12 Leadership Tips from Former Navy Seal Jocko Willink

I have read a ton of books on leadership over the years. And to be honest, I have found most to be the same old boring, cookie-cutter waste of time. That was before I came across a book by 2 former Navy SEAL commanders, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin were deployed to some of the most dangerous battlefields in Iraq to secure Ramadi – a city that was seen as ‘all but lost’. The book they co-wrote, Extreme Ownership, was anything but boring and cookie-cutter and the only time I put it down was to take copious notes. I really love how the book is laid out – 12 leadership lessons spread out over 12 fascinating chapters.  Each chapter begins with a story from the battlefield depicting that chapter’s leadership lesson. They then discuss the lesson in more detail and finally, they show how it applies to business.

It would be impossible to cover all the takeaways and leadership lessons from such a great book in a 2,500-word blog post.  Instead, I am simply going to summarize the story from each chapter as well as a couple of takeaways. If you are into leadership, the military or both I highly recommend this book as it’s a great read.

Lesson #1: The leader is always responsible for everything

This chapter starts off with a story about a “blue on blue” incident – which is where soldiers of the same forces fire on one another.  Being killed or injured by the enemy was horrible enough. But being wounded by your own team because someone screwed up was much worse. In this case, whose fault was it? There was no doubt that the blame could have been spread around as many mistakes were made by many units, individuals and leaders. However, Jocko Willink as the SEAL task unit commander took full responsibility and blame during the post-incident debrief, which included those involved as well as his higher-ups.

Primary chapter takeaway:

The leader needs to own and be responsible for everything in his or her purview. S/he must admit and acknowledge when things go wrong, not blame others, and figure out how to create a plan so that the team emerges victorious.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

Leaders must train and help their subordinates who are underperforming so that they can improve. If those subordinates do not improve, the leader needs to be loyal to the mission/team and make the tough decision to terminate them.

Lesson #2: There are no bad teams, there are only bad leaders

The story in this chapter was one that took place during the infamous ‘Hell Week’ of SEAL training. Leif Babin was one of the instructors and presided over boat crew races where 7-man teams would race each other in the rough Pacific Ocean. During one particular Hell Week, one boat was dominating while one was consistently coming in last. The instructors observed that the leader of the winning boat was much stronger than the one from the losing boat. So, they decided to swap out the leaders to see what happened.

The result? Immediately the losing boat went from worst to first!

Primary chapter takeaway:

The point of the story was that leadership is the most important factor in the success of any team. Most people on a team want to do well and succeed – many times they don’t know how, or simply need to be motivated and encouraged.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

Leaders can never get satisfied or complacent and must always strive to improve and install that mindset into their teams.

Lesson #3: A leader needs to be a 100% believer in the mission

Jocko Willink tells a story from Ramadi when he was ordered by his superiors to fight alongside, and train seemingly incompetent Iraqi Army soldiers. Many on his team balked at the suggestion as it would put them at risk. However, unless the Iraqi soldiers were trained to take over, the U.S. forces would never be able to leave. By understanding and believing in the strategic importance of why they were being asked to do this, Willink was able to explain the mission to his troops and secure their buy-in.

Primary chapter takeaway:

The leader needs to be a true believer in the mission. This will allow them to inspire and convince those on their team.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

The mission and a belief in the mission is critical to achieving great things in life.

Lesson #4: You need to keep your ego in check

This chapter started with a story about how a new Iraqi unit began to interact with a conventional U.S. Army Unit and a SEAL platoon. The problem was that the new unit wouldn’t share their plans, locations or other important details with the army unit or SEAL platoon – their egos made them think they were above fully integrating with the others. The commander of the new unit was not able to get the new unit in line and ended up pulling them out leaving them to watch the Battle of Ramadi from afar as the SEALs and army unit kicked ass.

Primary chapter takeaway:

An ego that clouds your judgment and prevents you from seeing things as they are can be extremely destructive. Keep your ego in check and exercise a high degree of personal humility.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

Be confident, but not cocky, and never get complacent.

Lesson #5:  The importance of teamwork – “Cover and Move”

Leif Babin tells a story to start off this chapter about how they moved through a dangerous area utilizing a tactic called ‘cover and move’ where one team covered by watching out for threats with their weapons ready, while the other team moved. The teams then reversed roles.

