Book Notes from 'Extreme Ownership' by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
- Check the Ego
- Task Unit Bruiser, we were
confident and perhaps even a little cocky - but I tried to temper that
confidence by instilling a culture within our task unit to never be
satisfied; we pushed ourselves harder to continuously improve our
performance.
- If U.S. forces were to win
in Ramadi, I saw right away that all of us had to work together and
support each other.
- But if the US forces were to
win this difficult fight here in Ramadi, we would all need to check our
egos and work together.
- We established a precedent
that in TU Bruiser we would treat our Army and Marine brothers with
nothing but the highest professional respect and courtesy
- We sought ways to work
together with these units in support of one another.
- The goal was simple - secure
and stabilize Ramadi.
- Highest level of discipline.
- Discipline in such a
situation started with little things - with that, the more important
things fell into place.
- Discipline created vigilance
and operational readiness, which translated to high performance and
success on the battlefield.
- We had to all work together
towards the same goal of defeating that insurgency, we couldn’t let ego
get in the way.
- Our mission is to defeat
this insurgency, we cant let our egos take precedence over doing what is
best to accomplish that.
- It was about the mission and
how we could best accomplish it and win.
- When they attempted to pass
this valuable information on to the new unit - their advice was shunned.
Overconfidence was risky in such a hostile environment.
- Be ready to support each
other.
- Everyone had to share
operational details of plans as much as they could in order to ensure an
synchronized effort.
- It was essential to
coordinate and keep other units informed in order to give everyone the
greatest chance of survival and prevent fratricide.
- Principal
- Ego clouds and disrupts
everything - the planning process, the ability to take good advice, the
ability to accept constructive criticism.
- It can even stifle
someone's sense of self-preservation.
- the most difficult ego to deal with is your own.
- Everyone has an ego - ego
drives the most successful people in life.
- When ego clouds our
judgement and prevents us from seeing the world as it is - then ego
becomes destructive.
- Implementing extreme
ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of
humility.
- Admitting mistakes, taking
ownership and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to
any successful team.
- 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.
- Application to Business
- Why do you think he would
do that?
- That means you will have to
check your ego in order to have a constructive discussion with him and
get this under control
- It is critical that the
troops grasp how what they do connects to the bigger picture.
- As a leader, it is up to
you to explain the bigger picture to him - and to all your front line
leaders - that is the critical component of leadership
- This is another critical
component of leadership - dealing with people egos
- Ownership of everything -
this isn't his fault, it's yours - you are in charge, so the fact that
he didn’t follow procedure is your fault.
- If you approached it as he
did something wrong, and he needs to fix something, and he is at fault,
it becomes a clash of egos and you two will be at odds.
- Its natural for anyone in a
leadership position to blame subordinate leaders and direct reports when
something goes wrong.
- Our egos don't like to take
blame.
- Remember it's not about you
- it's about the mission and how best to accomplish it.