#135: Eric Kapitulik — Founder and CEO of The Program, Fmr. Platoon Commander in the 1st Force Recon USMC, author of The Program: Lessons from Elite Military Units

Bring It In | The Future of Work, Jobs, and Education

One major trait for many great leaders is the ability to not just persevere through hard times, but create an opportunity during challenging times.

Eric Kapitulik really, really knows something about that.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he was a four year varsity player in D1 Lacrosse, he then went on to serve in the United States Marine Corps, where he served as a Platoon Commander in the elite 1st Force Reconnaissance Division.

In 1999 he suffered a tremendous tragedy, when during a routine training exercise his squad’s helicopter crashed where six of his fellow Marines perished. After recovering both physically and emotionally from the crash, Eric focused solely on the well being of his fallen comrades families: In an effort to raise money for a college scholarship fund set up for the children of his deceased teammates, Eric completed eight Ironman Triathlons, The Canadian Death Race Ultra Marathon, The Eco Challenge, and The American Birkebeiner Ski Marathon, and as a side quest, climbed five of the Seven Summits.

On top of all this Eric enrolled in the University of Chicago after he left the Marines, and graduated with his MBA in 2005. Shortly after that in 2008 he founded The Program. The Program pulls from his experience in the Marines, and aims to provide organizations with the best personal, leadership, and culture development services worldwide.

We caught up with Eric to talk about his philosophy on developing a high performing team through grit, communication, and setting standards. We also chatted about his new book The Program: Lessons from Elite Military Units for Creating and Sustaining High Performance Leaders and Teams, which details the lessons learned from his time in the Marines and as an entrepreneur.

This is another episode you’re not going to want to miss, so with that…let’s bring it in!