YouSaid · the spoken record

David Gurfein

lines on the record: 74
first: 2017-06-05
most recent: 2017-06-05
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“The people quickly started coming to our side to provide us support and to help us with our mission. And one of the things they pointed out was that, you know, we had to watch out because Saddam Hussein was everywhere watching everything and that he'll never go away. And we explained to her, look, America would not send her United States Marines all the way this far into the country without this. And so one of the visual symbols was this giant, these giant posters everywhere of Saddam Hussein. And I turned to my interpreter. I said, look, tell everybody to tear these posters down. And he told them, and they refused. They were terrified. And they told the story of a young child who was shot in the face for even throwing mud on one of these posters once. So I said, that's it. I told my Marines, tear them all down. And they said, sir, look, there's snipers and everybody around. I think we can wait a day or two. I said, no, they're coming down now. So I went up. I started tearing down.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“non-combatants and these children and these dogs and everything running in between and in and out and people watching everything you do and one of the things that I didn't do was I didn't shoot a child who was picking up a rocket propelled grenade one time right to my flank and I drew down on them and I screened at him and what was nice is that profanity actually translates very well across all cultures I screamed at this kid he dropped a weapon and ran away To me, it really didn't have that tremendous of an impact, but later on when the fighting subdued, this woman dragged this kid out by his ear and was yelling at the kid while she was talking to me and through my translator, she basically was thanking me for not shooting her stupid kid. And she said that the Iraqi military would not have been so kind. They wouldn't have given the second thought. And the fact that my Marines were so compassionate.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Ensure that the people recognized that we were there to support them, not to harm them. No better friend, no worse enemy. And so we had to think of creative ways to communicate that. And there was no real way of thinking this through ahead of time, but it just had to be the mindset. And the mindset that I always gave to my Marines was to do no harm, if possible, do not destroy a building, do not destroy a car, do not destroy a tree, don't kill an animal, don't kill a human being. If you don't have to, don't. Try to figure out ways to be creative, to accomplish a mission without destruction. And we were very successful in doing that. And one of the things that we did was as we were communicating with the people that I had these women would, what's interesting is on the battlefield, it's not clean. It's not like the British and the Americans standing against each other firing. You have everybody running in all different directions, and then you have these.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is the end state. So at the end of the day, at the end of the week, at the end of the month, this is what I perceive everything will look like. Now, I recognize that my plan to get there may not work, but you on the ground there, you're going to figure out how to make sure we get to that end state because you will know better than I do. Because me as the commander, I think I know everything, but I don't. And you will because you'll be able to see this. And so one of the interesting things was As I was one of the lead Marines going into Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, I had a special operations task force and my responsibility was to open up what we call the shoulders, clear all the barriers and make sure that everything was opened up for the shock and awe attack for 7th Marines to dive deep into the country. And part of very explicit orders on how to accomplish that mission. But I also was given the commander's intent and it was basically...”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“adjusting well to this free flowing environment. And those people who are great in the combat environment sometimes don't fit that well in the structure of a peacetime Marine Corps. And I'll give you a personal experience is that one of the things we do in the Marine Corps is we understand in combat that there's going to be volatility and that we're not, our plans aren't going to work out perfectly. As a matter of fact, we write these huge plans and we recognize the second, the first round is fired, that plan is obsolete. So we give a lot of mission-oriented statements and what we do is we provide the vision. The vision is called the commander's intent. And so the commander, you know, basic says, hey, our mission is who, what, where, when, why. And then here's the commander's intent. And it's basically, this is the purpose of why we're doing this. And this is the method in which we would like to see it get done. But most importantly,”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know, it's interesting that you ask that. There's two different Marine Corps. There is the Peacetime Marine Corps where everything is sort of moving in clockwork. Everything is just by design. And everybody knows exactly how we should be doing everything. It's sort of like a well-established corporation. And then there's combat. And combat is totally different. This is the entrepreneurial world because now you're dealing with the most