Primary chapter takeaway:

This illustrated a key concept which was the importance of teamwork.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

To accomplish whatever mission you are focused on, everyone has to work as a team and help each other and support each other.

Lesson #6: Keep things simple

In this chapter, Jocko Willink tells a story about how a young U.S. Army officer came to him with a plan for an upcoming patrol. After reviewing the plan, he encouraged the young leader to simplify the plan for the first go-round. Luckily the young Lieutenant agreed to keep it simple because it turned into a challenging operation. Had he kept the original plan, it could have ended up being catastrophic.

Primary chapter takeaway:

Keeping things simple in life as in battle is critical for success. People do not understand complex plans and complex orders.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

If someone does not understand something you are asking them to do it is your fault. You need to simplify it so that the lowest common denominator on your team understands.

Lesson #7: First prioritize, then execute

Babin tells a story about how the team he was commanding had to vacate a building they were occupying ASAP amidst a multitude of simultaneous challenges. By falling back on his training which had put him in similarly chaotic and challenging scenarios, Babin was able to relax, look around and make a call. In other words, he was able to prioritize what had to be done and then give guidance to the troops to execute on the highest priority

Primary chapter takeaway:

Even the best leaders cannot execute on multiple challenges simultaneously without becoming overwhelmed. The key is to relax, step back from the situation mentally, look at the big picture, assess what is going on, figure out what needs to be done, and then make a decision.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

Stay a step or two ahead of things. Identify potential challenges. Think through how you would respond ahead of time.

Lesson #8: Utilize the concept of decentralized command                                                                    

This chapter begins with Jocko Willink explaining the concept of decentralized command. This meant that his subordinates on the battlefield had gained his trust, which allowed him to empower them to lead and make decisions on their own. He then went on to tell a story from their largest operation when someone came over the radio and said “We’ve got armed enemy fighters on the top of a building. Appear to be snipers.” The company commander insisted that they ‘take them out’.

However, Willink knew how chaos can create confusion on the battlefield. He wanted to be sure they were the enemy and not friendlies, so he had them hold their fire. It turned out that the snipers were SEALS and a close call was averted. By utilizing decentralized command, Willink was not bogged down leading and directing tactical decisions and was able to be involved in this other unfolding incident.

Primary chapter takeaway:

Leaders cannot do everything and must expect subordinate leaders to lead, and must train and groom them to make decisions and lead.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

Subordinate leaders must know that senior leaders have their back even if things don’t always work out as planned.

Lesson #9: Planning

A young Iraqi teenager and nephew of an Iraqi police colonel had been kidnapped by an al Qaeda-linked terrorist group. They threatened to behead him if their ransom request was not met. The SEAL team had to put together a plan and execute on it quickly to rescue him. After analyzing the mission, intelligence, and assets they had, they put together a plan and rescued the boy. By not taking anything for granted and preparing for contingencies while maximizing for success and minimizing risk, their plan worked like a charm.

Primary chapter takeaway:

Refine and simplify the mission including the purpose and desired outcome. Ensure that all team members are involved in planning. Delegate down the chain of command with supervisors overseeing the planning, but not getting bogged down by details. The role of the leader is to act as ‘tactical genius’ by standing back and identifying weaknesses in the plan.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

Having a standardized checklist for planning to ensure you have covered all bases.

Lesson #10:  The chain of command: leading up and down

Babin begins with a story on how once the unit returned stateside, Willink was asked to brief the chief of naval operations. After Willink shared the presentation with him, Babin realized a big lesson. Despite being involved in planning all the missions, he had not understood how they all contributed to the strategic mission until seeing the presentation. He realized that if he didn’t fully understand the strategic impact of what they had done, how could he expect his frontline troops to get it?

The lesson he learned was that he could have done a better job of understanding the strategic intent. He could have then lead down the chain of command by giving greater ownership of the plans to the frontline troops.

The second story in the chapter involved Babin’s venting his frustrations at having to send what seemed like endless and non-value-added paperwork up to the commanding officer (CO). But in the end, Babin understood that part of his job was to make the CO comfortable with the operations they planned to conduct so he would approve them.

