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Today we hear an incredible Combat Story of Mike Sarraille, former Marine Recon and a SEAL Team leader who served 20 years in the special operations community, earning a Silver Star, multiple Bronze Stars with Valor, and more. He was also part of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (or DEVGRU).
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Mike served in multiple leadership roles to include the Battles of Ramadi and Sadr City, to name just a few. Since retiring from service, Mike founded and is the CEO of Talent War Group, a specialized executive search firm and talent advisory; he’s co-author of ‘The Talent War: How Special Operations and Great Organizations Win on Talent’ and is the face of Men’s Journal’s ‘The Everyday Warrior.’
I stumbled across Mike when I saw posts about a recent expedition to the Himalayas where he did six free fall jumps over Mount Everest. Mike is a very, very humble but distinguished warrior leader and I hope you enjoy this insightful deep dive into the life of a Tier 1 and private sector operator and leader as much as I did.
Find Mike Online:

Mike’s Linktree
Mike on Instagram @mr.sarraille
ATTA Instagram @live_atta
Talent War Group Instagram @talentwargroup

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Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle

Show Notes:

0:00 - Intro
1:31 - Guest Introduction (Mike Sarraille)
2:34 - Interview begins
3:02 – Skydiving at Mt. Everest after retiring from the military
10:51 – Childhood in the Bay Area, joining the Marines, and what drew him to the SEALs
24:26 – How the leadership and examples set by the military motivated him and gave him direction
33:36 – Differences in BUDS and Marine Recon training
38:52 - Story of an experience with Johnny Kim and making a snap judgment while in training
45:10 - First experience in combat isolating and containing the Ramadi hospital where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was
53:50 – Being a Marine liaison (LNO)
55:31 – The importance of preparedness in leadership
1:01:23 – A hard lesson learned after deviating from procedure
1:13:35 – What he is doing today with his different companies, his book, and talent development
1:23:40 Shared Adversity and After Action Reviews (AAR) in the corporate environment
1:34:00 - What did you carry into combat?
1:35:49 - Would you do it all again?
1:37:15 - Listener comments and shout outs