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As a leader, it is up to you to explain the bigger picture to him—and to all your front line leaders. That is a critical component of leadership

Jocko Willink

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.
JOCKO WILLINK

Important Lose Quality Relationship Strong Team Weapon
People do not follow robots.
JOCKO WILLINK

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

Future Leadership Yourself
Even the most competent of leaders can be overwhelmed if they try to tackle multiple problems or a number of tasks simultaneously.
JOCKO WILLINK

Leadership Problem Try
Whether on the battlefield or in the business world, leaders must be comfortable accepting some level of risk.
JOCKO WILLINK

Business Comfortable Leadership Risk Understand War World
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
There are no bad units, only bad officers. This captures the essence of what Extreme Ownership is all about.
JOCKO WILLINK

Bad Control Politics
I can remember many times when my boat crew struggled. It was easy to make excuses for our team’s performance and why it wasn’t what it should have been. But I learned that good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done and win.
JOCKO WILLINK

Goodness Leadership Learning Myself Remember Struggle Time Win
When it comes to standards, as a leader, it’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate. When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable.
JOCKO WILLINK

Acceptance Expectation Leadership Tolerance
So how can a leader become great if they lack the natural characteristics necessary to lead? The answer is simple: a good leader builds a great team that counterbalances their weaknesses.
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Greatness Leadership Necessary Simplicity Team Weakness
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
Trust is not blindly given. It must be built over time.
JOCKO WILLINK

Time Trust
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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Planning Simplicity Team Understand
There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win.
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Blame Development Failure Leadership Mistake Oneself Win
For this reason, they must believe in the cause for which they are fighting.
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Believe Fight Inspirational Reason
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.
JOCKO WILLINK

Control Enemy Failure Goodness Important Thinking
Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes.
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Motivational One Liner
A mission statement tells your troops what you are doing.
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Team Yourself
Such concepts are simple, but not easy,
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Easy Simplicity
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
Plans and orders must be communicated in a manner that is simple, clear, and concise. Everyone
JOCKO WILLINK

Planning Simplicity
There is only hard work, late nights, early mornings, practice, rehearsal, repetition, study, sweat, blood, toil, frustration, and discipline.
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Discipline Inspirational Morning Night Practice Success
Get after it.
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Inspirational One Liner
And the more you build your will by doing hard things, the stronger your will becomes.
JOCKO WILLINK

Strong Willing Yourself
As a leader, it is up to you to explain the bigger picture to him—and to all your front line leaders. That is a critical component of leadership
JOCKO WILLINK

Explanation Leadership Photograpgh
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.
JOCKO WILLINK

Best Decision Failure Leadership Possible Team
After all, there can be no leadership where there is no team.
JOCKO WILLINK

Leadership Team

As a leader, it is up to you to explain the bigger picture to him—and to all your front line leaders. That is a critical component of leadership

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As a leader, it is up to you to explain the bigger picture to him—and to all your front line leaders. That is a critical component of leadership

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