Notes on Extreme Ownership (by Jocko Willink) book

If you can read one and only one book on leadership (from, let’s be honest, thousands of them) you really should consider Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink. This is THE most simple, straight and clear book on leadership I’ve ever read.

Advice: get +10 Leadership points by LISTENING to an audiobook, which is narrated by the author with his astounding voice (you can check it on his Youtube channel).

My notes

On ownership

• True leader takes 100% ownership of everything in his domain
• If something is wrong - the leader doesn’t blame others, he takes full responsibility for the outcome and searches what he must do as a leader to create success

On leaders

• Leaders have a great impact on a team’s performance
• Leaders should not tolerate poor performance, they should hold subordinates accountable, enforce standards

On beliefs

• Leader must believe in his mission and understand the underlying purpose
• Subordinates should see this belief and understand the WHY

On team mistakes and success

• Leaders take ownership of the team’s mistakes, but they don’t take credit for the team’s success

On ego

• Ego restricts your ability to take ownership of mistakes
• Leaders checks their ego, stay humble, confident, but not arrogant

On debriefs

• After every mission, you should do a debriefing (what went right, what went wrong, how can we adapt)

On leading up (often overlooked thing for managers btw)

• Leaders should push situational awareness up to their superiors and secure their support for the team and mission

On leading down

• Leaders must explain to team members their role in the mission

On team size

• Break teams into 4-5 operators an decentralize command

Laws of combat

• Cover and move
  • Leaders support and encourage teamwork - this is the only way to success
• Simple
  • Leaders simplify their strategy and plans as much as possible to avoid any misunderstanding and increase focus
• Prioritize and Execute
  • Leaders must determine the highest priority task and execute it
• Decentralized command
  • Leaders must delegate not only tasks but the planning process itself as much down the chain of command as possible