00:00:00:00 – 00:00:27:22

Dr. Brad Frazier

Welcome to The Conversation, the Belmont Abbey podcast. This podcast aims to form and transform the community so each of us can reflect God’s image. I’m Doctor Brad Frazier and I’m thrilled today to welcome Navy Bob. Bob Rosica, who had 28 years as a Navy captain. He was a military aide for President George W Bush. He commanded nuclear submarines in the Navy and just had an amazing career.

 

00:00:27:23 – 00:00:42:16

Dr. Brad Frazier

Now he’s moved into an LLC, also called Navy Bob in the healthcare industry, and has written a book that we’re going to talk a little bit about today in Servant Leadership. So it’s just a pleasure to have you and your chief of staff, Karina, who wasn’t able to join us, but she’s traveled with him. So welcome, Bob. It’s just a pleasure to meet you, to have you with us.

 

00:00:42:16 – 00:01:10:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Thank you, doctor, for such an honor and privilege to be at this incredible campus. The culture is just amazing. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

Awesome. We’re so glad to have you. So, we were just going to talk a little bit, a couple of questions about your experience. There’s a lot to talk about, but one of the things that that struck me, especially in our leadership program here, was you talked about leading with love, and I was wonder if you could expand a little bit about that, about how you use that to incorporate that into dealing with life and death situations that you had to deal with in the Navy and in the in your career working with white House?

 

00:01:10:04 – 00:01:29:05

Dr. Brad Frazier

And now in the healthcare industry. Could you talk a little bit about that? 

 

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Absolutely. So I started writing my book, Behind the Sea Leading with Love about four years ago. And as I reflected back, love was not even in the definition or title.

 

00:01:29:07 – 00:02:02:02

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And when I started digging into my successes and also my failures, I looked at the common threads, which was love and the absence of love, which I call, basically apathy. And so one of the stories I’ll share two in the military and they think, you know, how is it that you commanded it, a $2 billion nuclear submarine responsible for war and also carrying the nuclear codes responsible for Armageddon?

 

00:02:02:02 – 00:02:39:19

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

How could you possibly talk about love leading with love? Because people think in the military, it’s all about command and control. Do as I say, you know, authoritative type leadership. And that is not the case. So I’ll share two real quick stories. That was the moment for me as I’m writing this book. And as I started digging in the chronological stories of my life through also investigating empirical evidence, academic research, there’s no doubt that leading with love is the most effective leadership style, even in the military, across every single industry at any age.

 

00:02:39:21 – 00:03:02:12

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

So there’s two stories that I’d like to share. One, we were on a mission vital to national security. We were behind enemy lines, and we were stone throws away from the most capable submarine that was out there. And our 377 ft ship was cloaked underneath the ocean floor, and the only thing that was exposed was a periscope and were surrounded by their fleet.

 

00:03:02:12 – 00:03:31:02

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

That could easily secure access. And we’re tracked. And we were on this mission vital to national security. And we thought, I thought there was a 100% chance that we were they found us. And let me tell you what was at stake. If they found us. Our action was to get out of there as soon as possible. And if they knew we were there, they would have done anything to get us to surface, to include using force weapons.

 

00:03:31:04 – 00:03:55:06

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And they want to get a picture of us on the front page of the USA today. And so my crew’s safety was at stake. And the second thing, if we were wrong, if you take the cost of this $2 billion nuclear submarine and the cost of the motorcycles, the cost of the cruise cost of this one event was about $100 million to taxpayers.

 

00:03:55:08 – 00:04:18:06

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And if we left, there was no turning back. We would have lost $100 million because we were there. So I made the decision. After indications not one, but multiple, that we were most likely counter detected. They had us. I was about to announce the left hard rudder. Make it up 400 ft ahead. Standard, this is the captain. I have control of this submarine.

