[Notes] Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Quick notes from the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.
PART I: WINNING THE WAR WITHIN
Chapter 1: Extreme Ownership
Experience
by Jocko Willink.
Jocko & his team, while fighting in the war of Ramadi along with Marines & the local Iraqi troops, engage in friendly fire - also called blue-on-blue or fratricide.
With one Iraqi troop dead and several American soldiers injured, them come back to base and prepare to brief a committee appointed to investigate that day’s happenings.
The team, when asked who was to blame for the incident, takes the blame on themselves individually saying it was their fault and point out the mistakes. However, Jocko says that it was only his fault and no one else’s since he was the leader so he is responsible.
Principle
by Jocko Willink.
Extreme Ownership is the number one quality of all high performing teams.
A leader must own everything in their world. There is no one to blame.
Acknowledge mistakes, admit failures, take ownership of them, & develop a plan to win.
In case of underperforming employees, a leader must take ownership. The leader has to take full responsibility of explaining the strategic mission, developing the tactics, and securing the training & resources for the employees to execute the tasks.
The leader must individually train & mentor the underperformer. If the underperformer still doesn’t meet the standards, the leader has to understand the loyalty to mission above any individual and terminate/replace the underperformer with someone who can get the job done.
Application to Business
by Jocko Willink.
Jocko was called in by the board of a company to address the inability of a VP - Manufacturing to meet the targets.
When being introduced, Jocko senses ego from the VP when the VP asks him “So, you’re here to help me, right?”. In order to relax him, Jocko says that he’s not there to help the VP exactly, but more to help with the situation.
Upon Jocko speaking with him, the VP explained a lot of tactical issues he has faced on account of various external factors like middlemen, logistics, workers leaving jobs for higher pay, etc.
Jocko point-blank tells the VP that he is the issue, and he needs to take ownership of the situation. Tell the same to the board as well. Jocko also explains how in his experience he has observed that badly performing teams usually had leaders who would blame others. Whereas high performing teams were usually led by someone who owned every single failure or mistake.
Often, in your mind, you think you are always right. So, when anything goes wrong, instead of looking at where you messed up, you start looking outside for faults and end up blaming others.
You must remove individual ego & personal agenda. It is all about the mission.
“How can I best get my team to most effectively execute the plan in order to accomplish the mission?” is the question you have to ask yourself.
Once you apply Extreme Ownership on the leadership level, the subordinates emulate it down the chain of command.
Chapter 2: No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders
Experience
by Leif Babin.
In the Navy Seals Hell Week training, Leif is assigned as the head of instructors to train the upcoming Junior officer.
In the training for carrying boats into the water for various challenges, Boat Crew II performs very well, whereas Boat Crew IV is struggling in the last place. The instructors decide to switch only one individual from both crews - the leader. Suddenly, Boat Crew IV which was performing the worst, starts winning all the races. Boat Crew II starts finishing second or third.
This demonstrates how leadership is the most important contributing factor to success of any team. The leader’s attitude sets the tone for the entire team & the junior leaders follow it.
Leif reminisces about his own Navy Seals training days when he was leading a Boat Crew. How he divided the goals into smaller, attainable chunks to keep the morale of the team high.
He also points out some mistakes he made. Like in attempts to shield the crew from the instructors, he let some underperformers slide. The instructors are tasked to weed out underperformers but this might have hindered them from doing so.
Principle
by Leif Babin.
Book Recommendation: About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior by Colonel David Hackworth.
When it comes to standards, ***it’s not what you preach, but what you tolerate*.**
If poor performance is accepted, no one is held accountable, and there are no consequences — poor performance becomes the new standard.
Leaders must enforce standards, ensure that tasks are repeated until expected standard of performance is required. The leader must pull different elements within the team together to support one another, with everyone focused only on how best to accomplish the mission.
Leadership is the forcing function to get the different members working together to accomplish a common mission.
Once the Extreme Ownership culture is inculcated in the team, the performance keeps improving even if the leader is removed from the team temporarily. All teams must have junior leaders ready to step up and take on the leader’s roles & responsibilities temporarily, as & when the need arises.
Leaders should never be satisfied. They must constantly look for improvement, adding capability, & pushing the standards higher.
Application to Business
by Leif Babin.
Leif is called in by a CEO to help his company’s executives address a failing new product. On meeting the team, Leif is met with a CTO who designed the product. He is very reluctant to take any ownership and keeps blaming everyone else. While other managers and senior executives are able to take the leadership lessons and happily apply them in their teams.
