasy relationship with who I was as a human being became my new normal.

In spite of my silent suffering, I managed to live an exciting and fruitful life.

The first edition of this book was written before I knew of my TBI. There was little to no context as to how or why I developed my leadership process and the role the wellness techniques played in my ability to thrive in spite of my injuries.

The severity of my TBI could very easily have placed me in the category of so many veterans today: as of this writing, twenty-two veterans commit suicide each day. But this didn't happen to me.

The process and wellness techniques I created for leadership and personal excellence literally saved my life. They allowed me to find peace in the chaos I was experiencing internally.

What You ...