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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.

Jocko Willink

Leadership is simple, but not easy.
JOCKO WILLINK

Easy Leadership Simplicity
Don’t try to plan for every contingency. Doing so will only overburden you and weigh you down so that you cannot quickly maneuver.
JOCKO WILLINK

Quick Try Willing Yourself
Instead of letting the situation dictate our decisions, we must dictate the situation.
JOCKO WILLINK

Control Decision Ourselves
All elements within the greater team are crucial and must work together to accomplish the mission, mutually supporting one another for that singular purpose.
JOCKO WILLINK

Accomplishment Greatness Support Team Togetherness
The most impressive thing about this improvement in performance was that it did not come from a major process change or an advance in technology. Instead, it came through a leadership principle that has been around for ages: Simple.
JOCKO WILLINK

Age Change Improvement Leadership Simplicity Technology
A good leader does not get bogged down in the minutia of a tactical problem at the expense of strategic success.
JOCKO WILLINK

Goodness Leadership Problem Success
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
Our egos don’t like to take blame.
JOCKO WILLINK

Blame Ourselves
You have to BE VIGILANT. You have to be ON GUARD. You have to HOLD THE LINE on the seemingly insignificant little things— things that shouldn’t matter—but that do.
JOCKO WILLINK

Importance Worth Yourself
Decisively engaged?
JOCKO WILLINK

Decision Marriage
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
Generally, when a leader struggles, the root cause behind the problem is that the leader has leaned too far in one direction and steered off course. Awareness.
JOCKO WILLINK

Direction Leader Problem Struggle
A mission statement tells your troops what you are doing.
JOCKO WILLINK

Team Yourself
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 WILLINK

Accomplishment Development Focus Humility Leadership Mistake 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
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.
JOCKO WILLINK

Decision Development Leadership 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.

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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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Popular Authors

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