Some of the powerful ideas and highlights from Extreme Ownership [by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin] that deeply resonated with me. These principles apply to being creative or leading Creatives in today’s world. This post is a summary for future reference…
There can be no leadership where there is no team.
Leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory.
For leaders, the humility to admit and own mistakes and develop a plan to overcome them is essential to success.
If an individual on the team is not performing at the level required for the team to succeed, the leader must train and mentor the under performer.
Such a leader does not take credit for his or her team’s success but bestows the honor upon his subordinate leaders and team members.
Listen patiently.
Whether a team succeeds or fails is all up to the leader. The leader’s attitude sets the tone for the entire team. The leader drives performance – or doesn’t. And this applies not just to the most senior leader of an overall team, but to the junior leaders of teams within the team.
When it comes to standards, as a leader, it’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate… if substandard performance is accepted and no on is held accountable, that poor performance becomes the new standard.
Leaders should never be satisfied.
Repetitive exceptional performance became a habit. They no longer needed explicit direction from a leader.
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.
Ask questions until you understand why.
By instilling a culture within our task unit to never be satisfied; we pushed ourselves harder to continuously improve our performance.
Discipline created vigilance and operational readiness, which translated to high performance and success on the battlefield.
Ego clouds and disrupts everything: the planning process, the ability to take good advice, and the ability to accept constructive criticism.
When personal agendas become more important than team and the overarching mission’s success, performance suffers and failure ensues.
“Ownership of everything! You are in charge, so the fact that he didn’t follow procedure is your fault.”
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.
The most important tactical advantage we had was working together as a team, always supporting each other.
They may start to compete with one another, and when there are obstacles, animosity and blame develops.
Build a personal relationship with them. Explain to them what you need from them and why, and ask them what you can do to help them get you what you need. Make them a part of your team, not an excuse for your team.
When plans and orders are too complicated, people may not understand them.
Plans and orders must be communicated in a matter that is simple, clear, and concise.
Leaders must determine the highest priority task and execute. When overwhelmed, fall back upon this principle: Prioritize and Execute.
To be effectively empowered to make decisions, it is imperative that frontline leaders execute with confidence.
Leaders must be free to move to where they are most needed, which changes throughout the course of an operation. Understanding proper positioning as a leader is a key component of effective Decentralized Command, not just on the battlefield.
A mission statement tells your troops what you are doing. But they have got to understand WHY they are doing it.
You need to brief so that the most junior man can fully understand the operation – the lowest common denominator. That’s what a brief is.
The most important part of the brief is to explain your Commander’s Intent.
As a leader deploying Extreme Ownership, if your team isn’t doing what you need them to do, you first have to look at yourself.
Leadership doesn’t just flow down the chain of command, but up as well. We have to own everything in out world. That’s what Extreme Ownership is all about.
One of the most important jobs of any leader is to support your own boss.
In order to succeed, leaders must be comfortable under pressure, and act on logic, not emotion. This is a critical component of victory.
Leaders need to act decisively amid chaos. A default setting should be aggressive – proactive rather than reactive.
Discipline starts every day when the first alarm clock goes off in the morning.
Discipline is paramount to ultimate success and victory for any leader and any team.
A leader must lead but also be ready to follow.
Leaders that lack confidence in themselves fear becoming outshined by someone else.
A leader must be attentive to details but not obsessed by them.
A leader must be strong but likewise have endurance, not only physically but mentally.
The best leaders understand the motivations of the their team members and know their people – their lives and their families.
Leaders must never get so close that the team forgets who is in charge.
One should be humble enough to own their mistakes, admit that they don’t have it all figured out, seek guidance, learn, and continuously grow.
Extreme Ownership is a mind-set, an attitude.
Number one : Be humble.