Part 2: Taking Extreme Ownership Over Your Life & Business
Learn to Lead like a Navy SEAL.
In Part 1, we looked at the first 6 lessons as laid out in Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win.
Today, we will continue in that vein with Part 2. A further deep dive into lessons that were learned in the most extreme of human environments and which can be translated into everyday life whether you who want to improve in business, in your marriage and relationships, or for simply improve your quality of life.
Let’s dig in.
7. Prioritise and Execute
Leif and his platoon ventured out in the early morning on patrol, their goal: to clear as much of the enemy from the area as possible. They chose a tall building that offered a commanding view of the area. It would allow them the greatest chance to inflict as much havoc on the enemy as possible.
However, the building had its weak points: a single entrance that couldn’t be observed from the outside without leaving soldiers exposed to the enemy, which meant they had vulnerabilities such as a potential ambush or an increased IED threat.
The day progressed with spurts of intense action and periods of calm as the enemy regrouped. After night had fallen, it came time to leave.
Now, the shortcomings of their position became more of a factor. An unknown device now lay outside against a wall; a likely IED. The exit was likely a no-go, so the team moved into action, and the soldiers pulled out a sledgehammer and began to break down a wall that lay on a different side of the building. 20 minutes later, they had a new exit. As they were on the first floor, this exit led the team out onto a flat roof of the adjoining building.
The team moved out. One SEAL, in his attempt to move forward, fell through a tarp to the ground below. It had appeared in the darkness to be a solid surface. He fell hard.
Adding to the chaos, they could not reach him without breaking through a locked gate to gain access to the street below.
Leif had to make a decision and do so quickly. He had a fallen soldier, alone and maybe badly injured, they were in the open and had to make sure no one else was left unaccounted for in the darkness and left behind, they had to gain access to the street to help their comrade and then make their way back to base.
Leif realised that panicking would solve nothing. He had to Prioritise and Execute - choose the most important step, complete it and move on to the next.
He got to work, and the team made it back to base. The soldier who suffered the fall, luckily, had only sustained minimal injuries.
Key takeaways:
It is crucial in moments of high stress to take a step back, take a breath, prioritise what step needs to be taken and then take the most important step first. Once that is complete, take the next most important step next and so on.
Effective multitasking is an illusion. The leaders must decide on the team’s main priority. Once this is established, the team’s energy should be focused solely on that until it is complete before moving on to the next priority.
The inability to prioritise and execute allows problems to build up, the issues start to compound, and your role quickly becomes that of an inefficient firefighter, running from blaze to blaze, never truly putting out the main fire.
The job of the leader is to ensure the team focus on that which is most important and doesn’t get sidetracked by things of lesser importance. They need to Prioritise and Execute.
8. Decentralised Command
The U.S Navy SEALs train in extremely high-stress situations. They do this so that when they face high-stress situations on the battlefield, they can remain calm and allow their training to kick in. This allows them the presence of mind to do what they need to do.
Carrying out military operations against hostile enemies involves high levels of planning and organisation; there are so many moving parts that it wouldn’t be possible for an individual to oversee every detail.
To operate under Decentralised Command, there must be leaders at each level of the command chain. The number of people who answer to them must be minimal, and the number of people they answer to even more so. As a result, any one individual has to supervise a maximum of 4-6 people, who in turn have people that report to them. The leaders set the goals and the parameters, and then they trust their men to lead.
This structure of commands allows leaders time and space to focus on the task, with the understanding that their subordinate leaders will do their job.
On one large operation involving two U.S Army battalions, this became evident. Jocko knew that his two platoon leaders and their subordinate leaders were overseeing their men and ensuring that the job was under control. It allowed him the space to step back and take a bird’s-eye view of operations.
As a result, he was able to navigate a situation that could have tragically resulted in a blue-on-blue situation where some U.S soldiers had been mistaken for the enemy due to the incorrect identification of a building.
Jocko, having the freedom to assess the battlefield as a whole, was able to recognise that something wasn’t quite right. H gathered further information and soon they realised that someone had misidentified the building. The mistake had almost caused a grave error.
Key takeaways:
It is crucial that the team is trained and fully understands what is expected of them.
Trust the leaders on your team to make their own decisions. Let them know what the objective is and the parameters within which they must operate, and allow them to achieve it in the best way they see fit.
As the leader, your job is to view the big picture and not get lost in the weeds. Your job is the oversee the whole operation, to take a step back and analyse the situation correctly.
An individual can only manage so much at a time. Whether it’s people, departments, tasks, etc. Delegation is crucial if a team intends to be high-functioning or a company intends to grow.
The team must know clearly the chain of command and what they are responsible for within that chain; uncertainty leads to mistakes.
9. Plan
A young Iraqi teen, the son of a police colonel, had been kidnapped, and a ransom of $50,000 was demanded, or the boy’s life would be forfeit. Beheading was the method of choice in that part of the world.
With the intel that had been gathered, the team began to put together a plan of action. They were going to concentrate on stealth on the route to the target location, and once the door was breached, speed would be what mattered.
