Nobody Is Coming to Save You: A Green Beret’s Guide to Getting Big Sh*t Done

In this uneven guide, leadership coach and former Green Beret Mann (Operation Pineapple Express) stresses the value of human connection for “getting shit done when the odds seem stacked against [you].” He contends that a pervasive sense of social distrust has left people distracted by screens, ill-equipped to work with others, and struggling to get things done personally and professionally. As a corrective, he calls on readers to embrace the “superpowers” humans have evolved over millennia in relationship-based societies, such as finding meaning in “something bigger than ourselves” and using storytelling to connect with others. Most captivating are Mann’s recollections of his time as a Green Beret, during which he painstakingly forged connections with Afghan villagers and tribal leaders and communicated the military’s efforts and objectives to the outside world. Both endeavors, he writes, showed him how social bonds make seemingly insurmountable tasks manageable. Unfortunately, the proceedings are taken off track by tangents on the ills of modern society and jokey metaphors that fail to land (readers are advised to become “a mixture of John Wick, Lawrence of Arabia, and the Verizon Guy” to gain the “type of surgical, unbending resolve that is sometimes necessary when faced with conflict”). It’s a mixed bag. (Oct.)