 

00:04:18:08 – 00:04:38:20

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And as I’m opening my mouth, it was my executive officer who stood in front of me, Gary Montalvo. And he says, captain, let’s stick around, see if they have us. I looked at him like he had two heads. I said, what don’t you see that I see? And then someone else spoke up and said, something’s not right. And we stuck around and it wasn’t us.

 

00:04:38:20 – 00:04:57:21

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

They didn’t have us. Well. And if I were the captain, that senior person, the old man of that ship, if I made the decision, it was over. But the question I had looking back, why did he speak up? Why did he risk his career? Because if he was wrong, every second counted. Could have made it much worse.

 

00:04:57:23 – 00:05:19:15

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Why did he speak up? And there’s no other way to explain it. But other than love. Yeah, love is defined as sacrificially, of giving, of oneself for the benefit of others. And he did that for himself because he knew that I would sacrifice myself for the benefit of him. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

That’s an amazing story. I can’t imagine the pressure.

 

00:05:19:17 – 00:05:38:08

Dr. Brad Frazier

It’s unbelievable. Speaking about that, one of the things you mentioned that comes to mind in our leadership program is about trust. And to me, that’s just an amazing example of trust. How did you develop that level of trust when people I mean, obviously in life or death situations that you’re dealing with, but just in the workplace.

 

00:05:38:10 – 00:06:05:21

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

So trust is one of the most key things any leader could develop. And trust doesn’t come easily. It’s like going to the gym. It takes time to build up. And the best definition of trust that I came across during my doctoral studies was trust is defined as having good intentions. And to follow up your words with actions, you’re not going to trust somebody as a leader if you don’t think they have good intentions.

 

00:06:05:23 – 00:06:36:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And leading with love when you sacrifice over time and time, give yourself to someone else, they know through your actions that you have good intentions, but it’s an end. You have to follow up your words with actions. Love alone is not enough, right? And if you have a leader that says that they’re going to do something for you and they don’t do it, you might ask them one more time, but the third time you’re not going to ask that leader, and are you going to trust that leader to follow through?

 

00:06:36:09 – 00:07:02:20

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

No. So those two components are essential to building trust. It’s leading with love, which I did. But also follow up your words with actions. And I instituted this one simple technique called the “crew top three.” I took the worst submarine that the culture had. That example that I gave of potentially getting found by the most adversary, country.

 

00:07:02:22 – 00:07:20:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

That did not happen overnight. When I first took command of the ship, the culture was like the game Whac-A-Mole y’all heard the game. It was like it was an “if” it was when we were going to have another issue and the culture, it was apathy. And the crew didn’t care for the ship because the ship didn’t care for them.

 

00:07:20:04 – 00:07:42:15

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

I started this one simple thing. It was the crew’s top three. Tell me what your top three concerns are. And I did that every month, and I found out things like there was insufficient number of computers on board. And when you take a new Virginia class submarine, which to Texas, everything works off of computers. So any maintenance, any training, anything you need to do operate off.

 

00:07:42:15 – 00:08:00:10

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And Peter and half the computers were broken. And what that entailed was about two hours of extra time. Each sailor had to stay on board, and they couldn’t be with their families because of a lack of computers. And that’s when the light bulb went off for me. No wonder why we’re having all these issues? 

 

00:08:00:10 – 00:08:22:07

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Because the ship doesn’t care for them. So I fix the computers. I told the crew, I’m so sorry I started this “crew top three.” We went from the worst performing submarine to the best. We’re the battle out of ten. We had the lowest retention, highest retention, lowest turnover in the Pacific fleet for two consecutive years in a row.

 

00:08:22:09 – 00:08:45:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

It was a message that came out and said. And we scored the highest possible grade on any exam. So in the end, we saved the taxpayers $100 million. So that is the other light bulb that came to me. That’s what I did. I had a mindset that I was in command to serve the crew. The crew was not there to serve me.

 

00:08:45:06 – 00:09:06:02

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And when I had that mindset of that leading with love mindset outcomes went up. Unbelievable. It’s like the back to the future movie going 80 miles an hour. Our outcomes went up unbelievably. And I wasn’t anything special. I didn’t have, you know, tactical, tactical ability, anything greater than anyone else. But the gift that I did was lead with love.