The team would receive cover via sniper overwatch, and in the planning process, they aimed to cover every eventuality and mitigate any risk as best they could.
At the final moment, just prior to the team moving out, fresh intel arrived stating there may be potential IEDs hidden in the yard and potential bunkered machine gun positions in the house. The team reacted as was expected, they took in the information, added it to their knowledge and moved on.
The mission went off successfully without a hitch, and the teenage boy was rescued and returned to his family safe.
Key takeaways:
Planning is crucial in the pursuit of a goal. A plan must be designed with clear objectives, account for potential roadblocks, discuss alternative solutions and be clear about the role that each member of the team. It must then be broken down into smaller, more manageable steps.
No plan is perfect. Even the best laid plans cannot account for every potential variable. The best laid plans account for as many of these variables as possible, but offer the team a level of flexibility to operate should it be needed. As Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
New information may come to light at any stage in the process, maybe just as the plan is about to be implemented. This needs to be accounted for so that it can be considered without potentially derailing the whole plan. Contingency planning must be done and included in the plan to account for all eventualities.
Delegation is a crucial step in the planning stage. Leaders at each level of the team must be given ownership of their own portion of the plan and the trust to see it through.
Effective plans are simple and communicated to the team as such. There must be no doubt about who does what.
Leaders must ask questions of their subordinates to ensure the plan is fully understood. Sometimes, more junior members may be afraid to ask questions or look foolish; it is the leader’s job to ensure they get their say.
A good plan is like a living organism; it moves with the outcome of events and must be treated as so.
Each team will benefit from having a planning procedure, a standard of design that can be implemented throughout an organisation and can be understood by anyone in the organisation.
10. Leading Up and Down the Chain of Command
The act of Leading Down the Chain of Command is when a leader effectively guides and develops their subordinates in such a way that leads to positive results. This process also has the bonus of creating and revealing leaders.
After returning home from their deployment, Jocko was tasked with creating a presentation for the Chief of Naval Operations to brief them on their time in Ramadi, Iraq.
As he put the presentation together, he used a map of the city and highlighted the areas that had been under the enemy’s control when they arrived. In the presentation, he showed the results of their efforts and the work they had done as part of their Seize, Clear, Hold, Build strategy. On seeing the presentation, Leif was shocked by the results and was surprised that even though he had been directly involved in the planning of most of the missions, he hadn’t really understood the scope of the work they had done.
They both had a realisation. They hadn’t fully conveyed the full strategic plan to their subordinates. They realised that they should have given their troops more ownership of the process and involved them more, especially those who had become negative and jaded with what was being done. If they had been able to realise the full picture, they likely would have had a different view of things.
In this, they had both fallen short, but lessons had been learned.
Leading up the chain of command is the opposite, and something considered far less, but can be equally important. It may seem counterintuitive, but it’s every bit as important.
To conduct any missions, Task Unit Bruiser would need the sign-off from their Commanding Officer and the higher headquarters staff. What had become a thorn in their side had been the additional questions and requirements that would come back from their CO’s office. The two men believed that many of the questions were foolish and did nothing but waste their time.
Jocko came to a realisation and shared it with Leif. It was that leading not only occurs down the chain of command but up it too. They realised that they would need to do a better job of informing their superiors of the who, what, where, when and why of their plans. They would start giving as much detail as possible in the initial brief. They even decided to bring them to invite their CO to the base and show them the work they were doing, and how they went about planning an operation
The reality was, their superiors weren’t trying to sabotage or frustrate them. They simply wanted to understand exactly what they would be sanctioning. People’s lives would be at risk, and that was not something to be taken lightly. They needed to be sure that every consideration was made in the planning process.
They increased the detail of their mission planning reports and their post operational reports, and even had their Command Master Chief accompany them on a few missions. The result was that their CO and his staff developed trust in them and understood how important they treated every aspect of the process.
Key takeaways:
Whether it be your subordinates or your superiors, they must understand what it is you are trying to achieve and how you intend to go about it.
The more ownership of the plan that can be shared among the team, the more people can feel like a crucial part of the process and that buy-in means that they will be willing to go further and give more towards achieving that goal.
As a leader, it can be easy to get immersed in the planning process and, as a result, miss the forest for the trees. To lead down the chain, you must take a step back and view the whole picture and then relay that picture to your team.
It is the leader’s job to create a clear image of what it is that you are trying to achieve, make sure your subordinates know this, know their roles clearly and have an input in the design of the plan.
Leading doesn’t just involve those subordinate to you. In many cases, superiors need to be led, too. Supply them with a full, clear picture of what you intend to do and how you intend to go about it. In turn, they will be able to make better decisions that can aid you and your team. If you aren’t receiving the help or support that you require, ask yourself, “Have I provided enough information so that they can make the right decision or support me and my team in the way we need them to?”
If you don’t understand why your superiors are making certain decisions or asking certain questions, then it is your job to ask them for more information and how you can do more to make that process easier for them.
11. Decisiveness amid Uncertainty
The job of the sniper overwatch team is a very important one. They watch over the forces on the ground. It is their job to look out for potential threats and eliminate them before they can injure or kill any U.S. military personnel.
