"Raw, heart pounding, and incredibly authentic, The Need to Lead takes you from the cockpit to the foxhole, from the boardroom to the living room and teaches you leadership lessons that only a guy like Dave Berke could teach. This book will change the way you think about leadership, and it will make you a better leader in the C-Suite and a better person in life."
THE NEED TO LEAD
A TOPGUN Instructor's Lessons on How Leadership Solves Every ChallengeMeet the Real TOPGUN
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Do not relinquish control or wait to take ownership - lead in order to solve problems.
Subordinate your ego and stop complacency. Stay humble.
Detach from your ego, emotions, and perspective to decide and act.
Do not expect perfection but strive to make constant improvements and corrections of errors.
Listen more than you speak. Accept change before you are forced to accept defeat.
Put the team first, passing credit back to them at every turn.
Legacy depends on leadership, not your knowledge or contributions.
What You’ll Learn
Your success isn't determined by your talent– but by your leadership.
Whether you dream of elevating your career, founding a company, or raising a family, you might think you know what it takes. Dave Berke assumed the same when he first saw Top Gun and set his sights on becoming a Marine fighter pilot.
He didn’t just achieve that goal—he went beyond it. Berke became one of the few pilots to fly the F-16, F-18, F-22, and F-35. He served as the lead instructor at TOPGUN, commanded the first operational F-35 squadron, and led troops on the ground in the Battle of Ramadi. But this success did not come from his flying abilities, but his leadership skills.
The Need to Lead is more than a nod to a classic Top Gun quote. It is the undeniable truth that author Dave Berke experienced as a Marine Corps officer, fighter pilot, TOPGUN instructor, ground combat leader, husband, and father. No matter the environment, leadership is a universal requirement for success, no matter the environment. The Need to Lead breaks down the mindsets and behaviors required to lead at the highest level and distills Berke’s hard-earned lessons into a practical, actionable skillset.
Every person needs to lead in order to succeed, and this book shows you how. By adopting the right leadership mindsets and behaviors, we gain the capacity to solve problems, support the people around us, and amend our mistakes. And the only way we develop these necessary skills is by embracing the lessons imparted to Berke from each humbling moment in the cockpit, battlefield, and beyond.
As the third book in the Extreme Ownership trilogy, Dave Berke builds on the principles Jocko Willink and Leif Babin taught in their first two leadership best-sellers. He has mastered leadership in high-stakes and high-pressure environments, where failure is not an option. Now, as a key leader at Echelon Front and an author of “The Need to Lead”, Dave brings those hard-earned lessons to leaders everywhere.
What People Are Saying
"Raw, heart pounding, and incredibly authentic, The Need to Lead takes you from the cockpit to the foxhole, from the boardroom to the living room and teaches you leadership lessons that only a guy like Dave Berke could teach. This book will change the way you think about leadership, and it will make you a better leader in the C-Suite and a better person in life."
“Our ability to thrive depends on our ability to lead ourselves and others while in constantly changing circumstances. Berke shows us how to do that by conquering our ego, harnessing our deepest resources, and letting the natural leader inside us emerge.”
“Dave Berke's The Need to Lead takes you inside the cockpit and down into the dirt, blending the high-speed world of aerial dogfights with the gritty realities of leading troops in ground combat. Drawing from his experiences as a Marine Corps fighter pilot and as an ANGLICO Team leader in Ramadi, Iraq, Berke blends stories from the front lines with hard-earned lessons learned under extreme pressure and then translates those lessons into actionable and practical counsel that extends far beyond the battlefield. Whether you’re flying at Mach speeds, leading a team from the boardroom, or navigating the complexities of life, Berke demonstrates that true leadership demands decisiveness, adaptability, and humility. For a leadership guide forged in the crucible of combat, look no further than The Need to Lead.”
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Meet the Real TOPGUN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVE BERKE
CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
Dave Berke is a retired US Marine Corps Officer, TOPGUN Instructor, and now a leadership instructor and speaker with Echelon Front, where he serves as Chief Development Officer. As a F/A-18 pilot, he deployed twice from the USS John C Stennis in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spent three years as an Instructor Pilot at TOPGUN where he served as the Training Officer, the senior staff pilot responsible for the conduct of the TOPGUN course.
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