 

00:09:06:02 – 00:09:23:07

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And this is what I want to share in the world. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

Absolutely. That’s a great story. 

 

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And I’ll tell you one last thing. You know what the biggest litmus test was with the crew? Top three. I continued it every month while I was in command for three years. That stack went from this to this, to this, to this.

 

00:09:23:09 – 00:09:46:18

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

There was only one concern when I left. I remember this. It was a couple days before the change of command. I was ready to leave and I continued this and there was only one “crew top three” sitting on my desk when I was about to leave, and I’ll never forget it. It said the top concern that the crew had was there wasn’t sufficient Friday of hot sauces.

 

00:09:46:20 – 00:10:04:16

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

I started to laugh. I immediately got a new hot sauce. But if you have a culture where your team members are worried about having a variety of hot sauces on a $2 billion nuclear submarine, you know you’re that magical. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

Totally, absolutely. The military runs on its stomach. That’s great.

 

00:10:04:21 – 00:10:27:02

Dr. Brad Frazier

Well, you mentioned something about trust. So obviously it takes that type of development to get that kind of trust. In our Master of Leadership Here program, we focus on servant leadership. And there’s a lot of different definitions of servant leadership. But in the general sense, I was wondering if you could describe that as obviously another one. Do you have any other anecdotal stories you could share about servant leadership and how that impact builds trust and how that helps the organization?

 

00:10:27:07 – 00:10:48:03

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Absolutely. So the other example I share in my book, real life example, and I’ve seen this in every industry. So I don’t want to just focus on the military. But this is really profound. When I was deployed on my second submarine, it was the USS La Hoya. It was specially fitted out with a thing called the Drydock shelter.

 

00:10:48:05 – 00:11:08:01

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And in that drydock shelter, a little submarine would be placed in there. We would deploy with Seal Delivery Team one, Navy Seals. We would get underway from Pearl Harbor, go miles, thousands of miles from our home port, and we would, you know, undisclosed, go to a certain location. They would get out with their little submarine, go do what they have to do.

 

00:11:08:02 – 00:11:32:20

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And it was just amazing what they were doing. But I’m not here to talk about Seal operations. When we were deployed with that Seal delivery team. If you ever saw the movie Lone Survivor, Michael Murphy was Seal Delivery team one, so he was part of that team that was in the real world as its lone survivor was occurring real time, deployed with me on my submarine.

 

00:11:32:20 – 00:11:58:17

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

I saw that culture. And I also saw the reactions when they found out that they lost so many of their Seal members. It was devastating. But fast forward three years later, here’s me helping President Bush on the stage posthumously provide the Medal of Honor to Michael Murphy’s parents. And. Well, and you know who is in the audience was the lone survivor, Marcus the Trump.

 

00:11:58:19 – 00:12:20:05

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And if you look at the movie, if you haven’t watched it, it’s a must watch movie, a must read book. He knew he was going to die and he went up on this bridge so that he could get communications to rescue his fellow members. He knew he was going to die, so there’s no other way to define what he did as an act of love.

 

00:12:20:06 – 00:12:39:08

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

It’s sacrificial love, giving of oneself for the benefit of others. And there’s no greater sacrifice than giving up one’s life for another. So when you say the Navy Seals and the military don’t lead with love, I completely disagree. There’s no other way to explain it. And if you think about the Navy Seals and the nuclear Navy safety record, it’s unmatched.

 

00:12:39:10 – 00:12:59:06

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And so if you want to just take a piece of this in any organization, follow the same script as a leader, you sacrifice yourself. It doesn’t have to be where you, you know, sacrifice your life. But things such as you letting people go home if they’re sick, taking care of their families, or asking how they’re doing or taking up the time, which is so minimal.

