The Jedburgh Podcast
Fran Racioppi
The Jedburgh Podcast empowers leaders to achieve success on their journey to transform themselves and their organizations. Creator, Host and Special Forces Green Beret Fran Racioppi interviews the world’s most prominent visionaries, drivers of change, and those dedicated to winning.Each episode is an in-depth discussion with trailblazers who’ve earned success through a dedication to talent development, preparation, introspection, and the drive to get things done. Our conversation will empower listeners to define success and operate at an elite level, regardless of the task at hand. In May 1943 the Allied Forces determined a new type of leader was required to win World War II. Operation Jedburgh parachuted three-man teams deep behind enemy lines to win no matter the challenge. Jedburghs lived by the mantra “how you prepare today, determines success tomorrow.” Today's leaders are no different. Fran speaks with leaders in business, athletics, academics, and public service about their personal leadership stories of success, failure, and the road to continuous improvement. Our discussions focus on the character traits of elite performance used by Special Operations Forces to recruit, assess, select and retain elite performers. Through this lens, we show listeners that success in any field must be earned every day.We strive for each listener to take valuable lessons learned and concrete action steps to improve themselves, their teams, and their organizations. Although developed and used by US Special Operations Forces, these characteristics are inherently applicable to building resilient and successful organizations in any sector or industry, as well as in the betterment of our personal and professional lives. The Nine Characteristics of Elite Performance:-Drive: Growth mindset, be better than yesterday, continuous self-improvement-Resiliency: Perseverance in the face of challenges-Adaptability: Adjust one’s behavior to the situation-Humility: Recognize that you do not have all the answers; a willing learner maintains accurate self-awareness-Integrity: Understand what is legal and correct and align actions and words to both-Effective Intelligence: apply one’s experience and knowledge to the situation-Team Ability: Prioritize organizational needs ahead of oneself, work as a cohesive unit-Curiosity: Exploring the unknown, questioning the status quo in pursuit of better-Emotional Strength: Emotional control in stressful situations brings calm to chaos Fran Racioppi is the Founder & CEO of FRsix where he leads operations in critical infrastructure projects. He served 13 years in the US Army Special Forces as a Green Beret. Fran is passionate about building the world's best leaders and the impact our special operators have in service and beyond. He holds a BA from Boston University in Broadcast Journalism and an MBA from NYU Stern, as well as the security industry's highest accreditation as a Certified Protection Professional. The Jedburgh Podcast is an Official Program of The Green Beret Foundation. The Green Beret Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to supporting America's U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers and their families. They provide emergency, immediate, and ongoing support to Special Forces Soldiers and their families. The foundation is committed to growing and sustaining the needs of the Special Forces regiment for decades to come. Since its inception, the foundation has invested over $15 million in support of the Special Forces community, providing aid to more than 13,000 families with 87% of every dollar going directly into their programs and services.Join our Jedburgh Team to reach your dreams!
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 24, 2021 • 1h 7min
#002: Jersey Mike’s Founder & CEO – Peter Cancro
Peter Cancro is the Founder and CEO of Jersey Mike's Subs. In 1971 at the age of only 17, Peter raised $125,000 to purchase the single store sandwich shop called Mike's Subs. Today, Jersey Mike's has over 2000 stores across the globe, and is closing in on over $2 billion in annual sales. Entrepreneur Magazine has ranked Jersey Mike's #7 in the 2021 Franchise 500 Ranking. In this episode, Peter joins host Fran Racioppi to share his recipe for building a franchise empire, and his foundation on a “SubAbove” culture of giving and a commitment to its people - investing over $150 million back into its store owners to update and modernize. Peter was named to the 2021 Power List by Nation's Restaurant News. Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website.Highlights:-Peter explains the importance of equity in a business and a founder’s role in identifying funding sources, partners and those able to provide capital while allowing the founders to pursue their vision.-Growing a business from a single store to multiple stores, then a franchise requires founders to understand how their people, process and technology must operate at different points in the business cycle. -The normal franchise model puts the responsibility for adherence to standards on the franchisee; Peter speaks about his selection criteria for successful franchisees, his dedication to their training, and how the reinvestment by Jersey Mike’s corporate office in the modernization of the individual stores has empowered owners to work harder.-Peter places focus on location when selecting markets and individual stores for inclusion into the growth phase of Jersey Mikes. He explains that simple and replicable designs reduce the time and cost barriers to entry for new franchisees.-Fran & Peter provide the keys to overcoming business shock as Peter discusses how he pulled Jersey Mike’s out of near bankruptcy twice and how he has responded to COVID-19. -The development of a strong team culture is the most important aspect of leadership to Peter. He provides his thoughts on leading by example and from the front, pulling others along towards your goals. -Community is built through engagement like the Annual Day Giving and the Month of Giving during March. Quotes: -”Show up every day. Go to work and go after it aggressively. Make great products and great service. Get involved in the community and care. That’s the motto.”