volatile, uncertain complex and ambiguous environments that you could possibly imagine. And regardless of how great your plans are, well, guess what? The enemy always gets a vote. And the enemy's plan is never going to work out exactly as you had expected it. So this is where there's a transition period where those people who tend to be great in the bureaucratic world of a peacetime Marine Corps end up not”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I think that that's something where when you give the orders by being perceptive and empathetic, you'll get a much greater”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There sends to be a sense of enthusiasm that, wow, we're accomplishing things and we're moving forward and that momentum grows throughout the organization and you can get bigger and bigger things done to where now you can give the more challenging tasks. The other big thing is that we don't pay a lot of respect to people over time or their weekends. And we dismiss their family time. And it's like, hey, that sounds like a personal issue. You know, especially the closer you get to Wall Street, the less personal time you're expected to have. And you have to understand you can't keep surging all the time because eventually people are going to break. And when that opportunity to move comes, they're going to move. And it's going to happen just when you don't want them to move. So being considerate and respectful of people's personal time and trying to manage that is one of those things where most important leaders, we sort of give up our own personal times. We expect everybody else to do it.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And this is where I would say 99% of the time we don't have bad employees. We have horrible leadership. And we don't supervise and we don't provide support. We throw something out. We expect it to get done. We come back two weeks later and say, why isn't it done? Instead of saying, hey, here's the things we have to get done. Can you perceive any problems that you're going to have getting that done? Well, I don't have this and I could use that. And maybe we could have some more time for that. And this timeframe, you know, you've asked me to do these other things, which is more important. And so being able to listen to that and not be like, oh my gosh, why are they always complaining, but realizing that's our job is to manage people's time, to give them the ability to be successful. And then all of a sudden by prioritizing, developing clear guidelines and plans, timelines with milestones and objectives, everything starts getting done.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so bringing this back in and then coming out with directives and orders that people want to hear. I mean, this is the thing. For all of us who have been working down at the subordinate level, we know who the crummy players are long before the management ever finds out. And this is where we're not looking for tattletal tales, but we're looking for a structure that's going to allow for support and to weed out that weakness. So a lot of it is just listening. Spending that time listening and then crafting plans and prioritizing that which is most important. And this is something where I see a lot of junior leaders have trouble doing because they've perceived everything is important. We have to do everything. And all of a sudden we throw this giant weight on our subordinates and say get everything done. And then when the thing that is most important isn't getting done, we get upset.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's a great question. I think the first piece is the communication. And it has to be a two-way communication. And the first thing that I always do, whenever I step into an organization, whether as a CEO or as a consultant or in any form of leadership role, whether it be a combat unit or whether it be in civilian private sector, I ask three questions of every single person in that organization. What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong and what can we be doing better? I call them the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tell me the good things. And people come a lot of times they don't think about because we get focused on all the things that we bitch about and we're upset about. So people first identify, well, we're doing these things really well. Great. Let's keep doing that. What's the bad stuff? Oh, we're doing that. Let's get rid of that. And one of the things we can do better because there's some things we should be doing and we're not doing for whatever reason. And then this is really where we find those solutions.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he said, you know, what is the most important thing in a retail organization? Everybody said, oh, the customer is always right. And he said, wrong. He goes, your employees are always right. And the perspective he went on to share was that if we support our employees and we have them, we train them properly and we give them the tools and we give them the backing and the support that they will do the right thing by the customer. And they understand the organization is backing him. And I think that his success in various different industries bears out this point that focus on looking out for those employees and give them the tools to do the right thing to accomplish the mission.