Blue
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- Mar 19, 2019
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After graduating from Eastern Kentucky and getting his master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School, Decker continued to serve - overseeing the talent acquisition strategy for future Green Berets.
“There was an existing program in place, but we did a lot to make it better. Assessment and selection for special forces is a lot like the NFL Draft and the Combine - it’s a 24-day job interview. And the job interview is not to join special forces, it’s just to go to the training - which is anywhere from a year and a half to two years long,” he said. “Any selection process - just like the draft - you want to be accurate in your projections. We were doing ok, but I thought we could do better.”
During his three years as Commander of Special Forces Assessment and Selection, the program saw success - so much so that other organizations - military, business, and even sports teams wanted to hear about it.
What they realized was that by focusing solely on performance, they were missing on the person. Decker consulted with professional organizations of every major sport and eventually, the Cleveland Browns brought him in to be part of their player selection process.
“It was the perfect opportunity because even though I love sports, my passion is selecting and developing people for high performing teams - whether that be special forces or football. The only people that are really willing to put the resources behind selection are with sports teams because you can’t overcome a poor selection process.”
As it turns out, the characteristics that make someone a good team member are the same - whether it’s on the battlefield or the football field.
“I would go a step farther and say that when you talk about the elite level of the military or any sport or most business organizations - if you take the sports specific requirements away and look at the mindset of the person - they’re more alike than different.”
Along the way, Chris Ballard reached out to Decker and the two developed a relationship. When the Colts brought Ballard in as general manager, he brought Decker in to help with player selection and development. And it was a perfect fit.