Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is Later with Lee Matthews the Lee Matthews Podcast.
More what you Hear Weekday Afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Is on the Drive. Admiral Bob Harward is retired as
a Navy seal admiral with four decades of war finding
experience including Bosnia, Panama, Somonia, Afghanistan, Iraqi, Ymmen and he
goes on and on, never lost a single man under
his command and that is commendable. He's written a new
book called The Gouge, How to be Smarter than the
situation you are in. Admiral Bob Harward, welcome. I wanted
(00:31):
to start with you. Growing up in Iran in the
nineteen seventies, a bit of a tumultuous time to be there.
What brought you to Iran?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Quite the contrary, it wasn't tumultuate. It was absolutely wonderful.
My father was a naval officer as well. I followed
in his footsteps and he was there advising and supporting
the Iranian Navy as we provided them ships and armor.
That so it was the retired naval officer involved in
(01:03):
the defense industry and Iran in the seventies was absolutely spectacular,
wonderful people, a wonderful country, great scheme, hunting, very western,
very modernized. So it was just an incredible country. And
unfortunately it's to come to an Islamic revolution that we're
(01:24):
still dealing with today, unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So this was all prior to that downfall, but it
did pique my curiosity. Let's talk about the gouge, how
to be smarter than the situation you're in. Let's start
with that term, the gouge. What is its significance?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Great, it's a very infamous naval term and what most
people when they use it, they think about it. It's
the inside information what you really need to know. If
you were going in to take a test in college, Hey,
here's this stuff. You know he's going to ask about this.
This is what you need to be thinking about. Here's
even maybe the answers. But the real meaning of the
(02:05):
term is the culture that takes care of each other.
It's a term that originated in World War Two when
we were building ships around the a lot of ships
and manning them with crews, and we were lacking in
the experience in the cruise. So those experience members on
(02:26):
the ships went out out of their way to train
and educate the other members of the ship. Hey, here's
what you really need to know. Here's what you don't know.
Here's the information that's going to take care of you
and take care of the ship and keep us all alive.
And so that phrase was created in World War Two
that were used. But more important than the phrase itself
(02:50):
is that culture. That culture allows you to proactively take
care of each other, invest in each other. And we
all have that challenge on any business, the military, any
organization trying to accomplish a goal needs their people to
perform tasks or objectives to make it happen. And then business,
(03:12):
it's all related to profit, but just as important as
them achieving their goals is that process that allows them
to grow, mature and achieve their own personal goals. And
that what the gouge is really a description of that culture,
that leadership that allows you to take care of your
people at the same time they're taking care of the
(03:34):
business or the mission you're trying to accomplish. So the
gouge is that culture that permeates that throughout any organization.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Admiral Bob Harward US Navy retired a seal and admiral
in the Navy as well. The book is the gouge
how to be smarter than the situation you are in.
Admiral then, I have experienced this firsthand and a couple
of occasions in my own career, one coverage of a
deadly hurricane. I never and to this day harkened back
(04:06):
to the people I worked with in that chaotic situation.
But we were all in it together, and we were
all there to help each other in any way we could,
and I harkened back to it as some of the
best times in my entire career.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
You and I liked ubber, God bless you. Same thing
I was in my navy career. I never thought I
was good to be good enough in any job, and
I had twenty eight different jobs as a naval author.
You did a year or two in every job, and
if you're good, they promotching you go on and keep
doing that. And every job I was successful not because
(04:43):
of me, but because all the people around me who
did supported me as I supported them. As a leader,
one of my biggest jobs was to make sure they
were successful and accomplishing the goals and tasks they needed
to do, and that help them grow. And look after
that year two I was gone. Someone else came in
(05:05):
that job as usually from those ranks, so it really
served a wide variety of goodness, positive influence. And just
like here that hurricane, you could have done that alone,
you have to do it with the team, and what
they learned from them was just as important as what
you learn from them. So it's a two way street.
And so setting that culture or that understanding and any
(05:28):
organization that is so important. And this like your story
on the hurricane, this book has stories that illustrate that
so help people grow and learn from those experiences to
establish those sort of cultures and approach as they work
with people.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
The book is the Gouge, How to be smarter than
the situation you are in. Admiral Bob Harward is with us.
Are there some bullet points that you go through about
acquiring the gouge? Or is the gouge something you just
kind of fall into as I just described with hurricane
coverage or you in a battle situation.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Well, I'd say it's a lot of both. There's a
couple of stories in the book that and I never
had a master planner. Life just took me along the
way I call it. I call it fated. So I
think it's two ways, will deal you a hand, how
you how you deal with that hand is important, important,
(06:26):
And there are some principles and my purpose. I came
in with the purpose of serving my country and doing
whatever they asked me to do because I thought it
was important and that in itself added to the great
adventure of life. So purpose is important. Enjoy life, Enjoy
every moment. I was blessed because every day I got
(06:47):
to wake up, it was like Christmas. I couldn't wait
to get up and get into what I was doing
that day and how I could contribute. How I enjoyed
being with the people I work. So I think those
are all components as I talk about in the book.
