Receiving the Medal of Honor and feeling like a failure

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The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk

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Guest: Dakota Meyer, a United States Marine Corps veteran and Medal of Honor recipient. At just 21 years old, Dakota's actions during the Battle of Ganjgal in Afghanistan saved many lives when he repeatedly went against his orders and drove into a Taliban ambush zone to rescue trapped soldiers. He became the first living Marine in more than 40 years to receive the Medal of Honor. Today, he's a firefighter, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author. Dakota is dedicated to developing leaders who can handle crisis and complexity. In our conversation, you'll hear why Dakota believes his most heroic day was actually his greatest failure, what he was feeling the day he received the Medal of Honor from President Obama, and his practical blueprint for bringing our divided country together.

Notes:

• The Three-Phase Life Cycle - Dakota's framework for wisdom: "You have an obstacle you face. You have to get through that obstacle and become better from it. And then the third piece is you have to share how you got through that obstacle."
• Leadership vs. Responsibility - "Leaders are just people too. You can lead from anywhere in an organization... Leadership comes in many forms." True leadership means choosing where your loyalty lies - with the people you're responsible for or with protecting your own position.
• September 8th, 2009: Leadership Failure - Dakota frames his Medal of Honor actions as "an absolute story of leadership failure at its best" - multiple levels of leaders avoiding responsibility while he went against orders to save his teammates.
• The Loyalty Question - "Where does their loyalty lie? Is it in the people that trust them to lead them and to protect them? Or is it in the organization in order for themselves to keep getting promoted?" This fundamental choice defines every leader.
• Risk vs. Results - "Organizations and leaders today are so risk-averse that risk comes before results... You can't be successful, do hard things, and stay comfortable and be safe. In no world does that exist."
• Mental Health Reality Check - Dakota challenges current mental health approaches: "We're giving people no hope because we're trying to accommodate their emotions and not bring them back to reality and logic." He distinguishes between trauma that needs addressing and self-induced mental health issues through poor choices.
• Love as Choice, Not Emotion - "Love is not an emotion. Love is a choice... If you love me, you're going to always help me be the best version of me. That doesn't always feel good."
• Accountability and Fatherhood - As a father of two daughters: "I can't be anything that I wouldn't let anybody else be to them... You set the bar for what they're gonna accept and what they're not gonna accept."
• The Civil War Warning - "America doesn't need a Civil War. What we need is to vote, to lead, to speak up in schools, to teach our kids history, truth, kindness with strength, and how to disagree without violence."
• The Ambush  - When his team walked into an ambush, promised support assets (air support, mortars, quick reaction force) weren't available due to rules of engagement restrictions. When Lieutenant Johnson called for artillery support, saying, "If you don't give me these rounds right now, we're going to die," the response was "Try your best."
• The Decision to Act - Dakota requested permission to help multiple times and was denied each time. He finally went against orders with his driver, Staff Sergeant Rodriguez Chavez, making four or five trips into the valley over six hours to evacuate wounded and recover bodies.
• The Human Cost - Dakota describes the helplessness of watching Afghan soldiers get "mowed down" while running toward his vehicle for rescue. He performed basic life-saving measures, loaded wounded in trucks with the dead on the bottom and living on top for triage priority, and ultimately recovered some of his fallen teammates.
• The Immediate Aftermath - Dakota put his teammates in body bags, flew them home, then immediately returned to cleaning his truck and helping Afghan soldiers with their dead. He went back to his base alone - the only survivor of his four-man team.
• Mental Health Crisis - Dakota developed a destructive cycle: daily drinking (depressant), massive caffeine intake to compensate, creating anxiety and amplifying trauma. He was surrounded by people who only wanted to discuss trauma and war stories, preventing healing.
• Suicide Attempt - Dakota reached a breaking point where he held a gun to his head, but it wasn't loaded. This became his turning point - he made a commitment to either "rack it back and go ahead and do it, or go out and find a way to get through this and start living a life worthy of their sacrifices."
• The Path Forward - Recovery came through accountability rather than accommodation. Dakota emphasizes that while trauma needed addressing, he was "amplifying and feeding the problem, not the solution" through his choices.
• Real vs. Perceived Heroism - Dakota challenges the hero narrative: "I am an example of the potential that's in every human being... If they believe in a cause that's bigger than themselves, and they love people so much that they're willing to do whatever it takes to stop the suffering."
• Daily Character Building - "You don't just wake up and do the hard thing. It starts every day. Do you get up when you say you're gonna get up? Do you do what you say?" The Medal of Honor action was simply "upholding my end of the deal to my teammates and to my country."
• Being a Great Dad - Dakota sets an extremely high bar as a dad: "I believe that if your daughters start dating shitty and weak men, it's because you are a shitty and weak man." He sees fatherhood as the ultimate accountability.
• Unity through Truth - His current focus: "I just want to bring people together... I wanna put hope back in the world through truth." He believes in finding common ground with anyone through genuine connection and curiosity.
• Education vs. Knowledge - Dakota distinguishes between theoretical education and practical knowledge: "There's a difference between education and knowledge... those who can't do, they teach. We need more that have done teaching."
• The Power of Love - His core philosophy centers on love as action, not emotion: "Love is limitless... there's no expiration date" compared to hate and negativity, which "there's an expiration date on."
• Practical Application
  • Leadership Loyalty Test - Before making decisions, ask where your primary loyalty lies: with those you lead or with your own advancement
  • Risk-Taking Framework - Understand that meaningful results require accepting risk and discomfort
  • Mental Health Approach - Address trauma while taking responsibility for choices that amplify problems
  • Daily Character Development - Build integrity through small daily commitments before facing major challenges
  • Connection Over Division - Seek common ground through curiosity and questions rather than attacking opposing viewpoints