One of the managers ask Leif about what the Boat Crew II & VI leaders do differently.
Leif explains how in the mind of the leader of Boat Crew VI, he was doing everything right but he was handed a bad team. So he expected that leading Boat Crew II would be easy. But it was very difficult for him to keep up with such a high performing team. Repetitive exceptional performance had become a habit and each member knew what they had to do to win. They could do that without constant guidance or supervision of a leader.
Also, for the Boat Crew II leader, when he moved to lead Boat Crew VI, he didn’t make excuses or blame anyone. He acknowledged the failures, united the teams towards a singular common goal, and did not accept any substandard performance from them.
Additionally, unlike the previous leader who had a victimization mentality, he actually believed that this team could also win and was capable of better performance.
Leif, in speaking personally with the CEO, tells him that the CTO was a “Tortured Genius” — someone who thinks that the world simply can’t see or appreciate their genius. Leif also tells the CEO that it’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate. Eventually, the CEO fires the CTO and a new executive is brought in who, with a positive mindset, is able to achieve the company’s goals.
Chapter 3: Believe
Experience
by Jocko Willink.
During Jocko’s deployment in Iraq, the American leadership orders all SEALs to take local Iraqi soldiers along with them on combat missions. These Iraqi soldiers were weak, untrained, & didn’t speak English. They were also unmotivated & there had been incidents of them turning their weapons onto American forces. Due to this, all SEALs & other forces were very unsettled with this order. Jocko himself was also doubtful at first. But then, upon contemplation, Jocko realized that if the American forces didn’t help Iraqi police & army to build up their military capabilities, American forces will forever have to keep fighting the terrorists in Iraq.
Jocko goes on to explain this to the team in order to not let their morale go down. The American forces end up fighting along side the Iraqi forces.
Principle
by Jocko Willink.
The leader has to be a true believer in the mission in order to lead effectively & convince others.
He must believe in the greater cause, otherwise he won’t take the risks necessary to overcome the challenges. The leader must also align his thoughts & vision with the greater mission. This helps him believe & this belief shines up & down the chain of command.
“Actions & words reflect belief with a clear confidence and self-assuredness that is not possible when belief is in doubt.”
If a leader’s confidence breaks, the subordinates also start questioning their own belief.
If the leader starts questioning the orders, he must take a step back: to deconstruct the situation, analyze the strategic picture, and then come to a conclusion.
If they don’t understand, they should ask questions up the chain of command.
If frontline leaders & troops are aware about the strategic goals, they will believe in the mission.
The leader must explain not only what to do, but why it is to be done.
Application to Business
by Jocko Willink.
Jocko is doing a leadership workshop with mid-level sales managers who seem upset about a new compensation plan that reduces the overall pay to low-performing sales people.
They are worried that these bottom level sales people will go off to the competitors. The new compensation plan also reduced the overall incentives.
Jocko asks them if they think the management is smart or just wants the company to fail. He is met with silence from these managers, so he asks further regarding why they think this strategy is being implemented. He learns that no one bothered to ask, fearing that they will look stupid.
Jocko goes to the CEO & explains the situation, the CEO steps in. Gives a quick presentation explaining how these lower bottom of sales people are expendable and the overall reduction in pay would help reduce overhead - resulting in lowered prices of the company’s products. Which enables larger accounts to be onboarded, thus brining in new & more business. The CEO also explains to the managers that the sales people leaving is a part of the strategy and that the managers should focus on the bigger accounts & the sales people who have the potential to land such bigger accounts in the future.
Chapter 4: Check the Ego
Experience
by Jocko Willink.
During Jocko’s deployment to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) at the 1/506th Battalion camp, he realized that the SEALs will have to work with other units of the Army & the Marines. Usually SEALs treated other military branches like Army or Marines as lower than SEALs. Which often created friction. But Jocko made sure his team was always disciplined and treated everyone with respect. This meant letting go of their ego and following orders. SEALs being one of the top branches of the US military, often relaxed their grooming and uniform requirements on the front line. But the other branches always followed their uniform rules. So Jocko made sure that his SEALs also follow all rules, thus garnering respect from the other units.
Another unit was also brought into the battalion but they never treated others with respect nor shared their combat plans. Resulting in a lot of friction. In the end, this unit was transferred away from the battalion by the Colonel overseeing the base.
Principle
by Jocko Willink.
Ego can disrupt your ability to plan, accept constructive criticism, & improve.