 

00:12:59:08 – 00:13:16:06

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

This is what we’re trying to offer in this book. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

That’s great. I look forward to reading. You’ve got another new one coming out that’s or just published. 

 

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Yes, in health care. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

We’ll talk about that in just a second. But, you’ve already described a couple of scenarios that are just, for us, just so thrilling to listen to.

 

00:13:16:08 – 00:13:42:11

Dr. Brad Frazier

I wanted to ask you about in times like that, under stress, you know, when you were thinking about being discovered and in your time as a military aid, I was wondering if you could talk about how you maintain clarity and, more importantly, your ethical integrity in times when I mean, you know, that’s a pressure cooker. And how do we how could we tell our students about they’re going to come to us, maybe not in a nuclear submarine, but they’re going to come to us when they’re in the pressure cooker and how not to falter.

 

00:13:42:13 – 00:14:14:08

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

So it’s a great question. And in my book, I had several people ask me, and they title it WW and BD and that stands for what would Navy Bob do? And like I smile because I use one formula that is not unique and I wasn’t anything special, but my formula was what they saw to me. What would Navy Bob do?

 

00:14:14:09 – 00:14:49:00

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Mine was what would Jesus do? So in any decision that I made, if it was for the greater good of something, for the organization or someone else I knew it was the right decision, right? So I had faith underneath the incredible stress or strain of any situation that I knew my faith. If I was going to be put in a position that whatever I did wasn’t because it was because I did something for myself, and I could be rest assured that it was the right decision.

 

00:14:49:00 – 00:15:10:17

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And if bad things were going to happen and I did everything, I could mitigate it. Then it was meant to be. But I also found incredible strength in my team that I knew that I’m human, that I can make an error. And my greatest line of defense wasn’t my personal capability, which is important, but my greatest line of defense was the people around me and that culture.

 

00:15:10:17 – 00:15:38:02

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

For them to speak up and for them to have their own critical thinking is that confidence. And along with my faith, was the most important. And, an important aspect of my success. There’s no doubt in my mind that’s great. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

And, you know, caring, having, leading with love and all that. So it’s just such an for I wish more of the business world would understand that in corporate America where, you know, which was my background initially.

 

00:15:38:04 – 00:16:01:07

Dr. Brad Frazier

And so that also helps you keep a level head as well to you is another hearing I was going to talk about, about keeping calm and just, trusting in your team. Surround yourself with good people. That’s really great advice. I was interested in your time as a white House military aid. I was wondering if you could share if you learned any leadership, anecdotes or nuggets from President Bush when you were working with them?

 

00:16:01:09 – 00:16:44:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Absolutely. And so in my book, it’s like I said, it’s a chronological journey from my childhood to submarines. And it really talks about my experiences of those leaders that led with love and those that didn’t. And the results that you get. And when I worked for President Bush and Mrs. Bush, there was so much love. And in my book I talk about specific examples that one I’ll share here is when I was there from 2006 to 2009 at the tail end, if it’s if it’s time as president, he made the decision and it’s clearly outlined in his book called Decision Points, where he would do a search where he put more troops in to win the war against every council. 

 

00:16:44:04 – 00:17:06:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

He put more of our loved ones into the army. He’s the commander in chief, in harm’s way. So at 5:00 in the morning, when we were at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, I was testing his military aid to be his personal aide. Why? We’re at the ranch for 3 or 4 weeks at a time.

 

00:17:06:10 – 00:17:30:14

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And at 5:00 in the morning. Give you one example. I’m standing out 50 yards with the Secret Service agent underneath the Texas guy. No one was there. And you get up in the morning at 5:00 in the morning, the light would go on and he would turn on the coffee pot. He would go to the bathroom. And he would come out disheveled, you know, just waking up, you know, no socks, shorts and a t-shirt.

 

00:17:30:16 – 00:17:52:01

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And you come out with his arms and say, “Navy Bob, how did we do last night?” And I knew exactly what he was asking, because what I was bringing him was a situation report from the sit room, and it would detail his big events. And at the top of each report was if we lost any of our soldiers, Marines, airmen.

