Instead of letting the situation dictate our decisions, we must dictate the situation.
The most impressive thing about this improvement in performance was that it did not come from a major process change or an advance in technology. Instead, it came through a leadership principle that has been around for ages: Simple.
An opportunity to come out of the gate like a man possessed and attack the day: Without mercy. Today: I’m taking scalps. I’m putting the pressure on. I’m the aggressor. I’m on the attack. And of course: I will get tired. I will get beat up. I will get knocked down and drained and will have some bad days. But I will not Stop.
A leader must care about the troops, but at the same time the leader must complete the mission, and in doing so there will be risk and sometimes unavoidable consequences to the troops.
Don’t ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do.
Repetitive exceptional performance became a habit.
It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate. You have to drive your CTO to exercise Extreme Ownership – to acknowledge mistakes, stop blaming others, and lead his team to success. If you allow the status quo to persist, you can’t expect to improve performance, and you can’t expect to win.
In the SEAL Teams, the bond of our brotherhood is our strongest weapon. If you take that away from us, we lose our most important quality as a team.
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. Ego can prevent a leader from conducting an honest, realistic assessment of his or her own performance and the performance of the team.
Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. It is unreliable and when you are counting on motivation to get your goals accomplished – you will likely fall short.
The book derives its title from the underlying principle – the mind-set – that provides the foundation for all the rest: Extreme Ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.
If an individual on the team is not performing at the level required for the team to succeed, the leader must train and mentor that underperformer. But if the underperformer continually fails to meet standards, then a leader who exercises Extreme Ownership must be loyal to the team and the mission above any individual. If underperformers cannot improve, the leader must make the tough call to terminate them and hire others who can get the job done. It is all on the leader.
The people who are successful decide they are going to be successful. They make that choice. And they make other choices. They decide to study hard. They decide to work hard. They decide to be the first person to get to work and the last to go home. They decide they are going to take on the hard jobs. Take on the challenges. They decide they are going to lead when no one else will.
And The Warpath is a path – it’s a route – it leads somewhere. Where does it lead? Yes, it can lead to war. And that is fine. Because I am ready; I am waiting. But the war might not come. And that is okay. Because The Warpath is also a war against weakness – and so it leads to strength. It is a war against ignorance – and so it leads to knowledge. It is a war against confusion – and so it delivers understanding.
The focus must always be on how to best accomplish the mission.
To not move around, observe, and analyze, in order to make the best decisions possible, was to fail as a leader and fail the team.
So as a leader it is critical to balance the strict discipline of standard procedures with the freedom to adapt, adjust, and manoeuvre to do what is best to support the overarching commander’s intent and achieve victory. For leaders, in combat, business, and life, be disciplined, but not rigid.
Instead of focusing on one individual, leaders must remember that there is a team – and that the performance of the team trumps the performance of a single individual. Instead of continuing to invest in one subpar performer, once a concerted effort has been made to coach and train that individual to no avail, the leader must remove the individual.
Besides death, all failure is psychological.
Live in defiance of the weakness and in rebellion against the decay.