But then again, as I'm one of the stories, I
indicates how plays a hand in all of our lives
(07:08):
as well, and you've got accept that and understand it.
And then finally, I think another important principle of believing
in yourself. We all have those times we doubt ourselves
to kind of have two voices in the mind at
any time, But believing at the end of the day
in yourself and what you do is important. So all
(07:30):
those kind of principles are clarified in the book.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
The book is the Gouge How to be Smarter than
the situation you are in. Admiral Barb Harward I asked
about the significance of the term itself, because so many
military monodymonic devices mean something else, like fu bar and
so on. I wondered if there was a bit of
a more nefarious meaning to the letters of that word.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Now it's pretty it's the term the gouge son acroadym
And as they say, there's good gouge and there's bump gouge.
You know, sometimes someone's going to give the information they
think it's good. And I give a perfect example of it.
I was when I came into the Navy. When I
was commissioned on the Navalcademy, I wanted to be a
(08:18):
Navy seal. Unfortunately, it was the end of the Vietnam
War and the Navy was kind of getting rid of seals.
We had no real purpose supporting the navy. And my
father was a ship driver all his life, and so
I spent four years driving a ship from when I
had no transfer. Then I got accepted to go to
seal training and my father found out about it. He
(08:41):
called me and he thought he was giving me good
gouts because as he thought, there was no future in
the navy for seal. So he said to me, hey,
you know, I never did think it too great. I
just didn't think there's dumb there's no future in being
a seal. And there's one of those times where I
just contradicted him. I said, hey, Dad, I don't really
(09:01):
care about its future. I think this is something i'd
be good at and it's what I want to do.
So I did it. I was fortunate because the world changed,
and so what his good gouge was that time, from
his experience, his knowledge, he was giving me very good advice.
I just wasn't smart enough to realize it. And the
(09:23):
world with nine to elevens and others that made the
seal career very fruitful and productive. And alone, behold, I
became an agnal. Something he always thought I would be.
I never thought I would be. And that's kind of
the last story in the book, a story of faint.
But that's an example of gouge that he thought was
(09:45):
good gouge. It probably was, but it became bad gouge later,
or bum gouge as we say. So now the phrase
itself is well known in the Navy and the military term,
but the culture is more important than the phrase. How
about it.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Describes Admiral Bob how Harward, the gouge, how to be
smarter than the situation. You're in out everywhere. You get
books now, and we thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Sarah, Thanks well, great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee
Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live
weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia presentation
This is Later with Lee Matthews the Lee Matthews Podcast.
More what you Hear Weekday Afternoon.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Is on the Drive. Admiral Bob Harward is retired as
a Navy seal admiral with four decades of war finding
experience including Bosnia, Panama, Somonia, Afghanistan, Iraqi, Ymmen and he
goes on and on, never lost a single man under
his command and that is commendable. He's written a new
book called The Gouge, How to be Smarter than the
situation you are in. Admiral Bob Harward, welcome. I wanted
(00:31):
to start with you. Growing up in Iran in the
nineteen seventies, a bit of a tumultuous time to be there.
What brought you to Iran?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Quite the contrary, it wasn't tumultuate. It was absolutely wonderful.
My father was a naval officer as well. I followed
in his footsteps and he was there advising and supporting
the Iranian Navy as we provided them ships and armor.
That so it was the retired naval officer involved in
(01:03):
the defense industry and Iran in the seventies was absolutely spectacular,
wonderful people, a wonderful country, great scheme, hunting, very western,
very modernized. So it was just an incredible country. And
unfortunately it's to come to an Islamic revolution that we're
(01:24):
still dealing with today, unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So this was all prior to that downfall, but it
did pique my curiosity. Let's talk about the gouge, how
to be smarter than the situation you're in. Let's start
with that term, the gouge. What is its significance?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Great, it's a very infamous naval term and what most
people when they use it, they think about it. It's
the inside information what you really need to know. If
you were going in to take a test in college, Hey,
here's this stuff. You know he's going to ask about this.
This is what you need to be thinking about. Here's
even maybe the answers. But the real meaning of the
(02:05):
term is the culture that takes care of each other.
It's a term that originated in World War Two when
we were building ships around the a lot of ships
and manning them with crews, and we were lacking in
the experience in the cruise. So those experience members on
(02:26):
the ships went out out of their way to train
and educate the other members of the ship. Hey, here's
what you really need to know. Here's what you don't know.
Here's the information that's going to take care of you
and take care of the ship and keep us all alive.
And so that phrase was created in World War Two
that were used. But more important than the phrase itself
(02:50):
is that culture. That culture allows you to proactively take
care of each other, invest in each other. And we
all have that challenge on any business, the military, any
organization trying to accomplish a goal needs their people to
perform tasks or objectives to make it happen. And then business,
(03:12):
it's all related to profit, but just as important as
them achieving their goals is that process that allows them
to grow, mature and achieve their own personal goals. And
that what the gouge is really a description of that culture,
that leadership that allows you to take care of your
people at the same time they're taking care of the
(03:34):
business or the mission you're trying to accomplish. So the
gouge is that culture that permeates that throughout any organization.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Admiral Bob Harward US Navy retired a seal and admiral
in the Navy as well. The book is the gouge
how to be smarter than the situation you are in.