 

00:17:52:03 – 00:18:07:12

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And when I would tell him that, Mr. President, we have great news. We didn’t lose anybody last night. He would turn into like a kid in a candy store. “What are we doing today? Are we biking? Right? Are we cutting? Right? You know, did you see Barney? I think it’s out here.”

 

00:18:07:14 – 00:18:43:01

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

You’d be, like, so elated that he didn’t lose anybody. But those days that we lost somebody, he would just take the paperwork, turn around and walk into his house, and you could just feel that weight. And going back to talk about what love is, is sacrificially, of giving of oneself for the benefit of others. He could have made that decision to safely protect our troops, but he knew that the devastation across the world and what if he pulled out of this war, how many other people would have died in so much suffering?

 

00:18:43:03 – 00:19:08:00

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

He made that decision to sacrificially give himself for the benefit of others. And so I’m not saying the decision was right or wrong, but he knew the right decision was to continue on. You know, it was the right decision to win the war. But that burden put on him and it was the sacrificial giving of oneself. So in my book, I clearly outlined how I learned leading with love from the highest levels to include the president of the United States.

 

00:19:08:05 – 00:19:31:08

Dr. Brad Frazier

That’s awesome. That’s great. Thank you for sharing that. We often hear the curiosity about the nuclear codes and it’s always in movies and themes and like that it was more if you just talk a little bit about you know, I think it’s probably a misconception about what that entails. But I know it’s got to be an enormous pressure and how that applies to everyday leaders and the workforce.

 

00:19:31:10 – 00:20:15:19

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

So going back to the faith, the faith that they had in me, the faith that I had for the country was immense. And I knew that, you know, if we ever had to go to nuclear war, the devastation would be incredible. So the greater good of that and why it was honored to do this is because if you look at the people, the number of casualties during World War one, in World War two, was approximately 71 million, 71 million and, 40 million, respectively.

 

00:20:15:21 – 00:20:43:05

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

We have never had to scale the world wide scale of devastation since World War two. Yeah. Why? Why? And a lot would argue it’s because of the deterrence of nuclear weapons. So even though I was carrying the nuclear codes that would be responsible for possible Armageddon, I also knew at the time that I was also providing a deterrence to prevent multiple people from dying because of this deterrence.

 

00:20:43:07 – 00:21:16:14

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

So it was a responsibility that I took to heart. And so I was doing a greater good by having these nuclear codes. So about the nuclear codes. The nuclear codes are there to give the president, the commander in chief, valid and authentic, orders to make sure it was him and to give him the ability, at a moment’s notice, to be able to authorize the release of nuclear weapons from the nuclear triad, which is the bombers, the ICBMs and the the most survivable, which is the ballistic missile submarines.

 

00:21:16:16 – 00:21:54:05

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And so by doing that, it provides that greater deterrence, because no country knows that ticket ever sneak an attack on us. And they’re not going to get retaliated against. Yeah. So the nuclear codes is an ability to have a 24 over seven presence where the president will be informed and he will give the authority to be able to retaliate on any country or any adversary at a moment’s notice, with unbelievable destruction, to let them know that you will never, ever launch nuclear missiles on us.

 

00:21:54:07 – 00:22:21:14

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Because if you do, there will be consequences. And so in the nuclear codes, it is like I said, I can’t talk specifics, sure, but it is an ability that, as the military aid, that I am the enabler to be able to bring the president and those in charge to be able to release nuclear weapons together and any moment to be able to be able to execute this so that we protect Americans for good.

 

00:22:21:16 – 00:22:42:10

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

You know, Belmont Abbey, we focus on Catholic ethics and Benedict values. And I was wondering and just a little bit off script about that. I know you’ve talked a lot about trust servant leadership, but your personal story of faith, faith has to be an integral part in your faith life. I just wonder if you would share just a little bit about that and how this has impacted your leadership, your view of the world, in your career?

