Extreme Ownership
Extreme Ownership
By Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
By Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
"[I]in the SEAL program, it is all about the Team... This book describes SEAL combat operations and training through our eyes - from our individual perspectives - and applies our experience to leadership and management practices in the business world" (p.xi).
"[T]here can be no leadership where there is no team" (p.xii).
"Why then would we choose to write a book? As battlefield leaders, we learned extremely valuable lessons through success and failure. We made mistakes and learned from them, discovering what works and what doesn't. We trained SEAL leaders and watched them implement the principles we ourselves had learned with the same success on difficult battlefields. Then, as we worked with businesses in the civilian sector, we again say the leadership principles we followed in combat lead to victory for the companies and executives we trained. Many people, both in the SEAL Teams and in the businesses we worked with, asked us to document our lessons learned in a concrete way that leaders could reference" (p.xiii - xiv).
"We learned that leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory, particularly when doubters question whether victory is even possible" (p.xv).
"The idea for this book was born from the realization that the principles critical to SEAL success on the battlefield - how SEALs train and prepare their leaders, how they mold and develop high-performance teams, and how they lead in combat - are directly applicable to success in any group, organization, corporation, business, and, to a broader degree, life. This book provides the reader with our formula for success: the mind-set and guiding principles that enable SEAL leaders and combat units to achieve extraordinary results. It demonstrates how to apply these directly in business and life to likewise achieve victory" (p.xvi-xvii).
"I understood how to implement the Laws of Combat... Cover and Move, Simple, Prioritize and Execute, and Decentralized Command. The Laws of Combat were the key to not just surviving a dire situation such as this, but actually thriving, enabling us to totally dominate the enemy and win... As an entire generation of SEAL combat leaders and I would learn, these Laws of Combat could be applied with equal effectiveness in an intense firefight or in far less dynamic or high-pressure situations. They guided me through months of sustained urban combat in Ramadi, throughout my career as a SEAL officer, and beyond" (p.5, 7).
"[The Laws of Combat] are the key to any team's success on the battlefield or in the business world... When applied to any team, group, or organization, the proper understanding and execution of these Laws of Combat would mean one thing: victory" (p.7).
"[W]ithout a team... there can be no leadership. The only meaningful measure for a leader is whether the team succeeds or fails. For all the definitions, descriptions, and characterizations of leaders, there are only two that matter: effective and ineffective... The principles and concepts described in this book, when properly understood and implemented, enable any leader to become effective and dominate his or her battlefield" (p.8).
"The best leaders are not driven by ego or personal agendas. They are simply focused on the mission and how best to accomplish it" (p.8).
"By leadership, we do not mean just the senior commanders at the top, but the crucial leaders at every level of the team" (p.11).
"[Military personnel] must literally risk life and limb to accomplish the mission. For this reason, they must believe in the cause for which they are fighting. They must believe in the plan they are asked to execute, and most important, they must believe in and trust the leader they are asked to follow" (p.12).
"Combat leadership requires getting a diverse team of people in various groups to execute highly complex missions in order to achieve strategic goals - something that directly correlates with any company or organization" (p.12-13).
"For this book, we have focused our efforts on the most critical aspects: the fundamental building blocks of leadership. The book derives its title from the underlying principle - the mind-set - the provides the foundation for all the rest: Extreme Ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame" (p.14).
The leader must own everything.
Ask yourself the question, "Have I done all I can?"
"The leader must own everything in his world. There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win" (p.30).
"Extreme Ownership requires leaders to look at an organization's problems through the objective lens of reality, without emotional attachments to agendas or plans. It mandates that a leader set ego aside, accept responsibility for failures, attach weaknesses and consistently work to build a better and more effective team. Such a leader, however, does not take credit for his or her team's successes but bestows that honor upon his subordinate leaders and team members. When a leader sets such an example and expects this from his junior leaders within the team, the mindset develops into the team's culture at every level. With Extreme Ownership, junior leaders take charge of their smaller teams and their piece of the mission. Efficiency and effectiveness increase exponentially and a high -performance, winning team is the result" (p.31).
What do you tolerate?
Never satisfied.
It's your job to strengthen the team.
"Leadership is the single greatest factor in any team's performance" (p.49).
"This is a difficult and humbling concept for any leader to accept. But it is an essential mind-set to building a high performance, winning team...
When leaders who epitomize Extreme Ownership drive their teams to achieve a higher standard of performance, they must recognize that when it comes to standards, as a leader, it's not what you preach, it's what you tolerate" (p.54).
"Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mind-set into the team. They must face the facts through a realistic, brutally honest assessment of themselves and their team's performance. Identifying weaknesses, good leaders seek to strengthen them and come up with a plan to overcome challenges" (p.55).
"I reflected back to my own experience as a boar crew leader in BUD/S through the tribulations of Hell Week... I discovered that it was far more effective to focus their efforts not on the days to come or the far-distant finish line they couldn't yet see, but instead on a physical goal immediately in front of them... If we could execute with a monumental effort just to reach an immediate goal that everyone could see, we could then continue to the next visually attainable goal and then the next" (p.49).
Understand, communicate and BELIEVE the "Why?"
Take the time to explain - cultivate belief.
"In order to convince and inspire others to follow and accomplish a mission, a leader must be a true believer in the mission... If a leader does not believe, he or she will not take the risks required to overcome the inevitable challenges necessary to win. And they will not be able to convince others..." (p.76).
"Far more important than training or equipment, a resolute belief in the mission is critical for any team or organization to win and achieve big results" (p.77).
"No senior executive team would knowingly choose a course of action or issue an order that would purposely result in failure. But a subordinate may not understand a certain strategy and thus not believe in it. Junior leaders must ask questions and also provide feedback up the chain so that senior leaders can fully understand the ramifications of how strategic plans affect execution on the ground" (p.78).
"If you don't understand or believe in the decisions coming down from your leadership, it is up to you to ask questions until you understand... Not knowing the why prohibits you from believing in the mission" (p.84).
Ego will cloud everything.
Operate with humility.
Detach ego from performance.
"Everyone has an ego. Ego drives the most successful people in life - in the SEAL Teams, in the military, in the business world. They want to sin, to be the best. That is good. But when ego clouds our judgment and prevents us from seeing the world as it is, then ego becomes destructive. When personal agendas become more important than the team and the overarching mission's success, performance suffers and failure ensues. Many of the disruptive issues that arise within any team can be attributed directly to a problem with ego" (p.100).
"If you put your own ego in check, meaning you take the blame, that will allow [your teammate] to actually see the problem without his vision clouded by ego...
"Our egos don't like to take blame. But it's on us as leaders to see where we failed to communicate effectively and help our troops clearly understand what their roles and responsibilities are and how their actions impact the bigger strategic picture" (p.104-105).
"The colonel expected the highest level of discipline from his 1/506th Soldiers; he knew that slacking here, even when just going to the chow hall for lunch, could result in horrific wounds and death. Discipline in such a situation started with the little things: high-and-tight haircuts, a clean shave every day, and uniforms maintained. With that, the more important things fell into place: body armor and helmets worn outdoors at all times, and weapons cleaned and ready for use at a moment's notice. Discipline created vigilance and operational readiness, which translated to high performance and success on the battlefield" (p.95).