By Navy League National President Bill Stevenson
This is blog post appears in the April issue of Seapower magazine, the official magazine of the Navy League of the United States.
A few years ago, Navy SEAL veteran Brent Gleeson published a book on change management, titled “TakingPoint: A Navy SEAL’s 10 Fail-Safe Principles for Leading Through Change.” As a person tasked with constantly outthinking the enemy, Gleeson said he has learned how to turn change and adaptability into an advantage. Culture, accountability and inclusion comprise some of his tenets, but the last one he points to is resilience. A resilient team is always looking over the horizon for the next opportunity and anticipates that change should be accepted as part of preparation.
We have repeatedly seen this resiliency at the Navy League. You can see it on this website when you read the stories telling how our councils are rising above the challenges of COVID-19, providing our sea service members with the extra support they need after more than a year of dealing with this pandemic. With Coasties facing 14-day quarantines in isolation rooms with a just a bed and one plastic chair, our San Francisco Bay Area councils sprang into action, supplying these service members with books and magazines, snacks, even televisions, so their two weeks alone would be more comfortable. It is this type of resiliency, the ability to quickly respond to the needs of the sea services, that has powered this organization throughout its history.
Change is an important necessity for all organizations to flourish. As conditions change, we must adapt. The Navy League of the United States will adapt and will advance vigorously in our mission to support our sea services. We will need to continue to innovate in the coming years to address our needs in membership, communication, diversity and inclusion, and other areas detailed in the 2020 President’s Guidance. Together, we can take these important steps as we build on our mission of education, advocacy and support.