Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink &

Leif Babin
● Extreme Ownership is a mindset that can be trained to COMMUNICATE, LEAD and WIN
● The goal of all leaders should be to work themselves out of a job

A. Winning The War Within

1. Extreme Ownership
● Success/failure depends on the leader
● The leader must take responsibility for EVERYTHING in their world
○ Communicating purpose/mission to gain buy-in
○ Developing tactics
○ Securing training and resources
○ Deconstructing failures and improving
● Loyalty must be to the team and mission over individuals
● How might you best get your team to effectively execute the plan and accomplish the
mission?

2. No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders

● Only 2 types of leaders: Effective and Ineffective
● Own every problem - no excuses, just solutions to win
● Enforce standards and always push for better - not what you say but what you tolerate
● Get the team to focus on what is in front of them

3. Believe
● Know the WHY and believe in the mission that is greater than oneself
● See how tactical missions fit into strategic goals
● Ask questions until you understand
● Communicate it to your team so that they can believe in it too
● Train to always be ready

4. Check the Ego

● Mission over Personal Agenda
● It’s not about you - it’s about the mission and how best to accomplish it
 ● Discipline > Readiness > High Performance > Success

B. The Laws of Combat

1. Cover and Move

● The enemy isn’t “in here”
● If the overall team fails, everyone fails
● Teams must always work together to best accomplish the mission

2. Simple
● KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid
● Start simple and expand out with experience
● Stay calm and communicate for the lowest common denominator in simple, clear and
concise terms
● Make people understand to the point they don’t need to think about it
● Help them see the connection between action and consequence
● Reach out and establish your presence to show that you’re here to stay

3. Prioritise and Execute

● Relax, look around and make a call
● Execute on the highest priorities one at a time
a. Evaluate the highest priority problem
b. Lay it out in simple, clear and concise terms
c. Develop and determine a solution, seeking input from leaders and team
d. Direct all efforts and resources to execute the solution
e. Move onto the next highest priority and repeat
f. Communicate any shifts in priority
g. Don’t let the focus of one priority cause target fixation
h. Stay one step ahead of problems

4. Decentralised Command
● Leaders must be free to move where they are most needed
● Focus on command and control, not minutia
● Lead 4-6 people max
● Empower junior leaders based on understanding of mission, SOPs and left-right limits
● Subordinate leaders should be proactive - this is what I’ll do NOT what should I do?
● Pass situational awareness up and down the chain of command
C. Sustaining Victory

1. Plan
● Develop a standardised planning procedure
● Limit the time allocated to the planning cycle (e.g. 96 hours)
a. ANALYSE the mission
i. Understand HQ’s mission, Commander’s Intent and endstate (the goal)
ii. Identify and state own Commander’s Intent and endstate for the specific
mission
b. IDENTIFY personnel, assets, resources and time available
c. DECENTRALISE the planning process
i. Empower key leaders within the team to analyse possible courses of
action
d. DETERMINE a specific course of action
i. Lean toward selecting the simplest course of action
ii. Focus efforts on the best course of action
e. EMPOWER key leaders to develop the plan for the selected course of action
f. PLAN for likely contingencies throughout each phase of operation
g. MITIGATE risks that can be controlled as much as possible
h. DELEGATE portions of the plan and brief to key junior leaders
i. Stand back and be the tactical genius
i. CHECK and question the plan against emerging information continually to ensure
it still fits the situation
j. BRIEF the plan to all participants and supporting assets
i. Emphasise the Commander’s Intent
ii. Ask questions and engage in discussion and interaction with the team to
ensure they understand
k. DEBRIEF after executing operations
i. Analyse lessons learned and implement them in future planning
● What went right?
● What went wrong?
● How can we adapt to be more effective over the enemy in future?
2. Leading Up and Down the Chain of Command
● Key factors
○ Take responsibility for leading everyone in your world - subordinates and
superiors alike
○ If someone isn’t doing what you want or need, determine what you can do to
better enable them
○ Don’t ask your leader what you should do - tell them what you are going to do
● Leading down the chain of command
○ Explain to frontline how their role contributes to the big picture success
○ Help them understand why they are doing what they are doing
○ Step out of the office and personally engage in face-to-face conversations
● Leading up the chain of command
○ Support your boss
○ Ask questions if you don’t understand why certain decisions have been made
○ Execute plans as if they were your own
○ Push situational awareness upwards
○ Understand and accept your team or situation may not be the current priority

3. Decisiveness and Uncertainty

● There is no 100% right solution and the picture will never be complete
● As a leader, your default setting should be proactive/aggressive
● How do you want to be perceived? Indecisive or willing to make the tough choices?
● Instead of letting the situation dictate decisions, dictate the situation
● Act decisively amid uncertainty
● Make the best decisions based on immediate information and logic - not emotion
● Adjust decisions quickly based on evolving situations and information
● Don’t let intelligence gathering and research impede decision making

4. Discipline Equals Freedom

● Discipline makes you more prepared, flexible, adaptable, efficient and effective
● Discipline starts every day when the first alarm clock goes off - it’s the first test
○ Getting up early gives you more free time
○ Those who begin work before everyone else become the best in their field
● Make time in your schedule for the things that matter
● Standardise everything with a disciplined methodology
● Leadership is a balance between extremes
○ Confident but never cocky
○ Courageous but not foolhardy
○ Competitive but gracious in losing
○ Attentive but not obsessed in details
○ Strong but have endurance
○ A leader and a follower
○ Humble but not passive
○ Aggressive but not overbearing
○ Quiet but not silent
○ Calm but not robotic
○ Logical but not devoid of emotions
○ Close with subordinates but not too close
○ Exercise Extreme Ownership but also Decrentalised Command
○ Nothing to prove but everything to prove