Primary chapter takeaway:

The importance of leading down the chain of command by explaining how tactical missions connect with the greater goal, and how roles contribute to the big picture

Secondary chapter takeaway:

The importance of leading up the chain of command, which is similar to what we discussed in a previous post on managing up where supporting your boss is your most important job.

Chapter #11: Being decisive despite uncertainty

The story in this chapter involved Babin and famed sniper Chris Kyle. Whenever a SEAL sniper could positively identify (PID) a bad guy that had hostile intent they were cleared to engage. However, in this situation, neither Kyle nor Babin could get a PID on a guy in a window in a nearby building. The fact that there were a lot of friendlies in the area made the situation that much more complicated.

While the urging of a company commander to “Take that guy out” made things even tenser, it put Babin in a tough spot. If they didn’t take the shot and it was a bad guy, he could kill some good guys.  But if he was a good guy and they took him out, it would be even worse. In the end, Babin was decisive and decided not to take him out and instead had the building cleared. Which ended up being a good thing as they had been looking at a building that was different from the one they were looking at on the map…and the guy in the window was a U.S. soldier.

Primary chapter takeaway:

It is imperative that leaders act in a decisive manner.  They need to make the best decisions they can amidst uncertainty on information immediately available.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

The ‘incomplete picture’ principle says that waiting for the 100% correct and certain solution can lead to indecision, delay, and an inability to execute on your task. Sometimes you need to be prepared to make an educated guess and use your previous experience, possible outcomes and whatever information you have access to at that moment. You can use a technique called consequence and sequel that we discussed in an earlier post to help do this.

Lesson #12: Discipline = Freedom

The last chapter begins with Jocko Willink telling a story on how he challenged his team to create a standard operating procedure (SOP) for searching buildings and collecting evidence. This was requested in order to comply with stricter requirements for collected evidence. Despite their initial reluctance, they complied. Eventually, by using standardization they were able to not only go faster with the new process, but the quality of their evidence collection improved as well. His point was that these new SOPs required discipline. However, they yielded freedom – as you will see in the second takeaway below.

Primary chapter takeaway:

Discipline is the differentiator between merely good exceptional.

Secondary chapter takeaway:

Even though discipline requires control, it results in freedom. For example, being disciplined to get up early rewards you with free time. The more disciplined you are to work out, the lighter your gear feels which means you can move around much easier.

The ‘Dichotomy of Leadership’

The book ends with what Jocko Willink and Leif Babin call the ‘dichotomy of leadership’. In other words, the dichotomy between many qualities that seem contradictory. By being able to recognize and balance these opposing forces, the authors believe leaders can lead with optimum effectiveness.

They believe a leader must be:

  Confident – but not cocky
  Able to lead – but also be able to follow
  Aggressive – but at the same time not overbearing
  Calm – but not robotic
  Brave – but not foolhardy
  Competitive – but also gracious losers
  Strong – but also have endurance
  Logical – but not without emotion
  Humble – without being passive
  Quiet – yet not silent
  Someone who has nothing to prove, but everything to prove

I really love the concept of the dichotomy of leadership and apparently, I am not the only one. You see, the authors have come out with a new book by the same name – ‘The Dichotomy of Leadership’. I just downloaded it and will let you know how it is.

Which makes me wonder what ‘the dichotomy of self-improvement blog post writing’ would look like…

Hmmm, perhaps it would look something like this…

Blog posts should be:

  Entertaining but not distracting
  Actionable but not unachievable
  Substantial but not too lengthy

I think this post satisfies the first two, but seeing as how it stands at 2476 words, I probably need to work on #3!

Until next time, thanks for reading my blog post/novel, apply these leadership lessons, and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

When to Use It:

Utilize these leadership lessons from Jocko Willink and Leif Babin whenever necessary in your business or personal life.

What Do You Think of these 12 Leadership lessons from Jocko Willink and Leif Babin?

Have you utilized any of these leadership lessons that Jocko Willink and Leif Babin recommend in your life? What are your thoughts on them? Please discuss in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, it would mean the world to us if you shared it with people you care about via any of the social media platforms below!

Popular Previous Posts:

I Finally Finished This Post on Tips for Procrastinators!
Did You Know About All of These Benefits of Naps?
8 Common Persuasion Strategies to Be Aware Of!

References

Willink, J., & Babin, L. (2015). Extreme ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs lead and win (First edition.). New York: St. Martin’s Press.