We’re all on the hunt for the latest and greatest keys to successful leadership. One of the most inspirational doses of leadership knowledge was shared with me about two years by a friend; he gave me the book Extreme Ownership, how US Navy SEALs lead and win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. 

This book details the SEAL leadership ideas critical to completing the most challenging missions in war and how to apply them to any business environment or organization. It offers the reader with Jocko and Leif’s recipe for success: the mentality and guiding tenets that empower SEAL combat units to accomplish exceptional outcomes. It shows how to apply these to industry and life to similarly reach victory.

Quote: “A leader must be attentive to details, but not obsessed with them. They must be strong but have endurance. A leader must be humble, but not passive. They must be close to subordinates, but not too close. A leader must exercise ‘extreme ownership’ but employ ‘decentralized command’. They must have nothing to prove, but everything to prove.”

– Jocko Willink

EXTREME OWNERSHIP is the name of the game, and the name of the book today’s episode is analyzing. Extreme ownership is about taking complete responsibility for what is happening, what has happened, and what will happen. If a team member isn’t clear on the guidance, not sure of the mission, it’s the team leaders’ fault. It is the sole responsibility of a leader to make sure the team understands their instructions, 100%, no questions asked.

Extreme OWNERSHIP drives accountability, it generates personal investment in a project or mission. Extreme OWNERSHIP forces you to take action and doesn’t afford you the opportunity to bask in your sorrows and COMPLAIN. Being a SEAL is synonymous with being a SOLID team player. There is NO such thing as a bad team, just bad leaders. Collaboration is HEAVILY favored compared to individual performance. It’s common sense, but a good leader can help a good team become great, a bad leader can lead a good team to failure. 

CENTRALIZED planning, DECENTRALIZED command. Effective teams, utilizing the EXTREME OWNERSHIP methods, structure their organizations with a top-down and bottoms-up approach.

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