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Must locate, close with, and destroy the enemy. And if that doesn't happen, nothing else matters. So everything in the organization exists to support that individual. Whereas in the corporate world, a lot of times we see individuals who are moving up the leadership channels. They see subordinates as trying to affect their accomplishment missions for them to get a good resume or them to build so they can go to the next level. And so they're stepping on people, not really caring about their personal welfare. And this is where the Marine Corps' perspective is there's two competing principles. One is mission accomplishment, which must always come first, but an extremely close second is troop welfare. And you're constantly looking out for the betterment of those troops. And there's a lot of organizations out in the civilian world that do this. And you may recall that we had Richard Branson who came and spoke at Harvard Business School. And he got up here.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. And I think most people have jobs. Most people, it's not something that's a profession that they're figuring out how they're going to pay the mortgage. And so there's also a different sense of loyalty to the organization and to the individuals that they work for. But again, a part of that is the way that the leadership has set up their own perspective. And one of the analogies I try to give, you know, we all think of leadership as sort of this pyramid and the org chart where you have the senior leaders up top and everything flows down. The Marine Corps has a very different perspective. And the perspective is really that of an inverted pyramid in that the leader is actually at the bottom trying to balance everything because at the end of the day for success, that 18-year-old rifle”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I need you all to get out there and do X. And when you task everyone, you task no one. And so this is where there is always one individual who's held accountable and says, hey, Ted, you're in charge. Even though you may be a day senior to the person that you're in charge of, you're going to be the one when he comes back and say, hey, why wasn't this done? And you can't say, oh, well, you know what? Bull didn't do it. No, Ted, I held you accountable. And so you're responsible for getting done. Now, what's interesting is There are some secondary and tertiary effects to developing leadership in our subordinates. The first is that they take ownership of the organization. So when they come into the organization believing that they are leaders and we do, we are Marines. This is our Marine Corps. It's not, hey, you know what? I'm a cook that's working for the Marine Corporation and it's not a me anymore. It's this is my.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“your basic warrior training first and then your leaders could be taken out injured killed removed for whatever reason and now all of a sudden hey ted you're in charge all of a sudden you can't it's not like in the civilian world where we say all right we're going to send you back for some sort of leadership training we're going to send you some management school or we're going to get some consultant here you're you're on the spot So all of a sudden you fall back on these leadership traits, these leadership principles, the basics of formulating plans and understanding how to give orders. I mean, all of those things start before you even join. And so you're ready, even though you don't realize you're ready. Moreover, the Marine Corps has a perspective that whenever even two people are given a task, one person is always the leader and is responsible. And this is where a lot of times I've worked with managers who are great, who are saying, hey, everybody.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a bond. It's communication to where there is no reason that scream and yell at somebody to do something. You just point and they know that you're going to be covering them and that everything's going to work out and the mission will be accomplished. So where does that all begin? What's interesting is Marine Corps leadership development begins before you even head out to boot camp, before you even are on the yellow footprints down in Paris Island, you start learning what's called leadership traits and leadership principles. And as you're learning these things, you're sort of thinking to yourself, well, when the heck am I ever going to be leading anything? I'm going in to be a private in the Marine Corps. Like there's going to be corporals and sergeants. Everybody telling me what to do. But the Marine Corps recognized that once you graduate Paris Island and you go on to be a Marine out in the fleet marine force, you could immediately go into a combat situation. Ideally, you will have gone through.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, Ted, that's a great question. And I do a lot of consulting right now where I try to bring in a lot of the lessons learned and best practices that the Marine Corps has instituted. And a lot of times when people think of Marine Corps leadership, they think of like some drill instructor yelling in your face and they think that's what leadership is, but that's not. A drill instructor has a specific purpose and their purpose is to stress people out and to see how people will handle themselves under stress. And that's where this boot camp screening process, they have a job. But that's not leadership. And it's not the style of leadership that we have in the Marine Corps because the reality is if you're in a combat environment and you're screaming at someone to do something and they're in a nice safe covered concealed position, they're not going to do anything if they don't trust your leadership. And so the reality is that that leadership has to be developed over time. It's a trust.