We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eric Greitens a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Eric, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
When people hear the world ‘resilience’, they often find themselves thinking of ‘bouncing back’ or ‘recovering’. They think that resilient individuals are the same before and after hardship – this way of thinking fails to take into account the value that hardship and struggle can offer us. We cannot bounce back to the same place, because we will never be the same person we once were. We can, however, push through the pain and come out the other side wiser and stronger than before.
What happens to us becomes part of us, part of our story. Resilient people do not bounce back from hardship, but rather they grow from it – they take it and turn it into something that is healthy.
Resilience begins with and comes from you.
The center of everything that happens to us, comes from us. We must first look at ourselves and understand what we have done to contribute to our situations.
There is no one that can give you your ‘why’, your ‘how’…you have to, you get to, create that for yourself.
Being resilient starts with a choice.
Do not wallow in your pain, but instead, attack it, face it head on, and start your journey of resilience.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Born in Missouri and educated in public schools, Eric earned scholarships to attend Duke University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and was selected as a Rhodes Scholar. He attended the University of Oxford and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. He studied how international humanitarian organizations can best help children in war zones and worked as a humanitarian volunteer and documentary photographer in Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Albania, Mexico, India, and Bolivia.
Eric left Oxford to serve as a United States Navy SEAL officer and deployed four times during the Global War on Terrorism. The Association of the United States Navy named him the Navy Reserve Junior Line Officer of the Year, and his 18 military awards include the Combat Action Ribbon, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star.
As an athlete, he won two Oxford Boxing Blues and the Gold Medal at the BUSA National Boxing Championships. A 2nd Dan Black Belt, he won the US National Taekwondo Federation National Championship in Sparring. A sub-3 hour marathon runner, he won the Shamrock Marathon in Fallujah, Iraq. He is also a 3x Gold Medalist and 2x Silver Medalist at the USA Track and Field National Masters Championships and was selected to represent TEAM USA at the World Championships in the 4x100m Sprint.
His first book, Strength & Compassion, was the Grand Prize Winner of the New York Book Festival and his photographs were exhibited in the International Photography Hall of Fame. The Heart and the Fist was a New York Times Bestseller, The Warrior’s Heart was recognized as one of the Best Teen Books by Barnes & Noble and Kirkus Reviews, and Resilience was also a New York Times Bestseller.
After returning from Iraq, Eric donated his combat pay to found The Mission Continues. He was named to TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Fortune magazine recognized him as one of the 50 greatest leaders in the world.
An outsider, Greitens was elected Governor of Missouri in his first run for office. For his leadership as Governor, Greitens was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement. Greitens now lives in Innsbrook, Missouri and Austin, Texas with his sons, Joshua and Jacob.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Courage – The most important thing that you can do for yourself, is to learn to do the good thing that you are afraid to do. Ask yourself: when are you going to start doing what you know you must do? Over time, doing this makes courage into a habit – you will no longer be standing there wishing for resilience, you will be standing there…resilient.
Compassion – We’re here to make a difference for others and often must realize that we are serving a purpose much larger than ourselves. It is through acts of kindness and love that we can truly change our community and in turn, change the world.
Purpose – We all have a gift or a calling. The more you work in and develop your gifts, you become your best self, and the world benefits from you being fully in it. Finding your purpose is something that you get to and must do.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
They loved us and they loved each other. Their relationship was a steady example of respect, patience, courage, and affection—it filled our home with a sense of safety and belonging. Watching them care for one another taught me what real love looks like—not just in words, but in everyday moments—and it shaped how I give and receive love in my own life. Courage is rooted in love; it comes from the French Coeur–meaning heart. It takes bravery to fully show up for someone, to apologize, to forgive, and to keep choosing love through the hard moments. Without courage, love stays shallow—but with it, love grows deep and lasting.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ericgreitens.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericgreitens/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricGreitens/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-greitens-6036409
- Twitter: https://x.com/EricGreitens
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/EricGreitens
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
