Lead Yourself First

An introduction to BAMCIS

The folks at Black Rifle Coffee recently made a little mini-documentary about me. If you get the chance, check it out:

As a young Marine, one of the first acronyms we were required to learn was the Six Troop Leading Steps, BAMCIS.

Begin planning.
Arrange for reconnaissance.
Make reconnaissance.
Complete the plan.
Issue the order.
Supervise.

It’s simple and not terribly exciting. I remember being underwhelmed the first time our drill instructor wrote them on the chalkboard.

But it works whether leading Marines into combat or leading yourself in the War of Life.

Most people don’t fail because they lack desire. They fail because they lack a process.

They want to get in shape, or write a book, or start a business, or they want to become the person they keep promising themselves they will be.

But wanting doesn’t work and hope isn’t a course of action.

That is where BAMCIS comes in.

In the Marine Corps, BAMCIS helps leaders move from receiving a mission to executing it. It helps the leader (you) create order from chaos, and provides a way to think, decide, execute, and adjust.

That is exactly what you need to do to win the next battle in the War of Life.

Life, like war, is made up of and impacted by terrain and weather. There’s friction, fatigue, and competing priorities. There is the enemy, both external and internal.

You have limited resources, distractions, and your plan, no matter how solid you think it is, will start to fail as soon as it meets the reality of the battlefield.

And when that happens, positive thinking won’t save you. You need a process.

Over the next six weeks, we will walk through BAMCIS as a personal leadership framework.

Begin Planning Giving yourself a mission and beginning to execute before you have everything figured out.

Arrange for Reconnaissance Identifying what you need to learn before you commit fully.

Make Reconnaissance is where you get eyes on the terrain and answer the questions you need to move forward, knowing that you will never have perfect information.

Complete the Plan is turning what you’ve learned into a workable course of action.

Issue the Order is where you make the plan complete enough to execute.

Supervise is where you execute, adjust, and reattack as needed until the mission is accomplished.

This isn’t a rigid framework that allows you to control everything, it is a process that helps you lead yourself through what you can’t control.

Walking Point begins when you accept responsibility for leading yourself.

Someone has to step forward, read the map, find the route, and keep the patrol from wandering into an ambush.

In your own life, that someone is you.

You’re the general, the sergeant, the point man, the leader, and the led.

That sucks, but it is also good news.

Because if you accept leadership, you can win.

BAMCIS gives you a way to start.

Not perfectly, but with violent precision

And violent precision wins every time.

Get better at getting better

John

- Your arms dealer for the war of life

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