 

00:22:42:11 – 00:23:24:20

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Absolutely. So I grew up Catholic. I believe in faith and looking back, you know, I teach leadership at University of Central Florida. So I’ve been embedded in leadership. And to me, it goes through the whole chronological leadership, where it came from, where it was taught, how it changed and so forth. And if you look at this, the greatest leadership book that’s ever been written or the greatest leader to ever exist, in my opinion, is the Bible and Jesus Christ, and it stands.

 

00:23:24:21 – 00:23:53:01

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

I mean. There’s no doubt. I mean, if you look at the Bible still talked about and we’re talking 20, 24 years ago with Jesus coming to this, that’s what we talk about. And how did Jesus lead? Jesus led with love. So when I was in command underneath stressful times, I used that great example. And I don’t know if that was the example of why I did it.

 

00:23:53:03 – 00:24:20:20

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

But I know it works. And this I’m not trying to put religion into corporations. I’m trying to put what works in religion, which is love. And if you look at this, it just boggles my mind. Is that leading with love. There’s over 50 years of academic research that shows that when you lead with love and compassion and leading with love is not soft, it’s not romantic.

 

00:24:20:22 – 00:24:45:15

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

It is about caring for others. And when you care for others, you’re not leading softly. You’re going to be able to have outcomes that exceed all expectations and there’s no downsides. Your outcomes will exceed all expectations. You are a legendary leader. You will build a legendary culture and lead a wonderful life. I don’t think there’s a downside. And yet leaders are not doing this.

 

00:24:45:15 – 00:25:05:01

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

This is because they haven’t been taught this. And two, they’re using the playbook that has always been taught to them. And so if we can start this movement we’re leading with love will help them and help this country. This is why I’m here. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

It’s interesting. You know, you and I share that you are teaching master leadership.

 

00:25:05:01 – 00:25:20:17

Dr. Brad Frazier

And when we developed it and you teach in it, in Florida, that’s kind of been my motto is we, you know, can we change the world? Yeah. I mean, it may take some time if we start sprinkling graduates and people we touch and they get this message out that it can make a profound difference in our world.

 

00:25:20:19 – 00:25:46:20

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

This is why I love the school, that you can be a role model for the world. I just spoke to a large corporation. I’m not going to name the corporation, but I was spreading the word of leading with love. I gave out an empirical academic paper that shows, through empirical evidence, that leading with love has outcomes and I gave him the crew top three.

 

00:25:46:20 – 00:26:10:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And how do you do the “crew top three?” I’m starting to spread this. And one of the comments that came back was a lack of hope because they believe that, you know, it’s like, you know, just fixing one department will then die out after a while because new leaders will come in. So this is something that will just not be sustainable.

 

00:26:10:06 – 00:26:38:19

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And I tell you that it is sustainable and because people don’t believe in it, and we haven’t shown that we can spread this, but you can. People lose faith in widely new love is important. They revert back to their selfish ways. And so if we can get this critical mass, we can really make this. And how we can do this is there is an example of multiple people that I have taught throughout the book.

 

00:26:38:19 – 00:27:02:17

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

You know, examples. There was a person that was my engineer and under the blue, after I wrote this book, there was a lieutenant that worked for him. He comes to me and sends me an email. He says, Captain Rosica. He says, I have never met you. You don’t know me. But you have made a profound impact on my life.

 

00:27:02:19 – 00:27:26:23

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

He goes, what you did after reading this book and how now my engineer, who’s the captain for him, has led leads exactly like you did. You have changed my world and I’m going to spread this along to everyone else. So leading with love. It has to start with one person at a time. But as we pay this forward, it’s going to exponentially grow.

 

00:27:27:01 – 00:27:55:05

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And we need to start to this together. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

Yeah, I agree that’s wonderful. Your book is Beyond the Sea Leaving with love from the nuclear Navy to the white House and health care, you’ve transitioned into health care. You’ve got a new book coming out. We’ve talked a lot about your book, and I’ve read your book, and a lot of this is in there, but can you talk about your new book and how your experience in the military and in, in this military aid, now you’re applying it in the health care industry?

