Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Bram Connolly, Allen & Unwin, $32.99.
A top Australian soldier shares his secrets of success in life and work learnt in combat and adversity. Imagine having access to the planning, training and motivational secrets of Australia’s most elite military operators; then imagine being able to adapt what they know to your own everyday life.
This is what Bram Connolly gives us in this smart, surprising, optimistic and autobiographical manual for resilience, personal leadership and success. It features real-life stories from Connolly’s time as a Special Forces Commander and the ways he personally obtained wisdom from different expeditions in war.
It’s easy to see how much the military service shaped his life. That’s evident in both his written work and his character, his opinions on life, leadership and success. He is humble when he shares each of his failures in chapters and how they led him to grow as a person. ‘There is no indication of self-importance here, and that is a bracing change in the do-it-yourself genre.’
In sharing the tedium of training as a raw recruit and taking us into the pitch of battle during some of the toughest fighting in Afghanistan, Connolly reminds us (among other things) that it is okay to be bored, laziness can quickly become a habit, there are advantages in being scared and it’s fine to let go. Clear-headed, honest and self-deprecating, The Commando Way offers powerful lessons that can be used in all aspects of life, no matter who you are.
The book is broken down into easy-to-follow, valuable sections, which are enhanced by Bram’s personal stories from the day he joined the army (and the shock of his army haircut), to the day he won his Distinguished Service Medal in a hellfire battle in Afghanistan.
He writes succinctly without equivocating, the edits are precise, with each chapter packed with knowledge. It engages!