Admiral then, I have experienced this firsthand and a couple
of occasions in my own career, one coverage of a
deadly hurricane. I never and to this day harkened back
(04:06):
to the people I worked with in that chaotic situation.
But we were all in it together, and we were
all there to help each other in any way we could,
and I harkened back to it as some of the
best times in my entire career.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
You and I liked ubber, God bless you. Same thing
I was in my navy career. I never thought I
was good to be good enough in any job, and
I had twenty eight different jobs as a naval author.
You did a year or two in every job, and
if you're good, they promotching you go on and keep
doing that. And every job I was successful not because
(04:43):
of me, but because all the people around me who
did supported me as I supported them. As a leader,
one of my biggest jobs was to make sure they
were successful and accomplishing the goals and tasks they needed
to do, and that help them grow. And look after
that year two I was gone. Someone else came in
(05:05):
that job as usually from those ranks, so it really
served a wide variety of goodness, positive influence. And just
like here that hurricane, you could have done that alone,
you have to do it with the team, and what
they learned from them was just as important as what
you learn from them. So it's a two way street.
And so setting that culture or that understanding and any
(05:28):
organization that is so important. And this like your story
on the hurricane, this book has stories that illustrate that
so help people grow and learn from those experiences to
establish those sort of cultures and approach as they work
with people.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
The book is the Gouge, How to be smarter than
the situation you are in. Admiral Bob Harward is with us.
Are there some bullet points that you go through about
acquiring the gouge? Or is the gouge something you just
kind of fall into as I just described with hurricane
coverage or you in a battle situation.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Well, I'd say it's a lot of both. There's a
couple of stories in the book that and I never
had a master planner. Life just took me along the
way I call it. I call it fated. So I
think it's two ways, will deal you a hand, how
you how you deal with that hand is important, important,
(06:26):
And there are some principles and my purpose. I came
in with the purpose of serving my country and doing
whatever they asked me to do because I thought it
was important and that in itself added to the great
adventure of life. So purpose is important. Enjoy life, Enjoy
every moment. I was blessed because every day I got
(06:47):
to wake up, it was like Christmas. I couldn't wait
to get up and get into what I was doing
that day and how I could contribute. How I enjoyed
being with the people I work. So I think those
are all components as I talk about in the book.
But then again, as I'm one of the stories, I
indicates how plays a hand in all of our lives
(07:08):
as well, and you've got accept that and understand it.
And then finally, I think another important principle of believing
in yourself. We all have those times we doubt ourselves
to kind of have two voices in the mind at
any time, But believing at the end of the day
in yourself and what you do is important. So all
(07:30):
those kind of principles are clarified in the book.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
The book is the Gouge How to be Smarter than
the situation you are in. Admiral Barb Harward I asked
about the significance of the term itself, because so many
military monodymonic devices mean something else, like fu bar and
so on. I wondered if there was a bit of
a more nefarious meaning to the letters of that word.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Now it's pretty it's the term the gouge son acroadym
And as they say, there's good gouge and there's bump gouge.
You know, sometimes someone's going to give the information they
think it's good. And I give a perfect example of it.
I was when I came into the Navy. When I
was commissioned on the Navalcademy, I wanted to be a
(08:18):
Navy seal. Unfortunately, it was the end of the Vietnam
War and the Navy was kind of getting rid of seals.
We had no real purpose supporting the navy. And my
father was a ship driver all his life, and so
I spent four years driving a ship from when I
had no transfer. Then I got accepted to go to
seal training and my father found out about it. He
(08:41):
called me and he thought he was giving me good
gouts because as he thought, there was no future in
the navy for seal. So he said to me, hey,
you know, I never did think it too great. I
just didn't think there's dumb there's no future in being
a seal. And there's one of those times where I
just contradicted him. I said, hey, Dad, I don't really
(09:01):
care about its future. I think this is something i'd
be good at and it's what I want to do.
So I did it. I was fortunate because the world changed,
and so what his good gouge was that time, from
his experience, his knowledge, he was giving me very good advice.
I just wasn't smart enough to realize it. And the
(09:23):
world with nine to elevens and others that made the
seal career very fruitful and productive. And alone, behold, I
became an agnal. Something he always thought I would be.
I never thought I would be. And that's kind of
the last story in the book, a story of faint.
But that's an example of gouge that he thought was
(09:45):
good gouge. It probably was, but it became bad gouge later,
or bum gouge as we say. So now the phrase
itself is well known in the Navy and the military term,
but the culture is more important than the phrase. How
about it.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Describes Admiral Bob how Harward, the gouge, how to be
smarter than the situation. You're in out everywhere. You get
books now, and we thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Sarah, Thanks well, great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee
Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live
weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia presentation
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