 

00:27:55:07 – 00:28:33:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Yes. So I believe everything happens for a reason. I think there’s a reason why I’m here. I think there’s a reason why I wrote these two books, and I’m inspired by Mister Rogers. Mister Rogers went to Rollins College, where I went to although he grew up in Pittsburgh. But Mister Rogers has said it so eloquently that God has put us on this earth for one purpose and one purpose only, and that purpose is to serve others or help others and when you find that service to others, no matter what it is your purpose in life, the wholeness, the fulfillment that you will feel will be undeniable.

 

00:28:33:08 – 00:28:56:04

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Yeah, I didn’t want to write two books. No intention. I was thinking about getting out of the Navy because of family considerations, and I started researching, you know, defense contracting and what everyone else does. But I reached out to Doctor Coleman, who used to be the president’s, Obama’s head physician. I worked with him at the white House.

 

00:28:56:06 – 00:29:12:07

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

I called him up. I said, Doc Coleman. I was in Orlando before I was stationed there for nuclear power school. I said, do you know anybody at Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman? Did you play golf with that? Would you be interested in consulting? Because I love the area. He says, why don’t you come work for health care? I said, what are you talking about?

 

00:29:12:11 – 00:29:36:17

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

The 10th largest hospital system in the country. I said, I have no clinical background. He says, no. He says, you’re a high reliability in the nuclear navy. You have 20 year old sailors that are operating these highly enriched nuclear reactors. And for 75 years you have never had a reactor accident. We need you to come to health care, which is right now.

 

00:29:36:19 – 00:29:59:14

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

A lot of people don’t understand this. But if you watch the trailer to Air’s human trailer, you can Google it on YouTube. In two minutes. You will see the current state of safety in the health care world. And right now, the third leading cause of death behind cardiovascular disease or heart attacks or cancer is medical errors.

 

00:29:59:16 – 00:30:27:07

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

The third leading cause of death in this country is due to medical errors. And so this is why they were so interested in bringing me in. And in this book, what it does is because I’ve been embedded for five years. I’ve been to all the safety courses. I teach quality and safety to Masters of Healthcare Administration. I know the current playbook and the healthcare industry has never gone to the nuclear navy to see what they’re doing, to be able to help this crisis in America.

 

00:30:27:08 – 00:30:51:15

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Yeah. And this book, it really details the outline of what the nuclear navy does or is doing that health care is not to save patient lives. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

And leadership crosses all boundaries. 

 

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Right. One thing that when we teach you so you hit the nail and add one of your epiphany or profound things is that you can’t have safety without effective leadership.

 

00:30:51:15 – 00:31:10:14

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

Right? They go hand in hand. We have leadership courses that only teach leadership. Then we have a quality course. They don’t understand that they go hand in hand. And of course there has to be a component of leadership, and in leadership there has to be a component of high reliability, because you can’t have effective leadership if you’re killing people or not protecting your people.

 

00:31:10:19 – 00:31:28:13

Robert “Navy Bob” Roncska

And you can’t have effective high reliability if you don’t have a caring leader because you’re not going to do what you tell them. Yeah. So they go hand in hand. And that’s what the two books mold. 

 

Dr. Brad Frazier

That’s awesome. Well, as we wrap up, I would love to talk even more, but we were out of time. And I want to conclude by thanking our audience for joining us today.

 

00:31:28:15 – 00:31:56:21

Dr. Brad Frazier

And thank you, Bob, so much for being here. It’s been a pleasure to have you and to share your experiences and this wonderful conversation. If you enjoyed this episode today, please tell your friends and you can find The Conversation Podcast on Apple, Spotify, and on Google Podcasts. And until next time, God bless.

• Navy Bob
• Beyond the Sea: Leading with Love from the Nuclear Navy to the White House and Healthcare