Sean Glass — Why Did He REALLY Leave The SEAL Teams?

About this video

Sean Glass, a former Navy SEAL, discusses his decision to leave the Teams after serving in various leadership roles including troop commander and operations officer. Glass explains that a commanding officer had him map out his career alongside his children’s ages, revealing his oldest son would be leaving home the same year he’d retire. After transitioning out, he spent two years at a construction tech startup before joining Echelon Front, where he now works as a leadership consultant teaching principles from Extreme Ownership to private sector companies.

Key takeaways

• Glass recounts that his decision to leave the SEAL Teams after 12 years was driven by wanting to be present as a father, after realizing his oldest son would be 18 when he retired at 20 years of service
• Glass describes his current work at Echelon Front as teaching leadership principles focused on decentralized decision-making, simplicity, communication, and ownership—contrary to typical military command-and-control approaches
• Glass argues that humility is the defining characteristic for successful leadership, as leaders without it cannot own their mistakes, keep repeating them, and fail to listen to their teams
• Glass observes that most companies lack alignment on mission objectives, with executives believing everyone understands the mission while frontline workers often have no idea what they’re trying to accomplish

Episode details: published June 14, 2026 · 15.5K views · 23:14 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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