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Author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek embarked the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) from Dec. 2 to Dec. 5.
The purpose of Sinek’s visit was to better understand the intricacies of naval culture.
“I’ve done a lot with the Air Force, quite a bit with the Marine Corps, and some with the Army, but very little with the Navy, so I just wanted to get to know the Navy a little bit,” said Sinek. “I could go and ask a bunch of admirals to tell me about the Navy, but I thought it’d be more productive if I want to understand ‘Navy-ness’ to come and talk to Sailors, and I had no expectations. I was here to absorb and learn and see if I could observe any patterns of behavior, and it was fantastic.”
Sinek’s relationship with the U.S. military began when the Air Force first ‘discovered’ him in 2006.
“I first articulated this crazy little idea that everybody knows what they do, some of us know how we do it, but very few of us know why we do what we do, and knowing your ‘why’ was the source of passion and ingenuity and purpose for most of us,” said Sinek. “Very quickly, they invited me to the Pentagon to give a briefing. This was three years before there was a TED Talks, three years before I had a book, so the military was one of the first groups to find me.”
Though every branch of the military is inherently unique, Sinek believes that these differences run deeper than the geography or platforms on which they operate.
“The Navy culture, probably born out of hundreds of years of naval expeditions, is a fierce independence,” said Sinek. “I felt this really beautiful balance of every Sailor being expected to think independently and be a problem solver, but at the same time, they’re also expected to network and make friends outside of their own stove pipe so they can better solve problems by asking for help. If you get that balance right, it makes the ship just the most remarkable, independent, functioning organization. It’s a floating city, but not simply because you have a Starbucks and machinists. It’s a floating city because you’re self-sufficient and do everything yourselves.”
Sinek said that he was particularly impressed by flight deck operations aboard the ship.
“I mean, there are one to two hundred people outside with up to 18 aircraft, all moving, and remarkably smoothly,” said Sinek. “That ballet was, to me, the most impressive thing I saw. It was incredible.”
While aboard, Sinek led seminars with junior and senior Sailors from various departments. As a longtime fan, Senior Chief Intelligence Specialist Ricardo Amezcua was excited for the opportunity to interact with Sinek.
“I’ve purchased all his books and audiobooks,” said Amezcua. “I’d like to do something similar to what he does when I get out one day, so I thought it was pretty amazing that he got to come here. It was pretty cool that I also got to be involved.”
Amezcua attended one of the seminars and said Sinek did more listening than speaking.
“I think he was here in a learning capacity instead of a teaching capacity, so most of his questions and comments were meant for him to learn,” said Amezcua. “As he states, he’s an anthropologist. His role is to learn cultures, and the Navy is obviously a culture, so he was here to learn what made us tick across a spectrum of rates and ranks. I also got to talk to him off to the side, so it was a good experience.”
Ultimately, Sinek expressed gratitude for the opportunity to come aboard and interact with the crew firsthand.
“One of the things that probably comes from tight quarters, always moving out of the way of somebody on a stairwell, on a ladder or in a hallway, is that people are really nice,” said Sinek. “I’m clearly not a Sailor, but people are warm and welcoming. I think they sort of appreciated an outsider coming aboard, and I was just struck by how polite and nice and welcoming everyone was.”
| Date Taken: | 12.07.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.29.2022 23:21 |
| Story ID: | 436089 |
| Location: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 102 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Thanks for Coming to my Nimitz Talk, by PO1 Preston Jarrett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