The hardest ego to deal with is your own. Many of the most common disruptive issues in any team can be attributed to ego. When personal agendas take precedence over the team & the mission, performance suffers and failure ensures.
Ego can hinder a leader’s ability to conduct a realistic assessment of the situation. Implementing Extreme Ownership requires checking your ego and having a lot of humility.
Be confident, but not cocky. Believe in your ability & skills but do not be ignorant of the fact that the enemy can overrun you.
Application to Business
by Leif Babin.
Leif is called by one of the clients that Echelon Front - Jocko & Leif’s leadership consulting company are mentoring. Gary is a mid-level manager in a manufacturing company. One of the subordinate engineers leading a plant just ordered a part replacement in one of the machines without running it by Gary or anyone in the management. This was clearly against their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) & also delayed the project completion by several days, which meant the loss of a lot of money. Leif counsels Gary saying instead of blaming the person, he needs to check his own ego first. Also, Leif tell Gary that this engineer is clearly unaware of the big picture strategy and why SOPs are important. He further advises Gary to take the blame for not explaining the SOPs & the big picture properly to the engineer and approach him accordingly. Thus, applying Extreme Ownership to the situation.
PART II: LAWS OF COMBAT
Chapter 5: Cover and Move
Experience
by Leif Babin.
Leif & his team - OP1 and Jocko & his team - OP2 go out into different areas of the same neighborhood for conducting a 24hr long operation. Towards the end of the mission, OP1 took the risk of returning to their battalion by moving through the open streets with a higher chance of risks since they felt that there were no other options. Using the “Cover & Move” principle, they move 500m through the risky neighborhood with high chances of being attack. When they are about to reach, they are attacked by terrorists from behind but luckily they make it back safely somehow.
On reaching the base, the senior officer reprimands them for not asking OP2 team to give them sniper cover while they returned. Leif realizes how he was so engulfed in the decision points of his own team covering & moving, he forgot to apply the same principle on the bigger picture. Both the teams could have collaborated and helped each other out, resulting in a safer retreat back to base.
Principle
by Leif Babin.
Cover & Move essentially means teamwork - how all teams contribute to the overall success of the mission. Everyone must work together, mutually helping each other towards one common goal. Often, in organizations, smaller teams get developed - who focus so much on their own immediate needs, they forget the common goal. Leaders must constantly remind everyone that the mission is important and show them the strategic vision.
If one team or element fails, everyone fails. Blaming only creates more divide. Teams must depend on others and also understand who depends on them. Everyone must find a way to work together and communicate. The main focus must always be how to best accomplish the mission.
When one team succeeds, everyone gets to share their success. Teams must Cover & Move, communicating & working together.
Application to Business
by Leif Babin.
Jocko & Leif are mentoring a production manager of a company. All the midlevel managers are complaining about a subsidiary sister company that is delaying release of certain machinery parts which is delaying the managers’ delivery of the machines to the customer.
Jocko steps in and prescribes that they first understand that the subsidiary company is not the enemy. The real enemy - the competitor, is out there. Not within the branches of the organization. Hence, the managers should first think about working as a team with that company. Build relations with the key people there, meet them, conduct visits. Help each other toward the common goal of the organization - customer success & timely delivery. Both sister companies have the same mission.
Takin this advice, the managers meet and build relations with the subsidiary company. They come to learn that the subsidiary company was facing various logistics & skill issues with their workforce. Having the experience on the same, these managers helped by conducting trainings and having problem-solving seminars. This ended up in creating harmony between both companies and getting all these issues resolved. Hence, we must understand that cover & move - is a key factor in success. Teamwork is important.
Chapter 6: Simple
Experience
by Jocko Willink.
Jocko’s SEAL element is supposed to go on an overt patrol with a Military Transition Team (MiTT) that is responsible for training Iraqi soldiers in combat. The leader of this MiTT was a US Army soldier, who was leading this mission. The MiTT leader wanted to take the MiTT & SEAL element on a long patrol in broad daylight across various territories covered by different US forces in the heart of the battlefield. Jocko patiently asks the inexperienced MiTT leader to keep the patrol short & simple, as risk level was high.
Eventually, when they do go out on a patrol, they get attacked by terrorists. Jocko sends out the evacuation teams and backup from the base. When they get back with two wounded soldiers, Jocko ensures that the MiTT leader understands the importance of keeping things simple.
Principle
by Jocko Willink.
