Extraordinatry! What else can we say about the U.S. Navy SEALs and their mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden? Each day, we learn a few more details, but it’s clear the success of the entire mission was based upon SEAL leadership training.

As businesspeople, we can learn a lot from the SEALs. They do the right things the right way. We don’t have to risk our lives, but we do risk our capital, our jobs, our lifestyles, our happiness, and our success based upon how we manage and lead our organizations and teams.

Let’s learn from the SEALs …

First of all, this is a highly select group of people. About 80 percent of those who enter the SEAL program don’t make it to graduation. Of the 20 percent who survive, training never stops. The average age of the team that found bin Laden was 38 years old, which means they had many years of training and experience to prepare them to take on this very tough job.

Business lesson: In the current recession, training for many companies has been eliminated or drastically reduced by budget cuts. Outstanding candidates are not being interviewed or considered for the same reason. If a company has been downsizing for the past five years, it probably has done little to improve the organization or its people. It’s been “hang on by your fingernails and hope you aren’t the next to be laid off.” But you can’t expect your people to be prepared to ramp up quickly when you’re ready to jump on an opportunity if they’ve been sitting idle for a long period of time.

Next, even with a highly trained SEAL team, planning for this event took nine months. Information was gathered, risks were evaluated, and alternatives were discussed. Plans were made for what could go wrong, like the possibility of a helicopter crashing. It was an incredibly well-mapped-out procedure that had a contingency plan for anything that might deviate from what was predicted to happen.

Business lesson: Planning for many companies is haphazard, non-existent, or perfunctory (i.e. one or two days of sitting in a conference room talking about next year.) When it comes to individuals, planning for how each person will improve, learn more, and get better is rare in most organizations. I view a lot of what’s called “planning” as nothing but short-term, opportunistic decision making. An opportunity presents itself, and senior management makes a quick decision to go in that direction. This has become especially true in recessionary times as each opportunity is seen as a means for survival. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a survival plan.

The SEALs had a clearly defined goal/mission. They knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish. The end result was very specific. They were not going to run around in circles and jump back-and-forth deciding what to do next.

Business lesson: Ask your people what your organization’s goals are and have them be specific with their answers. Next, ask them about their goals. Often, you will get lots of verbiage and little clarity. Leaders must clearly state organizational goals. Someone has to be in charge. This person has the responsibility, authority, and accountability for success. You can’t blame it on your subordinates. Each goal must be understood by everyone, and each person must know his or her role in achieving it. This is the foundation of any team.

The SEALs entered bin Laden’s compound by surprise. There was no warning and no hesitation. One of the advantages of the way SEALs take action is they seek an unfair fight. Fighting fair does not work in their favor. If there are 20 SEALs, the enemy thinks there are 100.

Business lesson: It really isn’t fair in business. We know about banks who backed out of commitments at the last minute, leaving borrowers in jeopardy. We know about borrowers who put their lenders at risk. Neither of these actions is fair. But you can build a distinct and unfair advantage that is still ethical. And it won’t cost much more than what you are currently doing. For example, your people should be superior because they were the No. 1 draft choices. Average or okay doesn’t cut it. Your people need to be better trained and constantly developing new and more advanced skills. Some may wash out, but the best will move forward. If you are in a leadership role, you need to know where you are going, how you plan to get there, the role of each of your people, and the desired end result.

What the SEALs know about leadership often translates into what business leaders must do to build and lead great organizations. We saw how well these principles worked for the SEAL team during the bin Laden hunt. The business lessons above are not new to you. The question you might want to ask yourself is, “How well would I survive an audit of my organization and its leadership if a SEAL were the auditor?”

Much of what has been written has been what I have personally learned from some SEAL friends (and Marines). At PCBC in June, I’ll have the honor of sharing a platform on the topic of leadership with a senior SEAL officer.

If you want to learn more, here are two books for you and your management team that I highly recommend: Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals by Lt. Cmdr. Jon Cannon and Jeff Cannon and Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way by Dan Carrison and Rod Walsh.

You may not have to kick in doors or fire a howitzer, but you’ll be a better leader if you learn from the best.

Martin Freedland co-founded Berke Assessment and is president of Berke Consulting. He’s been helping organizations continually improve the way they recruit, hire, train, manage, and motivate their people for more than three decades. He has personally worked with hundreds of companies throughout the United States to assist them in increasing profits and productivity through better people management practices. He can be reached at martin@berkegroup.com.