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Built Not Born

Built Not Born

#177 - Dave Berke: "The Need to Lead" - Former Top Gun Instructor & F-35 Commander on Why Every Problem is a Leadership Problem ✈️

Built Not Born · Oct 17, 2025 · 1:03:53

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Dave Berke: "The Need to Lead" - Former Top Gun Instructor & F-35 Commander on Why Every Problem is a Leadership Problem ✈️

Former Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Dave Berke shares his journey from Top Gun instructor to F-35 squadron commander to combat veteran fighting alongside Navy SEALs in Ramadi.

Now a leadership instructor at Echelon Front with Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, Dave reveals lessons from his new book "The Need to Lead" - the third in the Extreme Ownership series.

What You'll Learn:

• Why every problem is a leadership problem (and how that empowers you to solve it)

• The difference between extreme ownership and preemptive ownership

• Why "someone's gonna do it, it might as well be you" changes everything

• How to lead when you're leading your equals and peers

• Why good leadership must outlast the leader

• The power of being a leader who listens first

Key Quote:

"Someone's going to do it, it might as well be you. Every person needs to lead in order to succeed, no matter the environment." - Dave Berke

Timestamps:

🛩️ 00:00 - The Star Wars moment that sparked a fighter pilot dream

🛩️ 08:15 - Mom's powerful advice: "Someone's gonna do it, might as well be you"

🛩️ 15:30 - Growing up in Marine Corps town: El Toro flight path childhood

🛩️ 22:45 - First time behind the controls and the road to Top Gun

🛩️ 28:20 - Only Marine to fly both F-22 Raptor and F-35B Lightning

🛩️ 35:40 - Mom watching his first F-35B vertical landing - full circle moment

🛩️ 42:15 - Becoming a Top Gun instructor: Leading your peers

🛩️ 48:30 - Humble, credible, approachable: The ultimate teaching framework

🛩️ 55:20 - Leaving the cockpit for combat on the ground in Ramadi

🛩️ 62:45 - Fighting alongside Jocko and Leif's SEAL Team in 2006

🛩️ 68:30 - The dichotomy: Coming home to San Diego after losing a Marine

🛩️ 75:10 - Reconnecting with Jocko and Leif to join Echelon Front

🛩️ 82:40 - Writing the third book in the Extreme Ownership series

🛩️ 88:15 - Every problem is a leadership problem (and every solution is too)

🛩️ 94:20 - Preemptive ownership: Solving problems before they happen

🛩️ 101:30 - The leader as listener: Why talking less makes you more effective

🛩️ 107:45 - Good leadership outlasts the leader - you don't pick when you leave

🛩️ 114:20 - Everyone is a leader: Why title and rank don't matter

🛩️ 120:15 - The brutal truth about writing: First drafts are humbling

🛩️ 125:30 - Final lesson: Leadership is a skill anyone can learn


Third book in the Extreme Ownership series following <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-audiobook/dp/B015TM0RM4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1S4ZU3TRV9UGL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.x4z6KtGpcudpFUoLUQR7gbJIHBvLl7p0GsSaIax1ybRZ379OeAJsDPduStfKT9DLR0hX5l2Ue6ZakdsusTQXVAsOSQvF4n8C-Uz1bC72JEvZOanm0aAQdQFJikE_h60B3Tg8_eSdZmX7rIsMowHcvphhrtOLJV5hTYgbAAkAi9w5-HBkJwtjfQF7aUHgauz2D6k8ruaS98DBSysLEDSfadQQlG0v2JMUbw3UnaxWcOs

Episodes: Built Not Born

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