1. Battlefield lessons for the Boardroom
By
Dan Michaelsen, BSc (hons), GD Jour., MEBM, MBA, FAusIMM (CP)
Environmental Director Bayan Airag, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 1 July 2016
Snakes in the Jungle is the autobiography of a most unusual man. Jim Truscott is a
Warrior-Intellectual who from his earliest years marched to the beat of a different drum. Clues to
Truscott’s single-mindedness lie in his childhood in Queensland where already as a youngster
he pursued high-risk adventures. This passion grew as he entered early adulthood, and he saw
the Army as a vehicle for pursuits not open to most persons in civilian occupations. As an officer
in the Australian Army he saw firsthand the aftermath of conflict in Africa, an experience that
impressed on him the horror of war and the burden of leadership in the military. Truscott sought
admittance to the Australian Special Air Service, and after passing the grueling selection
criteria, availed himself of the opportunities this elite branch of the military afforded him.
Being paid to pursue extreme outdoor sports such as mountaineering, skiing, sea-
kayaking and parachuting expanded the world of this adrenaline junkie. His first love remained
mountaineering, which took him to the slopes of Mount Everest and many other great peaks
around the globe. With every success and near-death encounter his thirst for experiences more
extreme grew. In the shadowy world of the Special Air Service Truscott found himself in perilous
situations in the theatres of Australia’s defense engagements. He used this time to hone his
skills of strategy and unconventional solutions in a world where there is no rulebook. It is
precisely in such places that Truscott thrived. A highly intelligent man, he learned from his
surroundings and from them developed his own strategies for survival and success. Not
surprisingly, the Army did not share Truscott’s drive for extreme innovation and improvement.
His career which took him to warzones in Iraq and the then East Timor was in the doldrums.
Rather than seeing out his military career behind a desk, he resigned, and decided to
pursue a new career, ‘the second battlefield’ as he calls it, in business. Employing the crafts
learned on high adventure on mountain slopes, the sea and at war, he started a company that
provides strategic advice to international corporations across the globe. Snakes in the Jungle is
the distillation of decades of surviving on his own wits a rule-less world of extreme pursuits in
some of the world’s most inhospitable wild places and in combat zones. The book is unique in
business literature as its roots are not academic, but tried and tested where the cost of failure is
death.
Written in a chatty, informal style I felt I was sitting across from the author listening to his
stories and his interpretation of events that shaped an unconventional life. This is not a daring-
do tale of a career soldier, although the adventures described are real. It is a candid analysis of
a life lived on the edge by a driven individual who refused to comprise his beliefs, and did it his
way regardless of the personal and professional cost. Snakes in the Jungle lays bare Truscott’s
observations and explains how indisputable principles learned as he stared death in the face
apply equally to the jungle and the board room.
Read it if you think you are up to the challenge!