Extreme Ownership is Jocko Willink and Leif Babin's digest of leadership learned during their time as SEALs in combat and in training. Written in the simple, direct prose of SEALs (mostly by using small words and sentences, as I tell my SEAL friends) it's an easy read.
There are excellent examples from their combat deployment to Ramadi Iraq and from their time after that leading training at BUD/S. The combat stories are curated as examples for the principles they show can be transferred very effectively to the civilian/corporate workplace. I've left out the combat stories here, but they are excellent reading - go get the book!
My digest of principles:
1. Extreme Ownership. "The leader must own everything in his or her world. There is no one else to blame." (p. 30)
"As individuals, we often attribute the success of others to luck or circumstances and make excuses for our own failures and the failures of our team. We blame our own poor performance on bad luck, circumstances beyond our control, or poorly performing subordinates -- anyone but ourselves. 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." (p.30)2. No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders. ".. When it comes to standards, as a leader, it's not what you preach, it's what you tolerate. When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable -- if there are no consequences -- that poor performance becomes a new standard. ... Consequences for poor performance don't need to be severe, but the task must be repeated until the higher standard is met. If the team member repeately cannot meet the standard, it is likely time for that team member to go.
3. Believe. Leaders must believe in the mission and the strategy and tactics assigned. If the leader doesn't believe, they cannot credibly lead. If a leader has trouble understanding the mission or assignment's purpose, they must ask up the chain of command to their leaders to clarify what they don't understand. With that understanding, leaders then must convey down to subordinates that mission and purpose clearly.
4. Check the Ego. Don't ever think you can't fail, or that your enemies (or competitors) aren't competent and eager to exploit your weaknesses. Operate with humility. Admit mistakes, take ownership of your team's mistakes, and develop a plan to overcome challenges. Always strive to objectively assess your and your team's capacities and performance.
Combat Principles
5. Cover and Move. "It is the most fundamental tactic, perhaps the only tactic." Application within and between teams is essential. Don't work in a silo (isolated from others on your team and other teams). Work to break down silos and establish regular lines of communication within and outside of your team.
6. Simple. "When plans and orders are too complicated, people may not understand them. And when things go wrong, and they inevitably do go wrong, complexity compounds issues that can spiral out of control into total disaster. Plans and orders must be communicated in a manner that is simple, clear, and concise. After you've communicated your mission or intent (Commander's Intent) to subordinates, get a read back to confirm understanding.
7. Prioritize and Execute. My kids know when things get chaotic or they get overwhelmed, my stock advice is "Shoot the alligators closest to the canoe".
- Determine the highest priority problem
- Lay out in simple, clear, and concise terms the highest priority effort for your team.
- Develop and determine a solution, seek input from key leaders and from the team where possible
- Direct execution of that solution, focusing all efforts and resources toward that priority task.
- Move on to the next highest priority problem. Repeat.
- When priorities shift within the team, pass situational awareness both up and down the chain.
- Don't let the focus on one priority cause target fixation. Be able to see other problems developing and rapidly shift as needed. (p. 162)
8. Decentralized Command. No leader can be reasonably expected to manage more than six to ten people.
"Teams must be broken down into manageable elements of four to five operators with a clearly designated leader. Those leaders must understand the overall mission, and the ultimate goal of that mission - the Commander's Intent. Junior leaders must be empowered to make decisions on key tasks necessary to accomplish that mission i the most effective and efficient manner possible. ... Every tactical-level team leader must understand not just what they are doing, but why they are doing it. If front line leaders do not understand why, they must ask their boss to clarify the why. (p. 183)Sustaining Victory
9. Plan.
- Mission planning begins with understanding the purpose and desired end-state of the mission. A broad and ambiguous mission
- Explore different courses of action (COAs) using provided resources and manpower. Once a COA is chosen, lean on the expertise in and around your team.
- Delegate detail planning to the team members as appropriate by expertise and training. Involve the entire team - pair new members with experienced ones to train new members. Involving the most junior members ensures their buy-in and ownership at the lowest levels.
- Senior leaders supervise, avoid getting bogged down in detail planning. Stand back and maintain a current overall (strategic) picture of the plan.
- Understand what risks can and can not be controlled, and plan to mitigate those risks which can be controlled. Continually check and question the plan against emerging information (intel) to ensure it still fits the information.
- Once a plan is developed, the entire team and supporting elements must be briefed. A successful brief means:
- All team members understand
- Strategic mission
- Commander's intent
- Specific mission of their team
- Individual roles within that team
- Contingencies - likely challenges within the team
- Ensure supporting elements understand mission, intent, roles, and contingencies.
- Ask questions and engage in discussion at end of brief to ensure team's understanding
- Conduct post-operational debrief. Analyze lessons learned, formalize as needed in changes to procedure, org chart/command structure.
I like their checklist for planning... it's on page 207.
10. Lead Up and Down the Chain of Command. Most of us think of leading those below us - this chapter has excellent points about leading those above you by providing them with timely, appropriate information and opinion. One they understand what you've told them, and the mission they've assigned you, then execute the assigned mission.
- Take responsibility for leading everyone in your world. subordinates and superiors alike.
- If someone isn't doing what you want or need them to do, look in the mirror first and determine what you can do to better enable this.
- Don't ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do. (p. 238)
"There is no 100% right solution. The picture is never complete. Leaders must be comfortable with this and be able to make decisions promptly, then be ready to adjust those decisions quickly based on evolving situations and new information." (p254)
A key and very important point brought up in the combat example is knowing the permanence of an impending decision. Babin was controlling one of his team's snipers (Chris Kyle) in support of an Army unit's assault on an enemy building. He held the order to kill a potential target, a "man with a scoped weapon" (implying enemy sniper) because he could not be positively identified as an enemy combatant. Even with heavy pressure to take out the suspected enemy from the Army assault team's leader, Babin held out for a positive ID. It turned out that the "man with the scoped weapon" was one of the US Army team members - there had been confusion on the part of the assault team as to which building they were in.
"Part of being decisive was knowing and understanding that some decisions, while immediately impactful, and be quickly reversed or altered: others decisions like shooting another human being cannot be undone." (p. 251)
12. Discipline Equals Freedom. (p274)
"A leader must
- lead but also be ready to follow - perhaps a subordinate or direct report
- be aggressive but not overbearing
- be calm but not robotic
- be logical but not devoid of emotions
- confident but never cocky
- brave but not foolhardy
- be competitive but also gracious losers
- be attentive to details but not obsessed by them
- be strong but likewise have endurance, physically and mentally
- be humble but not passive
- be quiet but not silent
- be close with subordinates but not too close - not so close that one of them becomes more important than the team or the mission
- has nothing to prove but everything to prove"
Excellent book. I very strongly recommend it to any aspiring leader.
