
S6 Ep5 The Fourth Generation of Military Special Operations Selection & Assessment
From Teamcast by Mission Critical Team Institute
March 9, 2026 · 1h 5m · Season 6 · Episode 5
About this episode
Dr. Preston Cline and Dr. Art Finch discuss the evolution of military special operations selection and assessment based on recent feedback from special operations team members.
In this episode of the Teamcast, Dr. Preston Cline and Dr. Art Finch discuss MCTI's most recent paper, “The Fourth Generation of Military Special Operations Selection and Assessment". Thanks to our collaborative inquiry community, we've received feedback and observations from special operations team members across the Five Eyes. Preston and Art reflect on that feedback and contrast the historical “psychological model” with rites-of-passage approaches. They cover the effort to sustain force numbers while still selecting the cognitively diverse candidates teams need. They discuss the balance between tacit knowledge and psychological science, and the need to avoid pendulum swings where either side dominates. You'll also hear what causes programs to erode unless leaders manage change intentionally. Read and download the mentioned paper here: https://missioncti.com/resources/ If you find value in this discussion, the best way to support our work and stay up to date on future episodes is to subscribe and leave us a quick rating or review. It helps us reach more people who need to hear these conversations.
People in this episode
Guests: Dr. Preston Cline, Dr. Art Finch
Topics covered
- military special operations
- selection and assessment
- cognitive diversity
- psychological science
- leadership and change management
Keywords
- military
- special operations
- selection
- assessment
- cognitive diversity
- psychological model
- leadership
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Mission Critical Team Institute
Books & works: The Fourth Generation of Military Special Operations Selection and Assessment
Places: Five Eyes
More episodes of Teamcast
- S6 Ep11 Marius Aleksa on Why Curiosity is Key for Human Performance · June 1, 2026 · 37 min
- S6 Ep10 Character, Creativity, and the Machine · May 18, 2026 · 53 min
- S6 Ep9 Denis Leary on Residue, Six Years On · May 4, 2026 · 57 min
- S6 Ep8 Adam Milano on Teamwork as Ensemble Art · April 20, 2026 · 43 min
- S6 Ep7 Coach, Don't Profess: Theory-to-Practice Transfer in Mental Performance · April 6, 2026 · 1h 11m
- S6 Special Episode: Commander Reid Wiseman on Transitioning from Training to Action (Recast) · March 31, 2026 · 1h 5m
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Teamcast podcast page.