Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
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Jocko Willink and Leif Babin served together in SEAL Task Unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated Special Operations unit from the war in Iraq. Through difficult months of sustained combat, Jocko, Leif and their SEAL brothers learned that leadership -- at every level -- is the most important thing on the battlefield. They started Echelon Front to teach these same leadership principles to companies across industries throughout the business world that want to build their own high-performance, winning teams. This book explains the SEAL leadership concepts crucial to accomplishing the most difficult missions in combat and how to apply them to any group, team, or organization. It provides the reader with Jocko and Leif's formula for success: the mindset and guiding principles that enable SEAL combat units to achieve extraordinary results. It demonstrates how to apply these directly to business and life to likewise achieve victory.
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Extreme Ownership doesn't provide any ground breaking new leadership techniques, and the authors readily admit to this. It does, however, frame a simple set of leadership guidelines in such a way that makes them easier to consider and apply to your own situation.
I think I had over-inflated expectations of this book which results in my mediocre review. The principles in the book are solid, but fairly simplistic. If you like military culture then this book is a good choice for you, but it didn't hit home for me. I have immense respect for people who put their lives on the line, and the authors of the book are clearly skilled leaders in their field. Their stories about their mission in Iraq were interesting to read but I felt that the transfer of principles to business were a bit shallow. Most of the chapters were in the format 1) Tell exciting war stories 2) Expound upon a leadership principle 3) Tell a story about a business scenario 4) Conclude “look the principle works”.
I'd recommend reading a summary of the book.
Also if you listen to the audiobook like I did, it's possible that Americans repeatedly pronouncing foreign names incorrectly with such brazen confidence might become a trigger for you too.
