The Gouge!: How to Be Smarter Than the Situation You Are in - Hardcover

by Bob Harward (Author)

You are measured by what you do for others, not by what you have accomplished for yourself.

The Gouge, in military parlance, is what you really need to know in order to be smarter than the situation you are in. As a US Navy SEAL, who became a Vice Admiral, Bob Harward lived by the Gouge and used it as a guiding principle for leadership and day-to-day life. More specifically, his success in his military and corporate careers was predicated on the people who worked with him, and for him. Their ability to meet their personal and professional objectives, ensured his success. The Gouge was a persistent and proactive focus on their success, to ensure they, and he, could succeed in all of their endeavors. Now, he is sharing it with the world. In this book, he uses life stories to illustrate how anyone can use the Gouge, not only for their own well-being but also for any organization or community. At its foundation, it is your personal contract with people and humanity.

In this book, Harward boils all of this down into the Gouge philosophy and its key ingredients: on how to move yourself and the people around you forward, using the best information and experienced based knowledge, so that you too can live by the Gouge.

Author Biography

Harward's Gouge is informed by 40 years of highly decorated service in the military, followed by another decade as a top executive in the global defense industry. During his war-fighting experiences in Bosnia, Panama, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, he never lost a single man under his command and in business, always hit the numbers.

After leading invasions of Afghanistan in October 2001 and Iraq in March 2003, he served on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush and then as Deputy Commander of US Central Command under General James Mattis. President Trump asked Harward if he would be his National Security advisor, which is the honor of a lifetime, so his decision to graciously decline based on timing, was The Gouge for Bob, as service is the greatest privilege.

Now based in Abu Dhabi, Harward serves as Executive Vice President for International Business and Strategy at Shield AI, which is forging the future of aerospace and defense technology with artificial intelligence. But Harward's experience runs much wider and deeper than that. While growing up in Iran in the 1970s, he learned Farsi and hitchhiked throughout Asia and the Middle East; his gruelling workout is performed on at least five continents; and his latest adventure involved setting a world record for parachuting onto Mount Everest.