Real swagger means knowing you are not the smartest in the room
Retired Adm. William McRaven says confidence works when paired with humility and a willingness to hear dissent.
Not Dead Yet · William McRavenThe question put to retired Adm. William McRaven, the former Navy SEAL commander who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, was where swagger ends and arrogance begins. He said the line can be hard to locate.
His answer started with confidence. A leader needs faith in his own abilities, and that faith shows when he stands before the troops, whether military units or the university people he later led. People, he argued, must feel confident in the person leading them.
What separates healthy confidence from overconfidence, he said, is humility about not having all the answers. Swagger keeps confidence and humility together, while hubris drops the humility.
McRaven said, "you're not the smartest person in the room." Swagger, in his telling, accepts that limit. A confident leader, he argued, stays willing to hear different opinions and to remain humble despite having the confidence to lead the group.
That openness includes dissent. He believes a leader should stay ready to hear a different view because that view might turn out to be right. In his account, a leader does not enter thinking he has every answer, but listens because a dissenting view could prove to be the right one.
For McRaven, then, swagger is the combination of showing enough confidence that others can trust him, and remembering his own limits.
Questions people ask
What did William McRaven do in the military?
He commanded U.S. Special Operations Command and earlier led Naval Special Warfare and Special Operations Command Europe, among other posts. He oversaw the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden and earlier directed the hunt for Saddam Hussein.
Why does he mention faculty at the University of Texas?
After retiring, he served as chancellor of the University of Texas System, overseeing its campuses and medical centers. In that role, his troops were faculty, staff, and students rather than SEALs and soldiers.
How do special operations units practice listening to junior or dissenting views?
After-action reviews are structured debriefs in which participants discuss what happened, what worked, and what failed. In elite units, junior members are encouraged to speak candidly to senior officers so lessons are captured quickly.