Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win

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Careful preparation, on the other hand, gives a team much wider latitude to innovate or adapt to sudden changes. Actions and words reflect belief with a clear confidence and self-assuredness that is not possible when belief is in doubt. But to implement real change, to drive people to accomplish something truly complex or difficult or dangerous — you can’t make people do those things. The four Laws of Combat are: Cover and Move, Simple, Prioritize and Execute, and Decentralized Command.

No other friendly forces were to have entered this sector until we had properly “deconflicted”—determined the exact position of our SEAL sniper team and passed that information to the other friendly units in the operation. In this situation, Willink explains that it is the leader’s responsibility to dedicate time to mentoring and training them with the aim of getting them up to scratch. Willink’s perception of an effective leader is someone who is able to focus purely on their team and the task at hand. They need to understand it to a point that they don’t need to be thinking about it to understand it. For this operation, we had four separate elements of SEALs in various sectors of this violent, war-torn city: two SEAL sniper teams with U.

I pray every night, sometimes long prayers about a lot of things and a lot of people, but I don’t talk about it or brag about it because that’s between God and me, and I’m no better than anybody else in God’s sight. These principles empower those teams to dominate their battlefields by enabling leaders to fulfill their purpose: lead and win. If you try to create a solution for every single potential problem that might arise, you overwhelm your team, you overwhelm the planning process, you overcomplicate decisions for leaders. Once the detailed plan has been developed, it must then be briefed to the entire team and all participants and supporting elements.

Babin builds on the experience to show a drilling company manager how to deal with a brilliant but egotistical drill chief by sidestepping his prideful attitude. It’s not for the sake of their being new; it’s because if you find someone who perfectly fits a part, that’s such a great thing. Only a few hours into the operation, both of my SEAL sniper elements had been attacked and were now embroiled in serious gunfights. Junior leaders must be empowered to make decisions on key tasks necessary to accomplish that mission in the most effective and efficient manner possible. They see Extreme Ownership in their leaders, and, as a result, they emulate Extreme Ownership throughout the chain of command down to the most junior personnel.Continually check and question the plan against emerging information to ensure it still fits the situation. Though SEAL team operations were generally successful, the authors made mistakes in the field: They lost three team members, and eight others were wounded—painful lessons that taught them vital truths about leadership. Without understanding why, the sacrifice, stress, and pressure of starting and scaling an enterprise will result in under-performance or death of the organization. I certainly think about how grateful I am for all the teammates and coached that I’ve played with and played for throughout my career.

If you allow the status quo to persist, you can’t expect to improve performance, and you can’t expect to win. The philosophy requires leaders to set high standards attainable only through deliberate, thoughtful practice. Being able to let go of your own ego, and consistently work on weaknesses and solving problems is the only way to build an effective team and have successes. These skills align with the Seals way of life and will enable you to think and act like an ‘elite warrior'.

Who gets the next head, who is getting allocated budget, and ultimately who is getting attribution for the company’s wins. If this plan rolls out and those executing it don’t believe in it, your plan is far more likely to fail. Such capital is acquired slowly over time through building trust and confidence with the team by demonstrating that the leader has the long-term good of the team and the mission in mind. If they don’t maintain a position above the fray, then leaders are failing their team and failing the mission. During war and in commerce, keeping missions simple, with instructions that are clearly understood by everyone, helps reduce turmoil.