Keep it simple. The more complexities there are, the difficult it is to cope when things go wrong. Also, it is crucial to ensure that everyone on the team understands the mission correctly. Asking questions should be encouraged so that even the soldiers on the lowest denominator understand the mission.
What is to be done in case of likely contingencies also has to be clearly communicated in the briefing before executing the mission.
Application to Business
by Jocko Willink.
At a manufacturing plant, Jocko is brought in to assess the low efficiency of a newly implemented bonus plant. He meets and interviews the workers across the plant to assess the situation. He realizes that most of the workers are confused as they had received different bonus amounts each month for the same amount of efforts. So, Jocko meets the two plant managers to understand the bonus structure. Both the plant heads had created an extremely complex incentive structure with multiple factors over different timelines to deal with the varying demand levels for different products. On learning this, Jocko advises them that even though their intentions were good, the plans were just too complex for the workers to understand. Hence, no one was using these incentives to their benefits. The plant heads revise the structure into a more simpler version with only two factors. This new plan helped them adapt easily to the varying demands and it was simple to explain to the workers. After a meeting with all workers where the plant heads explained this new bonus structure, they were met with a very positive response. In a very short period of time, the productivity of the plant skyrocketed and they were also able to weed out the lowest underperformers who had been dragging the entire team down since a long time. This enforces the initial point of keeping the plans, strategies, & communications as simple as possible so that everyone across the organization hierarchy can understand them.
Chapter 7: Prioritize and Execute
Experience
by Leif Babin.
Leif and his team are stuck inside a house with only one entrance after a day long firefight with terrorists near the heart of the city. Someone plants an IED prior to their exit at late night, blocking the only way in or out of the house. To counter this, they rig the IED to blow while looking for alternative ways to exit the building. They find a second story window that they start jumping through onto the next rooftop. The stairs to get out of which are blocked by a locked & chained door. In making the jumps, one of the SEALs fall down in the gap, 20ft to the ground. The IED is about to go off in a few minutes, the rooftop on which all SEALs are, is exposed to enemy gunfire. They need a headcount to ensure that everyone got out of the building before the nearby IED goes off. The SEAL who had fallen down is unresponsive on the radio, potentially fatally injured. What does a leader do in such overwhelming scenarios? Prioritize & execute — take a step back, look around, figure out the highest priority task, and start executing that first. First priority, Leif asks the team to set up security and monitor the windows in the surrounding buildings for any enemies. Second, he asks the breacher blow open the locked door to the stairway. Third, he asks for a headcount to ensure no one is left behind. The breacher opens the door, they all get off the roof, a headcount is conducted. Everyone is safely brought down & instantly the IED is blown off — perfect timing. Next they set up security on the ground and the medic tends to the fallen SEAL who turned out to be injured, but alive. He survives with minor injuries. This shows the importance of implementing Prioritize & execute in stressful situations.
Principle
by Leif Babin.
When countless problems compound in a snowball effect, each demanding equal attention, it is easy to get overwhelmed. A leader must remain calm and execute based on priority.
If a leader tries to tackle multiple things all at once, chances are he will fail at all of them.
It is crucial to determine the highest priority task and execute that first.
Another important point is to try and stay a step ahead of the problems and anticipate them when planning things. If contingency planning is done correctly, problems can be predicted & dealt with in advance. This helps in mapping out an effective response to challenges. The team must be aware of the contingency plans in place so they can respond to difficulties without requiring immediate direction from a leader.
The leaders at the top level must “pull themselves off the firing line”. They should be able to step back and understand the bigger picture. This will help determine the actual highest priority & avoid target fixation or being stuck on a singular trivial issue. Then the senior leaders can help the junior leaders sort priorities in their respective teams.
Also, any change or shift in the priorities has to be efficiently communicated up & down the chain of command.
Prioritize & Execute:
- Evaluate the highest priority problem.
- Lay out, in simple & concise terms, the highest priority effort for your team.
- Develop & determine a solution while seeking input from key leaders & team members.
- Direct the execution of the solution, focusing all efforts/resources to the priority task.
- Move on to the next priority task & repeat.
- When priorities shift, pass the information up & down the chain of command.
- Don’t let the focus on one priority cause target fixation. Maintain the ability to see if any other problems are evolving and rapidly shift priorities as & when required.
Application to Business
by Jocko Willink.
