The Talent War: How Special Operations and Great Organizations Win on Talent

Foreword written by New York Times bestselling author and retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink.

A must-read for any business leader looking to build elite teams and win on talent.

Talent is the foundation of every success story from Silicon Valley to Wall Street to Main Street, and even on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's the hidden asset that never shows up on the balance sheet, despite being the driver for a company's true value. And now, in this hypercompetitive business environment, the war for talent has never been more important, or more complex. Of eight hundred CEOs and six hundred C-suite executives polled in 2019, the overwhelming majority cited the ability to attract and retain top talent as their number one concern.

For your organization to win, you need to attract and retain the best talent. But without the right strategy or mindset, you won't be able to do so--and you won't be able to compete. After all, your people, not your product or service, are your strongest competitive advantage.

When it comes to winning on talent, no one does it better or more consistently than the US Special Operations community. Their success comes down to their people and a widely held foundational belief: Talent + Leadership = Victory.

The Talent War explores how US Special Operations Forces assess, select, and develop their world-class talent. You'll learn how to adopt a talent mindset, the single greatest weapon you can possess in the war for talent. When your organization reflects this mindset, you will hire, train, and develop the right people, and put them in the best positions to make decisions that allow you to retake the advantage and win the war.

Mike Sarraille is the Founder and CEO of Talent War Group, a leadership development and executive search firm, and head of the Men's Journal Everyday Warrior Initiative. He is a former Recon Marine, Scout-Sniper, and retired U.S. Navy SEAL officer with twenty years of experience, to include the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).


George Randle is a Managing Partner and Co-Director of Talent Advisory at Talent War Group, an executive search and talent advisory firm, and a former US Army Officer. George has more than two decades of experience as a talent acquisition and HR executive at Fortune 100 and Fortune 1000 firms.


Dr. Josh Cotton is an expert in talent assessment and employee effectiveness. He has designed scientifically valid candidate selection practices for the US Navy SEALs and Fortune 100 companies and has advised leaders at DuPont, Omnicom, CSX, and Flowserve.