Leif was overseeing a sniper overwatch team, and Chris Kyle (the late sniper who was betrayed by Bradley Cooper in the movie American Sniper) spotted movement in a building and could make out a shadow, and it appeared to be holding a rifle.
Numerous times, the shadow moved past the window, but as Chris could not positively ID them as an enemy, he turned to his superior, Leif, for guidance.
A U.S. Army company unit was operating in that area at that time, so Leif checked in with their leader to see if they had any men currently within that building. He replied in the negative and instructed them to take the shot.
Leif didn’t feel comfortable with that; they could not get a positive ID. Not taking action was also a risk; there were U.S. soldiers active in the area, and an armed enemy could result in soldiers being injured or killed.
The Army commander was frustrated with their stalling and did not hide it; he wanted Chris to take the shot. Leif decided to go through some further steps to ensure they made the right decision. He asked the Army commander to have his men come back and clear the building, and that they would provide overwatch. The commander was not happy, but he had no choice and instructed his men to do so.
As soon as the men broke from their position, Leif realised the mistake, and he communicated with the commander to cancel the clear-out. Leif and Chris had miscounted the building and relayed the wrong instructions to the commander. It was friendly soldiers in that building, and the decision not to engage had saved the life of a U.S. soldier and ensured Chris wouldn’t have to live with knowing he had killed one of his brothers in arms.
Key takeaways:
There will be instances where you are presented with a situation where you aren’t sure what the right choice is. The first thing to consider is whether this decision can be reversed or not.
It is crucial as a leader that you are aware of the consequences of a decision and gather as much information as possible about the circumstances before making your decision.
A leader needs to be able to stand their ground and not allow others to pressure them into a decision; they must make the choice that they think is correct.
100% confidence in a decision or understanding of a situation is rare, and most decisions are made with more uncertainty than anyone would like. Being able to make a decision based on the best possible information and then course-correct as the circumstances warrant is what distinguishes good leaders.
You must be aware that not making a decision is one by default, and that too has consequences that you will have to deal with.
When you decide on a course of action and truly believe it to be the right one, act fast and act decisively.
12. Discipline Equals Freedom - The Dichotomy of Leadership
A part of the SEAL team’s responsibilities was carrying out raids to locate and capture or eliminate terrorists.
As such, evidence needed to be gathered for presentation in court. The SEALs had never been properly trained in the art of collecting evidence, and their ransacking approach was slow, inefficient and usually meant valuable evidence was missed or accidentally damaged or destroyed.
A new Iraqi court system was set up, and stricter evidence collection requirements were introduced. The current approach was not going to work.
Jocko tasked a young SEAL with the task of creating a new search and collection routine, and he did not disappoint. He created a system that was equally fast, efficient and ensured valuable evidence would not be missed.
The SEALs hated the idea. It seemed complicated, and they assumed it would take too long on target, meaning the risk would increase of them being exposed to a potential counterattack.
Jocko encouraged them to carry out some training on the new system, and after three attempts and an ever-increasing speed, they became believers in the process.
The new disciplined approach had not just ensured better evidence collection, but it had also dramatically reduced the time spent in each location, increased the number of raids they were able to do on a night and ensured that terrorists would be convicted for the crimes they had committed.
Discipline had given them more freedom.
Key takeaways:
Discipline is a practice that must be undertaken and worked on every single day, all year-round.
Whenever we need more time to work on other projects or to improve at what we are doing, it is up to us to make the time; it will not magically become available for us. Parkinson’s Law states: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” That means, if you don’t make the time, you will never find it.
Discipline is the means by which we create more freedom in our lives. If we get up earlier, that allows us more time to work on our projects. If we work out regularly, that allows us the freedom to move and use our bodies. If we are disciplined with our finances, we are better able to provide for our families.
It permeates everything we do. More disciplined sports teams can grind out wins against more talented teams when the going gets tough. A writer can use discipline to become more creative when she ensures she is at the laptop, at a certain time, day after day, her brain knows it’s time to go to work, and the muse tends to arrive.
There is, however, a dichotomy. In some instances, discipline can be an excuse to remain rigid and hold on to outdated beliefs. Alongside it, the ability to adapt is crucial. Having a disciplined plan is great, but plans need to be able to change when they come up against reality. As General and then President Dwight D. Eisenhower put it: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
Leadership is about learning to walk this tightrope and remain balanced and able to move and adapt as the situation requires.
Great leaders are also great followers when they recognise that someone else has a better idea or executes it better. They remain humble.
A leader’s job is to look out for the good of the whole team, and they must be able to make hard decisions if they are needed. Sometimes positions or people have to be removed in order to ensure the good of the overall team or company.
Closing Thoughts
The book is a must-read for any aspiring leader, regardless of their walk of life. However, I’d go a step further and say that it should be read by anyone who wants to create a better life for themselves.
We aren’t at fault for much of what life throws at us; we aren’t included in the conversation, but what we can control and what we have a say over is how we react to such challenges.
What about this post made you think?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments!! 💬