Jocko is called in by the CEO of a pharmaceutical company who is facing challenges with declining revenue. The CEO gives Jocko a presentation on what all he has planned to tackle this issue over the coming year — ranging from marketing plans, managing the time of the salesforce better, ensuring quality control, etc. When asked for feedback, Jocko explains a term called “Decisively Engaged”.
“Decisively Engaged is a military term used to describe a battle in which a unit locked in a tough combat situation cannot maneuver or extricate themselves. In other words, they cannot retreat. They must win.”
With so many things to execute, Jocko asks for the highest priority task. The CEO highlights the utmost priority being managing the time of the sales people as this would directly increase revenue by bringing in more business. Jocko suggests that the CEO ensure that the entire organization is aware about this priority and that they make this their primary focus. Over the course of a few months, all departments spend majority of their time helping the sales staff. The marketing team assists in creating a flyer campaign, posting social media content interviewing the sales staff giving knowledge on various techniques. The labs conduct tours for customers to generate trust & support. Similarly, everyone helped in executing the priority task first and then moving onto other priorities after the sales efforts had gained some momentum. This resulted in good progress & traction, using Prioritize & Execute.
Chapter 8: Decentralized Command
Experience
by Jocko Willink.
During advanced SEAL training, the soldiers are taught that it is not manageable to lead large number of people directly by a single person. Which is why the teams are divided into smaller teams further and further with each team in each layer having their own leader. These leaders are responsible for the team members and the communication. They are taught to make decisions within the guidance & Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). They lead and operate separately. This allows the commander to focus on the strategic big picture.
These leaders are taught not to ask what to do, but say what they are going to do.
Such independent leadership on several levels allowed the main leadership to focus on accomplishment of the mission while the teams contributed to it by performing their own missions. This meant giving authority to these junior leaders and not taking any offence or ego on them making independent decisions and communicating to everybody.
Jocko describes a large war mission where multiple US forces are attacking the most violent enemy area. The SEAL sniper team upon reaching the combat area realized that the building they had decided to climb on didn’t have a proper vantage point. The sniper team leader knew the Decentralized Command approach and hence made the decision to shift to a different building nearby. He proceeded to communicate the same to Jocko & other senior leaders who gave the approval. Some time later, when ground forces entered the area, they spotted enemy snipers and communicated this to the base where Jocko & other leaders were monitoring the situation. Upon asking for confirmation, everyone agreed that these were enemy snipers and not the friendly SEAL sniper team. But Jocko asks for one more confirmation to the ground forces who then realize that they were looking at the building where SEAL snipers had climbed.
They nearly avoided friendly fire as Jocko asked to hold fire immediately. This highlights the importance of Decentralized Command and communication.
Principle
by Jocko Willink.
It is not possible to efficiently lead more than 6-10 people. Teams must be broken down into 4-6 members with a clearly designated leader. The junior leaders must understand the overall ultimate goal - the Commander’s Intent. They must know not only what they are doing, but also why they are doing it. It should be made clear — what is under their decision making authority and what is not. The junior leaders must communicate with senior leaders to recommend decisions outside their authority and pass critical information up the chain of command so the senior leaders can make more informed strategic decisions. They must be proactive, not reactive. Instead of asking what they should do, they have to tell the senior leaders what they are going to do.
For junior leaders to execute confidently, they should have implicit trust that the senior leaders will back their decisions. For situational awareness, both junior and senior leaders must pass critical information up and down the chain of command.
When senior leaders lose touch with frontline troops, they become ineffective.
A leader cannot get engaged in micromanaging at the frontline or else he will lose situational awareness of the rest of the team. If he is stuck in the read, doing clean up duty, he will lose control of the front assault force. The ideal position is somewhere in the middle, with the bulk of the team. This, however, can change as per the combat demands. The leader must be free to move around throughout the course of the battle.
Application to Business
by Jocko Willink.
Jocko is speaking with the CEO of a financial firm, asking him to show the organization chart to understand the hierarchy of the teams. The hesitant CEO says that he usually does not show this to people since it creates ego issues when employees have to report to someone on the same level as them. Upon examining the organization chart, Jocko points out how some teams are as large as 20 people, where as some only had 3 people. The CEO explains that in the larger teams, the manager only focuses on the high performers and the other people are left doing menial work. In the smaller teams, the revenue isn’t enough — so the manager has to go out in the field to generate business, not allowing him to focus on the management of the team. Jocko says that ideally the teams should be around 4-6 people, like in the SEAL teams.
