S4 E12: Sorting through a retired Navy SEAL Captain’s perspective on how to build trust in high performance teams

Tom DeJarnette is a retired Navy SEAL Captain and was recently a guest speaker at CCA's Feeder Meeting a few weeks ago. Before speaking to attendees at the event, Tom sat down with Sorting Pen Host Katie Roberti and CCA's Feeder Council Chair Mike Sulpizio for this episode to share about his presentation and perspectives on leadership. Hear some of the takeaways he shares from his 26-year Naval career and how he connects many of them to the beef industry. 

More about Tom:
Tom DeJarnette graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1993 with a double major in English and Economics. As an All-American swimmer, it was a natural fit to join the Navy and go to Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL (BUDS) training. 

As a retired Navy SEAL Captain with over 25 years of special operations experience working in high stress/no fail environments, Tom is proud of his military experiences and the lessons he learned about leadership, organizational structure, training, and culture. He built and led high performance teams from 20 to 400 people using these fundamentals and regularly proved they work under the most demanding conditions. Tom’s 26-year Naval career included Operational Tours at SEAL Team ONE (ST-1), SEAL Team THREE, Naval Special Warfare Unit TEN (NSWU-10), Special Operations Command CENTRAL (SOCCENT), and Special Boat Team TWENTY (SBT-20). His staff tours included NSWU-10, SOCCENT, SBT-20, USMC Command and Staff College, ST-1, Naval Special Warfare Group ONE, Naval Special Warfare Group THREE, and Naval Special Warfare CENTER. Throughout his time in the SEAL Teams, what Tom enjoyed most was taking care of people and setting the conditions so that his teammates could be the best versions of themselves every day. 

With Tom’s successful transition to the private sector in 2019, he continues to add unique value to like-minded corporate organizations because he implements time-honored Special Operations principles in a way that resonates with high-performance teams focused on authenticity, durability, and achieving a competitive advantage. In 2019, Tom was hired by Volunteer Employee Benefits Association (VEBA) as the Chief Administrative Officer where he established What The Strong Do To Rise LLC in support of VEBA contracting objectives. From 2020 – 2022, Tom established his personal LLC to embark on various leadership and cultural development contracting opportunities. Contracting led to another salary opportunity in 2021 as the Chief People Officer for Symbiont, a Fintech Blockchain company, where he got to focus on quality-of-life issues for a company of proven performers. 

Tom continues to enjoy working with high performance teams who are focused on selflessness, accountability, and work to solve problems in a way that preserves the long-term health of an organization.