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331 turns · 1 hr 47 minJames Jensen is a former Australian Army soldier and Special Air Service Regiment patrol commander with more than
20 years of service in the Australian Army. Those Iraqi soldiers we were partnered with, many of them had their wives, daughters, family, mothers had been kidnapped by ISIS. They were being sold as sex slaves. All the horrific things were happening there. That was their reality. That was happening to their families. So they picked up a gun and made that decision to fight ISIS. Just... something we've never experienced. If we had to go into that sort of environment, the Australian Army has to be more adaptive. We look at them as a third world military force, which there's this tendency to see them with a bit of disdain or a bit of disrespect. And yet, look, they're not as good at shots as us. They don't have as good equipment as us. The soldiers aren't as high quality as us. But they spent four straight years fighting a war. They are good. One of the biggest things is how adaptable they were. They sometimes had to change their tactics every single day because they would try something new and it would work for a day and ISIS would adapt. Because ISIS were a pretty decent little fighting force. An example would be, couldn't go in the streets because of the snipers. So... Try and use the rooftops to move from building to building. So there was that. So they had to change this consistent adaptation of tactics to stay ahead of the enemy. The Australian Army has to learn that. Definitely one of the big contributing factors for me is I lost a bit of faith with Senior Army, with the Australian Defence Force, with the process of the IGADF. When I was making important decisions, when we were in firefights even, I was more concerned about not that I was making the right call, but whether or not I was going to be in trouble for this down the track. I maintain 100% loyalty and love for the SAS because they looked after us. They looked after every single soldier. But the whole IGADF process was I got interviewed, I got grilled, I got interrogated for four hours, and I wasn't even a person that was being investigated, calling me a liar, all the sort of things that was pretty horrific. Really?
Welcome to the One True Measure podcast. I'm your host, Blake O'Connell. On the podcast each week, we talk about success and not only success, this concept of an individual and inner journey to define success. This is what we call the One True Measure. Each week, we get the opportunity to be able to talk to some exceptional guests. This man is no exception to that. I'm really excited to have him in person as well today, which is awesome. to talk about special operations, his experience, the SAS, how to build exceptional team, and really deep dive into leadership and what true leadership looks like. Welcome, James. Thanks, Blake. Thanks for having me. Mate. Great to have you here. We'll talk about why you're here in little old Perth later in the podcast, no doubt. You brought the Melbourne weather with you as well by the looks of things. I said to you before, I said, what is this falling from the sky in Perth? We don't get
it very often. Sorry about
that. That's
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James Jensen is a former Australian Army soldier and Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) Patrol Commander with more than 20 years of service in the Australian Army.
After graduating from the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Royal Military College, James changed his career path, deciding instead to serve not as an officer but on the front line as an infantry soldier. He served in the infantry at 1RAR, deploying on operations to East Timor and Afghanistan before successfully completing SAS selection in 2010.
Over the following 14 years in the SAS, Jensen undertook multiple operational deployments, including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, eventually rising to the role of Patrol Commander. James’s evolution from a junior leader in East Timor to leading some of Australia’s most elite teams at the SAS reshaped his understanding of what true leadership means.
Today, as a sought-after consultant, James works with organisations across various industries, helping leaders unlock their full potential and inspire greatness in their teams. His leadership expertise is still highly valued by the SAS, where he continues to train and mentor the next generation of SAS leaders. Following his military career, he founded K6 Consulting, where he helps organisations develop resilient leaders and high-performing teams.
Jensen is a widely recognised keynote speaker, with presentations