Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin is one of those books that became an instant business school classic. I’ve owned it for a few years, and I finally decided to read it. I love reading leadership books, and I was interested to see the parallels between Willink and Babin’s military experience and the business world.

When leaders receive an order that they themselves question and do not understand, they must ask the question: why? Why are we being asked to do this? Those leaders must take a step back, deconstruct the situation, analyze the strategic picture, and then come to a conclusion. If they cannot determine a satisfactory answer themselves, they must ask questions up the chain of command until they understand why. If frontline leaders and troops understand why, they can move forward, fully believing in what they are doing.

I found the recaps of military missions in each chapter tedious. I lightly skimmed those recaps until getting to the Application to Business sections, where I found the most helpful information. The popularity of this book can’t be denied, so I know people enjoy the mission recaps, but whether on screen or in books, I’ve never much cared for those types of stories. I didn’t see an overarching theme or story throughout Extreme Ownership. There’s no single thread tying the stories together and each chapter, like the mission, feels very tactical.

Leading up, the leader cannot fall back on his or her positional authority. Instead, the subordinate leader must use influence, experience, knowledge, communication, and maintain the highest professionalism.

I found many parallels with Brene Brown’s Dare to Lead. Both books have the same concepts, with different strategies for communicating those concepts. I feel strongly you should read both and see what you learn from each.