“In the SEAL Teams, the bond of our brotherhood is our strongest weapon. If you take that away from us, we lose our most important quality as a team.”

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.

Whether on the battlefield or in the business world, leaders must be comfortable accepting some level of risk.

Most important of all, he believed winning was possible.

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

The infamous they.

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.

Calm but not robotic, logical but not devoid of emotions.

All animals, including humans, need to see the connection between action and consequence in order to learn or react appropriately.

A leader must lead but also be ready to follow. Sometimes, another member of the team—perhaps a subordinate or direct report—might be in a better position to develop a plan, make a decision, or lead through a specific situation.

The best leaders are not driven by ego or personal agendas.

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?

The most fundamental and important truths at the heart of Extreme Ownership: there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.

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.

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

We wrote this so that the leadership lessons can continue to impact teams beyond the battlefield in all leadership situations—any company, team, or organization in which a group of people strives to achieve a goal and accomplish a mission.

We learned that leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory, particularly when doubters question whether victory is even possible.