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My parents have always made me work for everything that I've ever done. I just need to know how much is this going to cost? You say, excuse me? I said, yeah, how much am I going to have to pay to join the Marines? He goes, no, no, we pay you. I said, come on, look, I know I'm a young kid, but don't screw with me. Like, you're going to pay me to be a Marine? He's like, are you sure you don't do drugs? So, yeah, that was sort of the beginning of my Marine Corps career. I couldn't wait to join. I enlisted and then later became an officer and went on to serve 25 years through active and reserve time. And, you know, just loved everything I gained from it and loved every interaction and every person I met. And it was just a great experience.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've always sort of put into me the whole perspective of spirit of service and as we refer to it, nobles oblige, that if you have the ability, you have an obligation to serve. And so when I was 17, I cut out of high school and ran down the recruiter and said, hey, how do you join the Marines? And the recruiter told me the whole story of what you have to do. And he said, do you do drugs? I said, no, I don't do drugs. He's like, are you in good shape? I said, yeah, I'm captain football wrestling lacrosse teams. He's like, all right, well, you're going to graduate high school. I think so. I think I'm going to graduate. And so he said, all right. He goes, well, we can enlist you today. I said, what you enlist me today? He goes, yeah, well, we'll have to get your parents' signature, but we can start the paperwork today. I said, wow. I don't think my dad's going to have a problem with that. You know, my mom might question it. But I said, before we get started.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, thanks, Ted. I appreciate you asking. So I guess to put things in perspective, we are sort of a culmination of our upbringing. And my mother and father were both very service-oriented. My father was a United States Marine during World War II, and he was actually a very prominent figure in New York in that he was the captain of an NIT championship basketball team. Everybody knew who he was. And when he enlisted in the Marines, it got a full page spread with tons of photographs, art curfine off to fight the war. And so he didn't necessarily have to go, but he wanted to go and he recognized how to leverage his popularity to gain support. And so he went and served. And my mother was serving as well, but in England at the time. And she was a nurse. And so both of them...”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Since then, he has applied his leadership and management experience to the business world, focusing on organizational design and business development. His leadership training program entitled Whoop Ass has positively impacted startups and fortune 500 companies alike. Oh, and he took a break from all that in 2016 to run for U.S. Congress. Despite his vast accomplishments, most who meet Bull are particularly intrigued by his very brief cinematic career. Our conversation discusses principles of leadership, management, and resource allocation alongside colorful stories of successes and failures. Bull's frameworks have clear applicability to anyone overseeing an investment process. This was one of my favorite conversations so far in capital allocators, and I hope you agree. Please enjoy my conversation. With David Bole Gurfine.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Attending Syracuse University. Upon graduation from college, Bull accepted a commission as a Marine second lieutenant. Over the subsequent 11 years, he served as a combat infantry officer, leading Marines in the jungles of Panama, the deserts of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and on the fence line at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He left active duty to earn his MBA at Harvard in 2000, where he was the co-president of his class. Bull started a business career after graduate school, however, when the U.S. was attacked on 9-11, Bull voluntarily returned to active duty. He saw combat action in Afghanistan and Iraq and served as a congressional liaison for the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the Special Operations Command. Bull retired as a lieutenant colonel.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Charlie Munger is well known for preaching the importance of interdisciplinary knowledge in the practice of investing. His insight resonates with me, but I've never been one to find the time to read broadly and deeply into arcane works on other subjects. I've always just loved digesting the art and science of investing. That said, this podcast platform offers an opportunity to explore a range of different disciplines in a time-efficient manner. I've long been intrigued by the great people I've met who have served our country in the armed forces, and I've been particularly impressed by their leadership qualities and discipline. I thought it would be fun to dive into some lessons with one of the most extraordinary individuals I know among the mix. My guest on today's show is David Gurfine, whose nickname Bull fits the bill. Bull is a decorated Marine Corps combat veteran. He drove tanks and was an honor graduate from Officer Candidate School.”
2017-06-05 · Capital Allocators · David "Bull" Gurfein - Interdisciplinary Lessons from the Marines (Capital Allocators, EP.10) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source