


Each principle is a bit of a cliché, but what some of them lack in originality, they make up for in clarity and authenticity.

McRaven outlines 10 principles to live your life by, based on his long and distinguished career in the US Navy. I don’t delve into works by armed forces personnel often, but I enjoyed his delivery style and the simplicity of his message when I realised he had turned the concepts of the speech into a short book, I bought a copy for myself and each member of the Senior Leadership Team when I departed my previous school last summer. It is perfect assembly fodder: here are links to the full speech, and the slightly dramatized version. McRaven delivering a Commencement Speech at the University of Texas in 2014. Why I read it… You might have seen the videos of Admiral William H.
