Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win. Jocko Willink. 2015. 280 pp.
.png){kind=small}
Sent to the most violent battlefield in Iraq, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin’s SEAL task unit faced a seemingly impossible mission: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories in SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, they learned that leadership―at every level―is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails. Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training that helped forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After departing the SEAL Teams, they launched Echelon Front, a company that teaches these same leadership principles to businesses and organizations. From promising startups to Fortune 500 companies, Babin and Willink have helped scores of clients across a broad range of industries build their own high-performance teams and dominate their battlefields.
Now, detailing the mind-set and principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult missions in combat, Extreme Ownership shows how to apply them to any team, family or organization. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic such as Cover and Move, Decentralized Command, and Leading Up the Chain, explaining what they are, why they are important, and how to implement them in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, this book revolutionizes business management and challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.
There are no bad units, only bad officers.
—Colonel David Hackworth
Preface. 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 or organization, and, to a broader degree, life. This book provides the reader with a formula for success: the mind-set and guiding principles that enable SEAL combat units to achieve extraordinary results. It teaches how to apply these principles directly in business and life to likewise achieve victory.
Introduction. This book is about leadership. It was written for leaders of teams large and small, for men and women, for any person who aspires to better themselves. The lessons focus on the most critical aspects: the fundamental building blocks of leadership. These principles empower those teams to dominate their battlefields and fulfill their purpose: lead and win.
PART I: WINNING THE WAR WITHIN.
Chapter 1: Extreme Ownership. The fog of war. Blue-on-blue: friendly fire. Who to blame? There is only one person to blame for this: me. I am the commander. I am responsible for the entire operation. And I will make sure that nothing like this ever happens to us again. Principle: The leader must own everything in his or her world. The leader bears full responsibility for explaining the strategic mission, developing the tactics, and securing the training and resources to enable the team to properly and successfully execute. Total responsibility for failure is a difficult thing to accept, and taking ownership when things go wrong requires extraordinary humility and courage. But doing just that is an absolute necessity to learning, growing as a leader, and improving a team’s performance. It mandates that a leader set ego aside, accept responsibility for failures, attack weaknesses, and consistently work to a build a better and more effective team. Application: VP of manufacturing. Implementing plan to reduce costs.
Chapter 2: No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders. BUD/S teams. Let’s swap out the boat crew leaders from the best and the worst crews and see what happens. Leadership is the single greatest factor in any team’s performance. Ultimately, there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. Principle: There are no bad units, only bad officers (Colonel David Hackworth). As a leader, it’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate. If substandard performance is accepted, that poor performance becomes the new standard. Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mind-set into the team. It starts at individual level and spreads to each of the team members until this becomes the culture, the new standard. Application: CTO case. Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done and win. As a leader, instill a culture of Extreme Ownership, of winning and how to win, in every individual. Each member will demand the highest performance from the others. Repetitive exceptional performance became a habit. Each individual now know what they need to do to win and they do it. They no longer need explicit direction from a leader. Don't be a tortured genius, a victim that the rest of the world just can’t see or appreciate the genius in what you are doing.
Chapter 3: Believe. SEAL teams working with Iraqi regular soldiers. In the SEAL Teams, the bond of our brotherhood is our strongest weapon. If you take that away from us, we lose our most important quality as a team. In Ramadi, in order to receive mission approval, we should take Iraqi soldiers that we didn't know, and we didn't trust, with us on every operation. Understand and believe, then ensure that your team understands and believes. Implementation. A base level of camaraderie formed between SEALs and Iraqi Army through blood, sweat, and tears of difficult combat operations. Principle: In order to convince and inspire others to follow and accomplish a mission, a leader must be a true believer in the mission. The leader must believe in the greater cause. Understand the why. If a leader cannot determine a satisfactory answer by herself, she must ask questions up the chain of command until she understands why. 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. The leader must explain not just what to do, but why. Only when leaders at all levels understand and believe in the mission can they pass that understanding and belief to their teams so that they can persevere through challenges, execute and win. Application: Sales force case. Extreme Ownership: 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 how and why those decisions are being made. Not knowing the why prohibits you from believing in the mission. As a leader, you must believe. Leadership isn’t one person leading a team. It is a group of leaders working together, up and down the chain of command, to lead.
Chapter 4: Check the Ego. This unit that just arrived likely has a much better capability than us. They have a lot of experience. Their Iraqis’ skill level is far and above our conventional jundhis. They have much better gear and good weapons; and their Iraqis even have a sniper capability. Maybe I should just let them figure it out on their own. Ego being threatened. Principle: Ego clouds and disrupts everything: the planning process, the ability to take good advice, and the ability to accept constructive criticism. Often, the most difficult ego to deal with is your own. When ego clouds our judgment and prevents us from seeing the world as it is, then ego becomes destructive. Implementing Extreme Ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of humility. Application: Drilling superintendent case. As a leader, it is up to you to explain the bigger picture to everybody—and to all your front line leaders. Our team made a mistake and it’s my fault, because I wasn’t as clear in explaining why we have these procedures in place and how not following them can cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. You are an extremely skilled and knowledgeable superintendent. You know more about this business than I ever will. It was up to me to make sure you know the parameters we have to work within. Now, I need to fix this so it doesn’t happen again.
PART II: LAWS OF COMBAT.
Chapter 5: Cover and Move.
Chapter 6: Simple.
Chapter 7: Prioritize and Execute.
Chapter 8: Decentralized Command.
PART III: SUSTAINING VICTORY.
Chapter 9: Plan.
Chapter 10: Leading Up and Down the Chain of Command.
Chapter 11: Decisiveness amid Uncertainty.
Chapter 12: Discipline Equals Freedom—The Dichotomy of Leadership.