Jocko further explains the concept of Decentralized Command and the importance of empowering the junior leaders. To avoid confusion, the senior leaders must give simple, clear, & concise instructions along with Commander’s Intent so that the troops understand how their tactical mission has to contribute to the overall success of the strategic mission. The senior leaders must also set clear boundaries within which junior leaders can take decisions independently without asking for permission.
Ideal size of teams may vary based on multiple factors of the mission & the people in the team, but it should usually be a manageable number with a clearly designated leader.
PART III: SUSTAINING VICTORY
Chapter 9: Plan
Experience
by Leif Babin.
Leif and his team are tasked with a time critical mission of a hostage rescue situation behind enemy lines. After a quick planning session, the team is getting ready & geared up. Suddenly they receive new intel stating that there are machine gunners bunkered around the enemy house and there are IEDs placed in the backyard. While any inexperienced leader would have decided to cancel the mission. However, Leif explains that their plan was strong enough and all such contingencies were already considered in their planning session itself. They didn’t have to change anything. The mission was a success, hostage rescued.
Leif explains how all similar contingencies must be taken into consideration when planning itself. Not all risks can be avoided, but we have to do the best to mitigate as many as possible, as much as possible.
Principle
by Leif Babin.
Planning begins with a mission analysis. The leader must identify clear directives for the team. The mission must also described the overall purpose and the desired outcome on successful completion of the mission. The Commander’s Intent is the most important part - it guides decision on the ground. All frontline troops must understand the plan & be encouraged to ask questions.
When creating a plan, lean on people with the most expertise. Ensure participation from even the most junior personnel for generating the most innovative solutions. In the planning process, try delegating as much as possible to key leaders down the chain of command. Juniors taking ownership means they now have a buy-in, as small as it may be, into the larger mission.
The senior leader must “sit back & be the tactical genius”.
The senior leader should not get bogged down by the details. Only need to supervise the planning process and identify weaknesses in the plan while the junior leaders develop it.
Best teams constantly analyze their performance to improve the tactics in the future.
No matter how exhausted, the SEAL teams have a post-operational debrief to measure their effectiveness & identify loopholes in their plans. What went wrong? What went right? How can we improve our tactics to gain advantage over the enemy in the future? — these are some common questions to be asked during a debrief for self-analysis.
A leader’s planning checklist should include the following:
- Analyze the mission.
- Understand higher headquarters’ mission, the Commander’s Intent, & the end-state (the goal).
- Identify & state your own Commander’s Intent and end-state for the specific mission.
- Identify personnel, assets, resources, and time available.
- Decentralize the planning process.
- Empower key leaders within the team to analyze possible courses of action.
- Determine a specific course of action.
- Lean toward selecting the simplest course of action.
- Focus efforts on the best course of action.
- Empower key leaders to develop the plan for the selected course of action.
- Plan for likely contingencies through each phase of the operation.
- Mitigate risks that can be controlled as much as possible.
- Delegate portions of the plan an brief to key junior leaders.
- Stand back & be the tactical genius.
- Continually check & question the plan against emerging information to ensure it still fits the situation.
- Brief the plan to all participants & supporting assets.
- Emphasize the Commander’s Intent.
- Ask questions & engage in discussion & interaction with the team to ensure they understand.
- Conduct post-operational debrief after execution.
- Analyze lessons learned & implement them in future planning.
Application to Business
by Leif Babin.
A senior manager is averse to understanding the importance of planning stated by the Vice President of a company. According to the VP, the success of this company had largely been dependent on the ability of the VP’s team to enter new emerging markets and create customized plan to seize upcoming opportunities. Hence, he wanted a documented step-by-step planning process so that the same can be replicated by other teams, enabling scaling for the company. The manager did not understand the importance of this strategic mission.
Leif explains how being able to plan means the ability to give ownership to junior leaders so you yourself can sit back and look for tactical gaps. This also facilitates faster scaling. The manager, in correspondence with Leif & the team, works on creating plans that end up helping the organization prevent losses, prepare for contingencies, and deliver great results as well.
Chapter 10: Leading Up and Down the Chain of Command
Experience (Leading Down the Chain of Command)
by Leif Babin.
