For leaders, the humility to admit and own mistakes and develop a plan to overcome them is essential to success. The best leaders are not driven by ego or personal agendas. They are simply focused on the mission and how best to accomplish it.
JOCKO WILLINKThe most fundamental and important truths at the heart of Extreme Ownership: there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.
More Jocko Willink Quotes
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Leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities, between one extreme and another.
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But, in fact, discipline is the pathway to freedom.
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The U.S. Navy SEAL Teams were at the forefront of this leadership transformation, emerging from the triumphs and tragedies of war with a crystallized understanding of what it takes to succeed in the most challenging environments that combat presents.
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Most important of all, he believed winning was possible.
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Discipline equals freedom.
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If we could execute with a monumental effort just to reach an immediate goal that everyone could see, we could then continue to the next visually.
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Is this what I want to be? This? Is this all I’ve got—is this everything I can give? Is this going to be my life? Do I accept that?
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More than a decade of continuous war and tough combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan gave birth to a new generation of leaders in the ranks of America’s fighting forces.
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The leader must own everything in his or her world.
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A mission statement tells your troops what you are doing.
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Remember to keep your ego in check. Don’t judge people.
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In the business world, and in life, there are inherent complexities. It is critical to keep plans and communication simple.
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To not move around, observe, and analyze, in order to make the best decisions possible, was to fail as a leader and fail the team.
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Take care of your gear and your gear will take care of you.
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Don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen. You won’t be. Don’t count on motivation. Count on Discipline.
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If mistakes happen, effective leaders don’t place blame on others. They take ownership of the mistakes, determine what went wrong, develop solutions to correct those mistakes and prevent them from happening again as they move forward.
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If the plan is simple enough, everyone understands it, which means each person can rapidly adjust and modify what he or she is doing. If the plan is too complex, the team can’t make rapid adjustments to it, because there is no baseline understanding of it.
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After all, there can be no leadership where there is no team.
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In order to convince and inspire others to follow and accomplish a mission, a leader must be a true believer in the mission.
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Whether on the battlefield or in the business world, leaders must be comfortable accepting some level of risk.
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Extreme Ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.
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But we can’t ever think we are too good to fail or that our enemies are not capable, deadly, and eager to exploit our weaknesses. We must never get complacent. This is where controlling the ego is most important.
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Remember: the enemy gets a vote.
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A leader must care about the troops, but at the same time the leader must complete the mission, and in doing so there will be risk and sometimes unavoidable consequences to the troops.
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Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures. Discipline equals freedom.
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Don’t let your mind control you. Control your mind.
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