First, Fast, Fearless: How to Lead Like a Navy SEAL

CHAPTER 4

Power by Example: The Importance of Ethos

Those who have a “why” to live, can bear with almost any “how.”

—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

In 1776 the Declaration of Independence, one of the most important documents in American history and to democracy, was crafted. The words in that document set in motion a process that a mere 240 years later finds America as the world’s only superpower:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Why is the Declaration of Independence so important? ...