Foreword written by New York Times bestselling author and retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink. A must-read for any business leader looking to build elite teams and win on talent. Talent is the foundation of every success story from Silicon Valley to Wall Street to Main Street, and even on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. It's the hidden asset that never shows up on the balance sheet, despite being the driver for a company's true value. And now, in this hypercompetitive business environment, the war for talent has never been more important, or more complex. Of eight hundred CEOs and six hundred C-suite executives polled in 2019, the overwhelming majority cited the ability to attract and retain top talent as their number one concern. For your organization to win, you need to attract and retain the best talent. But without the right strategy or mindset, you won't be able to do so--and you won't be able to compete. After all, your people, not your product or service, are your strongest competitive advantage. When it comes to winning on talent, no one does it better or more consistently than the US Special Operations community. Their success comes down to their people and a widely held foundational belief: Talent + Leadership = Victory. The Talent War explores how US Special Operations Forces assess, select, and develop their world-class talent. You'll learn how to adopt a talent mindset, the single greatest weapon you can possess in the war for talent. When your organization reflects this mindset, you will hire, train, and develop the right people, and put them in the best positions to make decisions that allow you to retake the advantage and win the war. "This must-read for business leaders provides a fresh perspective on transforming the hiring process." -- Kirkus Reviews "As CEO of a cybersecurity company, I fight The Talent War every day. Fortunately, I've had a front row seat to the principles of The Talent War applied in real-time. They just work and could shift the momentum in your favor." -- Matthew Moynahan , CEO, Forcepoint "As a third-generation family business, finding and retaining talent is the key factor to our long-term success. Quality of character is hard to identify on a resume; let The Talent War give you invaluable insight to find and create winning teams." -- Twylah Blotsky , President & CEO, Butler Machinery Company " The Talent War provides critical insights into what it actually takes to recruit and retain the best talent in this VUCA environment." -- Joe DePinto , President & CEO, 7-Eleven, Inc. "Anyone who hires and leads people knows that excellent teams don't happen by accident. The Talent War shows how the hiring practices used by our Special Operations community can be used by any business to build and retain exceptional teams." -- Evan Loomis , Co-Founder, ICON and Author of ' Get Backed ' "Having worked in two industries, where the product of the business is the talent you field, it begins with a great hiring process. The Talent War draws upon the lessons learned from over 50 years of selecting and developing high performing teams to provide actionable insights for any business competing for talent." -- Brian Decker , Director of Player Development, Indianapolis Colts, and former US Army Special Forces Officer "As a nominating committee member for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year, I assess hundreds of companies and their leaders. The differentiator between those that are selected and those that are not, comes down to TALENT. Every winner and finalist over the last 34 years has a talent mindset. Mike and George lay the groundwork on how to select and retain the best talent." -- David Cochran , Executive Vice President, Colliers International Mike Sarraille is the Founder and CEO of Talent War Group, a leadership development and executive search firm, and head of the Men's Journal Everyday Warrior Initiative. He is a former Recon Marine, Scout-Sniper, and retired U.S. Navy SEAL officer with twenty years of experience, to include the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). George Randle  is a Managing Partner and Co-Director of Talent Advisory at Talent War Group, an executive search and talent advisory firm, and a former US Army Officer. George has more than two decades of experience as a talent acquisition and HR executive at Fortune 100 and Fortune 1000 firms. Dr. Josh Cotton  is an expert in talent assessment and employee effectiveness. He has designed scientifically valid candidate selection practices for the US Navy SEALs and Fortune 100 companies and has advised leaders at DuPont, Omnicom, CSX, and Flowserve.