Leif & Jocko, on the night before returning back to home from Ramadi, reminisce on the impact they and their platoon had in eradicating insurgents from the city. On returning back to the United States, Jocko is asked by the chief of Navy to create a presentation regarding the SEAL team’s effect on the war. Leif, on reviewing the presentation, realizes the magnitude of impact him and his team had on the war. This makes him look back in hindsight realizing that he could have given more importance to explaining the strategic importance of all the missions to his subordinates. He mentions that the soldiers who were willing to return back to the combat again were the once who had somewhat of an ownership in the planning process. No matter how small, if they had some form of ownership in the planning of missions, it meant they understood the strategic mission better and thus felt more involvement. This makes Leif realize that he should have regularly explained the strategic importance of all combat missions to his juniors, especially the ones who had negative mindset.
The soldiers who had developed negativity, should have been given some piece of ownership in the planning process to make them feel more impactful in the overall success.
Principle (Leading Down the Chain of Command)
by Leif Babin.
A leader is usually immersed in the big picture, while the juniors must be focused on their day to day tactical missions. However, both must understand each other’s role. The juniors don’t need the full knowledge and insight of the senior leaders, and the senior leaders don’t need the technical knowledge of the juniors’ day to day activities. But it is critical to explain to the junior leaders how their role contributes to the overall success of the mission.
Leaders must routinely communicate individually with the juniors and watch them in action to understand the challenges. If the junior leaders understand the strategic mission & the Commander’s Intent, it facilitates Decentralized Command. It helps the junior leaders to take ownership and make decisions in the rapidly changing environment of the battlefield.
If the junior leaders are unable to understand the strategic missions, the senior leader must not blame them. Instead, the senior leader must figure out a better way to communicate the strategic mission to the junior leaders in a more clear, concise, & simple manner.
Experience (Leading Up the Chain of Command)
by Leif Babin.
The SEAL team was received a lot of questions from the Commanding Officer leading the was in Ramadi. Frustrated from answering to those emails before going out on a combat operation, Leif approaches Jocko and presents the problem. Jocko explains to Leif that if their seniors are asking so many questions, it means that they have not sent enough information up the chain of command. Jocko asks Leif to look at the situation from the CO’s perspective. Sitting away from the battlefield, the only insight they have is the information the SEAL teams send them via calls and emails. So, Leif starts sending detailed briefings and post-operational reports up the chain of command. He also invites the CO on a few combat missions which helps gain his trust and put him in a comfort zone for allowing the SEAL team to perform missions with less stricter oversight. The CO appreciates the efforts and harmony is achieved.
Principle (Leading Up the Chain of Command)
by Leif Babin.
If your senior leadership isn’t allocating resources or making decisions in your favor, first examine yourself instead of blaming them. Identify what you can do better to communicate your requirements and their importance to the strategic mission up the chain of command.
Be cautious, respectful, & professional in doing so. Understand with humility that you, your team, & your tactical mission may not be the current top priority. Maybe resource allocation is required somewhere else currently.
“One of the most important jobs of any leader is to support your own boss — your immediate leadership.”
Always display a united front of leadership to the subordinates. A public display of discontent or disagreement in front of juniors can undermine authority of leaders and reduce the overall performance of any organization.
If your requests are still being denied repeatedly, ask the questions to the senior leadership. Once answers or justifications are obtained, communicate them down the chain of command as well so that everyone in the team understands the situation.
Even after debating, if your senior leadership denies your request and commands you to implement another course of action — you must execute it as if it were your own.
The major factors in leading up & down the chain of command are:
- 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 & 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.
Application to Business
by Leif Babin.
Consulting with a field manager and his team, Leif learns about how the field manager was frustrated with the constant scrutiny of the senior leadership on everything the team was doing on the field. Leif relates a similar experience he had during the war in Ramadi.
He asks the field manager if he thinks that the senior leaders want him to fail or want to sabotage his efforts. The field manager says no. Leif asks him to look at it from a different perspective. If the senior leadership are asking questions, it obviously means that the field manager is not relaying enough information up the chain of command.
If he knows that he is making all the right decisions, he must be able to convey it up the chain of command. He had to break free from the “us versus them” mentality between frontline troops and the senior leadership. Leif also suggests that he bring out the leaders on the field for a face to face meeting and have them spend some time with his team.
On doing so, the field managers met the senior leadership who they realized were smart people committed to ensuring that the field managers get everything they need to win. In return, the senior leaders got to understand the challengers of the team on the field and built trust on the capabilities of the field manager.
Chapter 11: Decisiveness and Uncertainty
Experience
by Leif Babin.
Leif & Chris Kyle — the American Sniper are on the rooftop providing sniper cover to soldiers moving in and clearing buildings. Chris spots the shadow of a soldier with a scoped gun in the hand. He asks Leif, his senior, for confirmation before taking the shot. This is very unusual of Chris as he is a very experienced sniper. Leif waits to make the decision as this could become a friendly fire and kill their own soldier.
