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

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Determine a specific course of action. Lean toward selecting the simplest course of action. Focus efforts on the best course of action. Once people stop making excuses, stop blaming others, and take ownership of everything in their lives, they are compelled to take action to solve their problems.”

As a leader, if you are down in the weeds trying to plan with the front line crew then you will not see the entire plan. This can be achieved by letting the junior leaders and front line troops be involved in the planning. With ‘Silver Linings,’ I didn’t feel – I was thinking of certain things, but I just said, ‘Let me go with it.’ You have to know what you’re doing, where you’re going with the scenes, and I put a lot of work into that. But when you’re out there, at the same time you gotta be ready for anything.” – Robert De Niro Conduct post operational debrief after execution. Take note of lessons learned and implement them in future planning. I’ve never been afraid of big moments. I get butterflies… I get nervous and anxious, but I think those are all good signs that I’m ready for the moment.” – Stephen CurryAs a leader employing Extreme Ownership, if your team isn’t doing what you need them to do, you first have to look at yourself. Rather than blame them for not seeing the strategic picture, you must figure out a way to better communicate it to them in terms that are simple, clear, and concise, so that they understand. This is what leading down the chain of command is all about. [9] Leading UP the command. Don’t ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do. If your bosses are asking many questions before you are allowed to do anything, then you aren’t doing a good enough job explaining your plans to them.

The list of mistakes was substantial. As directed, I put together a brief, a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with timelines and depictions of the movements of friendly units on a map of the area. Then I assembled the list of everything that everyone had done wrong. It is important to have strategic briefs for your junior leaders to give them context of the full mission. Conduct post-operational debrief after execution. Analyze lessons learned and implement them in future planning. These principles empower those teams to dominate their battlefields by enabling leaders to fulfill their purpose: lead and win.” Where Should You Start?It’s natural for anyone in a leadership position to blame subordinate leaders and direct reports when something goes wrong. Our egos don’t like to take blame. But 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. [5] Simplify the plan I have to leave the games now if the announcer says something I don’t agree with. I’m thinking, ‘Peyton, it is not healthy to be all worked up before a game.'” – Peyton Manning A leader must be close with the troops, but never look at one member of the team as more important than another. What’s the mission? Planning begins with mission analysis. The mission must be carefully refined and simplified so that it is explicitly clear and specifically focused to achieve the greater strategic vision for which that mission is a part.

Bonus: Positioning: When I ran the training for the West Coast SEAL Teams, one of the lessons I regularly taught was that the most important piece of information you could have on the battlefield is the knowledge of where you are. Without that, nothing else matters. The next most important piece of information is where other friendly forces are located. Only then does it matter where the enemy is; without knowing where one’s own unit is and without knowing where other friendly units are, it is nearly impossible to engage the enemy. Remember the story about the VP of manufacturing whose team was failing. He needed to take responsibility for the failures. After they changed the bonus plan to something that was simple to understand, production increased immediately. The more years I go, the more experience I have, the more that nutrition and eating the right foods is important for recovery and things like that.” – Stephen Curry But something was missing. There was some problem, some piece that I hadn’t identified, and it made me feel like the truth wasn’t coming out. Who was to blame?Leadership isn’t one person leading a team. It’s a team of leaders up and down the chain that are working together to lead. An armored personnel carrier (APC)3 had arrived with the heavy QRF and was sitting out front. “There’s an APC out front. Get your boys loaded up,” I told him. You discovered a talent, developed an ambition and recognized your passion. When you feel that, you can’t fight it — you just go with it.” – Robert De Niro It’s important not to indicate. People don’t try to show their feelings, they try to hide them.” – Robert De Niro