Book Notes from 'Extreme Ownership' by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
IntroductionProper understanding and
application of the Laws of Combat
- Leadership: The Single Most
Important Factor
- Without a team - a group of
individuals working to accomplish a mission - there can be no leadership
- The only meaningful measure
of 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.
- Effective leaders lead
successful teams that accomplish their mission and win
- Ineffective leaders do not.
- Every leader and every team
as some point or time will fail and must confront failure.
- For leaders, the humility to
admit and own mistakes and develop a plan to overcome this is essential
to success.
- The best leaders are not
driven by ego or personal agendas - they are simply focused on the
mission and how best to accomplish it.
- The Battle of Ramadi
provided a litany of lessons learned which were able to capture and pass
on.
- The greatest of these was
the recognition that leadership is the most important factor on the
battlefield.
- The single greatest reason
behind the success of any team.
- Mentorship from the right
leaders is critical
- Placed new emphasis on
training leaders in critical decision making and effective communication
in high-pressure situations to better prepare them for combat.
- The 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.
- The same principles that
make SEAL combat leaders and SEAL units so effective on the battlefield
can be applied to the business world with the same success.
- The leadership and teamwork
concepts contained in this book are not abstract theories, but practical
and applicable.
- Organization and Structure
- Extreme Ownership - leaders
must own everything in their world
- There is no one else to
blame
- Book is in three parts
- Winning the War Within
- Develops the fundamental
building blocks and mindset necessary to lead and win
- The Laws of Combat
- Covers the four critical
concepts that enable a team to perform at the highest level and
dominate.
- Sustaining Victory
- Discusses the more nuanced
and difficult balance that leaders must navigate in order to maintain
the edge and keep the team perpetually operating at the highest level.
- Their proper application and
understanding ensure effective leaders and high performing teams that
produce extraordinary results
- Enabling leaders to fulfill
their purpose - lead and win.
- Extreme Ownership
- They were looking for
someone to blame - and most likely someone to 'relieve' - someone to
fire.
- Serious mistakes made by
many individuals both during the planning phase and on the battlefield
during execution.
- There was only one person to
blame for everything that had gone wrong on the operation - me.
- I was responsible for
everything in Task Unit Bruiser - I had to take complete ownership of
what went wrong.
- That is what a leader does -
even if it means getting fired.
- If anyone was to be blamed
and fired for what happened - let it be me.
- There is only one person to
blame for this: me
- I am the commander. I am
responsible for the entire operation. As the senior man, I am responsible
for every action that takes place on the battlefield. There is no one to
blame but me.
- I was the leader. I was in
charge. I was responsible.
- The full ownership I took of
the situation actually increased the trust my commanding officer and
master chief had in me
- But more important, the
commanders in training could learn what I had learned about leadership.
- While some commanders took
full responsibility for blue-on-blue, others had blamed their
subordinates for simulated fratricide incidents in training.
- The deep meaning of
responsibility: the leader is truly and ultimately responsible for
everything.
- That is extreme ownership -
the fundamental core of what constitutes an effective leader in the SEAL
Teams or in any leadership endeavor.
- Principle
- On any team in any
organization - all responsibility for success and failure rests on the
leader.
- The leader must own
everything in his or her world.
- The best leaders don’t just
take responsibility for their job. - they take extreme ownership of
everything that impacts their mission.
- This concept is the number
one characteristic of any high performance winning team, in any military
unit, organization, sports team or business in any industry.
- The leader bears full
responsibility for explaining the strategic mission, developing tactics,
and securing the training and resources to enable the team to properly
and successfully execute.
- The leader must train and
mentor that underperformer.
- Total responsibility for
failure is a difficult thing to accept, and taking ownership when things
go wrong requires extraordinary humility and courage.
- Such a leader - however -
does not take credit for his team's success but bestows that honor upon
his subordinate leaders and team members.
- When a leader set such an
example and expects this from his junior leaders within the team, the
mindset develops into the team's culture at every level.
- Application to Business
- Was brought in to provide
leadership guidance and executive coaching to the company's vice
president of manufacturing.
- They sound like excuses -
excuses.
- Could there be another
reason you plan wasn’t successfully executed?
- Those all may be factors -
but there is one most important reason why this plan has failed.
- I stated it plainly -
'you. You are the reason.'
- I explained that the direct
responsibility of a leader included getting people to listen, support
and execute plans.
- You cant make people listen
to you, you cant make them execute.
- That might be a temporary
solution for a simple task - but to implement real change, to drive
people to accomplish something truly complex or difficult or dangerous -
you cant make people do those things - you have to lead them.
- Let me tell you something:
when things went wrong, you know who I blamed? - Me, I blamed me.
- As the commander,
everything that happened on the battlefield was my responsibility -
everything.
- No matter what, I could
never blame other people when a mission went wrong.
- With extreme ownership, you
must remove individual ego and personal agenda - its all about the
mission.
- Your people don’t need to
be fired, they need to be led.
- In order to execute this
plan, in order to truly become an effective leader, you have to realize
and accept total responsibility - you have to own it!
- In virtually case, the SEAL
troops and platoons that didn’t perform well had leaders who blamed
everyone and everything else - their troops, their subordinate leaders
or the scenario.
- The best performing SEAL
units - had leaders who accepted responsibility for everything.
- The best leaders checked
their egos, accepted blame, sought out constructive criticism and took
detailed notes for improvement.
- The good leaders took
ownership of the mistakes and shortfalls.
- Figure out how to fix their
problems, instead of trying to figure out who or what to blame.
- The list started with what
he was going to do differently - not about what other people needed to
do.