-”Does it make common sense? This is how we go forward.”-”Don’t walk when you can run.”-”You enjoy it when you are doing your best. Putting it out there. Trying to serve your community. Trying to serve others in the store.”-”It was a good long time I was flatlined. ‘91, ‘92, ‘93. We just didn’t grow.”-“That’s what people love. When they can just be real and genuine. Not some script by the company.”-”We go after it very aggressively. Get the right people...we work hard. Try and get involved in the community. Make great products and great service.” -”Cause-related marketing is what the experts will tell you you should be doing.”Peter’s Three Daily Foundations of Success:-Be ready-Be prepared-Focus on the small details
Mar 18, 2021 • 1h 16min
#001: The Talent War Authors – Mike Sarraille and George Randle
What can business organizations learn from the military when it comes to talent management and leadership development? Those who have been in the trenches, leading people through some of the most difficult and risky missions in the world know that people are everything. Mike Sarraille and George Randle are two of the authors of The Talent War, an incredibly insightful work that examines the parallels between the talent management practices of special operations forces and the most successful organizations in the world. Aiming to empower small and medium businesses to achieve excellence every day, Mike and George founded the Talent War Group, a cadre of highly-experienced SOF leaders and business executives who understand the critical importance of human capital management. Listen in as they share some of the principles they talked about in their book as they join Fran Racioppi on this first episode of The Jedburgh Podcast. Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website.Highlights:-Why Special Operations uses nine characteristics of elite performance to recruit, assess, select and train its people and how the nine are required to build elite performers in any organization. -What it means and why organizations must “hire for character, train for skill.”-Entrepreneurs exist at all levels of an organization; Mike & George explain how encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit drives productivity and innovation.-Assessing people’s response after failure is an important indicator of their character and potential for future success; George describes the most common results of failure given by candidates in the interview process. -Mike provides the tools leaders need to determine and accept risk in order to see risk as opportunities to improve the organization. -The keys to introspective leadership and self evaluation on a continuous basis.-Mike candidly describes the importance of a “tribe” and how the strongest people and organizations rely on a strong sense of community, camaraderie and team.-How the "whole-man" concept requires leaders to evaluate talent on the totality of what they bring to the organization and how they enhance all aspects of the team in addition to their personal skill set or subject-matter expertise. Quotes:-”A transformational leader builds genuine relationships with their people. They are willing to pay the rent.”-”What are we doing? What should we be doing.”-”What makes Special Operations so special is that they have to be experts in potential-based hiring.”-”I want everyone to be a disruptive thinker. I want everyone to have a sense of autonomy over their lives and their jobs. Ownership to make decisions at their respective level.”-“99% of people see risk and it automatically triggers fear.”-“Everyone has failed at something they tried.”“Iron sharpens iron.” Mike’s Three Daily Foundations of Success:-Develop a growth mindset-Demonstrate humility-Maintain your tribe George’s Three Daily Foundations of Success:-Persistence in personal growth-Have faith in self, tribe and your team-Love and appreciate those around you
Mar 15, 2021 • 2min
Welcome to the Jedburgh Podcast
Organizations will fail without transformative leaders. The Jedburgh Podcast is a conversation with prominent visionaries, drivers of change and those dedicated to winning. In May 1943 the Allied Forces determined a new type of leader was required to win World War II as an Axis victory seemed certain. These leaders would be assessed using a specific set of character traits, but selected using the “whole-man” concept; a combination of traits needed to simply get things done and win no matter the challenge. Code-named Jedburghs, three-man teams parachuted behind enemy lines onto the shores of occupied France during the nighttime hours before D-Day. Their only directive...Win the war at all costs. With little guidance and scarce resources, 200 specially selected, highly trained, innovative leaders helped turn the tide of the war.Hosted by former Special Forces Green Beret, Fran Racioppi, each episode is an in-depth discussion with trailblazers who have earned success through a dedication to talent development, preparation, introspection and the drive to get things done. Our conversation will empower listeners to define success and operate at an elite level, regardless of the task at hand. Jedburghs lived by the mantra that how you prepare today, determines success tomorrow. The Jedburgh Podcast is sponsored by Talent War Group, an executive search firm and talent advisory. We work with your organization to attract, retain, and develop top talent. We’ll drive you to attract, retain, and develop top talent. With services like talent acquisition, leadership development, training, and seminars we work with you to create talent solutions to business problems. To get started, visit www.talentwargroup.com