Leif radios the commander of the teams moving in around the position. The commander confirms that there are no friendlies in the building and advises Leif to take the shot. The uncertainty in Chris’ voice concerns Leif. He asks to reverify the positions of friendlies in the area. Upon confirmation, Leif finds out that they had been looking at the wrong building and had they taken the shot, a friendly soldier would have been killed.
Leif explains the importance of making decisions on the field & avoiding making critical decisions with uncertainty.
Principle
by Leif Babin.
It is almost impossible to have a 100% certain big picture available at hand. So, the leaders must be prepared to make swift decisions based on available information in evolving situations.
Intelligence gathering & research are important but they must be employed with realistic expectations and should not impede swift decision-making.
Leaders have to be prepared to make an educated experience based on previous experience, knowledge about how the enemy operates, likely outcomes, & whatever intelligence is available at the immediate moment.
Leaders must remain calm in the chaos of the battlefield and act decisively amidst uncertainty.
Application to Business
by Leif Babin.
Jocko & Leif are helping a CEO of a tech company with the situation regarding two of her senior developers. Both these had become very hostile to each other instead of healthy competition. They were core people in leading some of the major projects at the company. Both had reached out to the CEO asking her to fire the other one. The CEO, unable to decide which one to let go, approaches Jocko & Leif with the situation. On being asked what she is planning to do, she responds that she will wait and watch it play out for itself. But Leif informs her that it is always better to be proactive in making decisions based on the information present at hand rather than waiting for things to play out as sometimes there might be no better or ideal situation on the horizon.
They advise her to fire both of them and promote someone from the internal team to lead these projects so the transition is smooth. Jocko explains how the CEO needs to come across as a leader who isn’t afraid of making tough decisions and that she will not be held hostage by employees.
Acting on this advise, she fired both the senior employees and found deserving people from the team who could lead the projects. The situation ended up well.
Chapter 12: Discipline Equals Freedom — The Dichotomy of Leadership
Experience
by Jocko Willink.
Jocko explains how on the field during operations, SEAL teams had to collect evidence. During these operations, the SEALs just ransacked the houses and threw everything in the collections bags haphazardly without labeling or organizing anything. This also took quite long, requiring the SEAL team to stay in the target building, risking exposure to retaliation attacks. Jocko and his subordinate come up with an organized procedure for collecting evidence. After running some drills, this procedure helped in reducing the evidence collection time from 45 to 20 minutes.
Jocko also notes that the best operators he met in the SEAL teams were always the ones that were extremely disciplined. The SEAL team came up with drills and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) for everything from boarding vehicles to exiting buildings. These helped in reducing execution times and gave the teams more interoperability. Having everyone on a fixed framework of procedures gave the team freedom to integrate different teams and perform missions on the base of these procedures.
Principle
by Jocko Willink.
Jocko explains the importance of balancing between opposite aspects of the dichotomy of leadership. Generally, when a leader is struggling, the root cause is that he/she has leaned too far in one direction and steered off course. Being aware of dichotomy enables correction for the same. Some of the most common dichotomies are:
A good leader must be:
- confident but not cocky;
- courageous but not foolhardy;
- competitive but a gracious loser;
- attentive to details but not obsessed by them;
- strong but having endurance;
- a leader & a follower;
- humble not passive;
- aggressive not overbearing;
- quiet not silent;
- calm but not robotic, logical but not devoid of emotions;
- close with the troops but not so close that one becomes more important than another or more important than the good of the team; not so close that they forget who is in charge;
- able to execute Extreme Ownership, while exercising Decentralized Command.
A good leader has nothing to prove, but everything to prove.
Application to Business
by Jocko Willink.
The CFO of a company is concerned that the CEO is not shutting down the electrical division because the head of the division is a friend of the CEO. Jocko consults with the CEO and explains to him that even though the head of the division may be his friend, the CEO as a leader must not put the individual above the success of the mission.
Balancing the dichotomy of leadership between being friendly with the team members but also ensuring that you do not put one man above the team or the mission.
Acting on Jocko’s advice, the CEO shuts down the division and finds a different role for the head to contribute to the company. This also enabled the CFO to pour money into more profitable divisions and increasing growth of the company.
Hope the notes were helpful. It's a great book, I strongly recommend it!
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Until next time,
73s.