black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

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.

Jocko Willink

His realistic assessment, acknowledgment of failure, and ownership of the problem were key to developing a plan to improve performance and ultimately win.
JOCKO WILLINK

Development Failure Himself Improvement Problem Win
Leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities, between one extreme and another.
JOCKO WILLINK

Leadership Quality
Departments and groups within the team must break down silos, depend on each other and understand who depends on them.
JOCKO WILLINK

Break Independent Team Understand
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.
JOCKO WILLINK

Challenge Leadership Present Success Team Tragedy Transformation Understand War Win
Our egos don’t like to take blame.
JOCKO WILLINK

Blame Ourselves
Don’t ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do.
JOCKO WILLINK

Future Leadership Yourself
Leadership isn’t one person leading a team. It is a group of leaders working together, up and down the chain of command, to lead.
JOCKO WILLINK

Leadership Person Team Togetherness
I had to take ownership of everything that went wrong. Despite the tremendous blow to my reputation and to my ego, it was the right thing to do—the only thing to do. I
JOCKO WILLINK

Myself Reputation Responsibility Right Time
But, in fact, discipline is the pathway to freedom.
JOCKO WILLINK

Discipline Freedom
That’s it. When things are going bad: Don’t get all bummed out, don’t get startled, don’t get frustrated. No. Just look at the issue and say: Good.
JOCKO WILLINK

Bad Goodness Issue
For this reason, they must believe in the cause for which they are fighting.
JOCKO WILLINK

Believe Fight Inspirational Reason
Waiting for the 100 percent right and certain solution leads to delay, indecision, and an inability to execute.
JOCKO WILLINK

Ability Action Decision Right Wait
And the more you build your will by doing hard things, the stronger your will becomes.
JOCKO WILLINK

Strong Willing Yourself
As a leader, you have to balance the dichotomy, to be resolute where it matters but never inflexible and uncompromising on matters of little importance to the overall good of the team and the strategic mission.
JOCKO WILLINK

Goodness Importance Leadership Team
All animals, including humans, need to see the connection between action and consequence in order to learn or react appropriately.
JOCKO WILLINK

Action Animal Connection Human Learning
There is only hard work, late nights, early mornings, practice, rehearsal, repetition, study, sweat, blood, toil, frustration, and discipline.
JOCKO WILLINK

Discipline Inspirational Morning Night Practice Success
Take care of your gear and your gear will take care of you.
JOCKO WILLINK

Care Material
In the business world, and in life, there are inherent complexities. It is critical to keep plans and communication simple.
JOCKO WILLINK

Business Life Simplicity World
Stop researching every aspect of it and reading all about it and debating the pros and cons of it, Start doing it.
JOCKO WILLINK

Reading Start
Such concepts are simple, but not easy,
JOCKO WILLINK

Easy Simplicity
There is no growth in the comfort zone.
JOCKO WILLINK

Comfortable Growth One Liner
In order to convince and inspire others to follow and accomplish a mission, a leader must be a true believer in the mission.
JOCKO WILLINK

Accomplishment Believe Inspirational Leadership True
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.
JOCKO WILLINK

Care Leadership Risk Time
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.
JOCKO WILLINK

Action Blame Live People Problem
There are no bad units, only bad officers. This captures the essence of what Extreme Ownership is all about.
JOCKO WILLINK

Bad Control Politics
Leadership is simple, but not easy.
JOCKO WILLINK

Easy Leadership Simplicity
Don’t fight stress. Embrace it. Turn it on itself. Use it to make yourself sharper and more alert. Use it to make you think and learn and get better and smarter and more effective. Use the stress to make you a better you.
JOCKO WILLINK

Fight Learning Thinking

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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Jocko Willink Quotes