Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
It is interesting to note that if I was only allowed to have two "leadership" books in my library, that both of them would be derived from a military viewpoint. Taking it a step further, both of the books actually come from a Navy background.
Personally I have neither a Navy nor a military experience myself. While I respect the men and women of our military at the highest level I am capable, I never had the honor of serving with them in their endeavor to keep our people and our country safe.
The reason I bring this up is because I want you to understand that while Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win does have military elements and stories, and it pulls its leadership lessons from these events, you do not need to be a military person to enjoy this book and learn from its valuable lessons.
Written by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, Extreme Ownership really gets to the heart of what it takes to be a leader, the concept that all responsibility for everything that happens within an organization comes back to the leader. As President Harry Truman was known for saying "The Buck Stops Here," and so it does again when one takes extreme ownership.
Willink and Babin are Navy SEALs and veterans of the war in Iraq. While stationed in Ramadi they learned lessons while working under some of the most intense conditions, where life and death are actually on the line. After leaving the SEAL Teams, Willink and Babin formed Echelon Front, a consulting company where they could teach the leadership principles they learned in Ramadi to business leaders looking to take their companies to the next level.
Throughout the book we learn the different elements that make up extreme ownership. We are taught that there are "No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders." Concepts like "Cover and Move" and "Prioritize and Execute" are brought from the battlefield and into the boardroom. The lesson on "Decentralized Command" is especially vital to creating teams that are able to function at optimal levels.
Each chapter starts with the telling of a real life situation that happened while Willink and Babin were in the SEAL Teams. From there they break out the specific lesson that was learned from that particular story. Finally, each chapter takes the lesson that was learned and applies it directly to business by giving an example of how the principle helped one of their clients move past a particular challenge they were facing.
I found the stories at the beginning of each chapter to be exciting and fascinating. To have my eyes opened to just a little of what our men went through in Iraq was extremely valuable in and of itself. Extreme Ownership, however, is not a military book. It is not written with the intent to tell war stories except for the lessons that can be learned by their telling.
Some may think that Extreme Ownership is a book for guys or those that like reading about the military and war, but this would be a major misunderstanding. The first time that I read Extreme Ownership it was with the owner of our company and a small group of his leaders. None of us had ever been in the military and all but the owner and I were women. Everyone was drawn into this book and had a great time discussing and learning the principles. More importantly we actually implemented what we had learned.
If there was one book that really lends itself to this kind of group reading it is Extreme Ownership. By taking it chapter by chapter, lesson by lesson, and discussing it with others and then utilizing what you have learned to change the culture of your organization, Extreme Ownership can be one of the most valuable books you will ever read.
Personally I have neither a Navy nor a military experience myself. While I respect the men and women of our military at the highest level I am capable, I never had the honor of serving with them in their endeavor to keep our people and our country safe.
The reason I bring this up is because I want you to understand that while Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win does have military elements and stories, and it pulls its leadership lessons from these events, you do not need to be a military person to enjoy this book and learn from its valuable lessons.
Written by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, Extreme Ownership really gets to the heart of what it takes to be a leader, the concept that all responsibility for everything that happens within an organization comes back to the leader. As President Harry Truman was known for saying "The Buck Stops Here," and so it does again when one takes extreme ownership.
Willink and Babin are Navy SEALs and veterans of the war in Iraq. While stationed in Ramadi they learned lessons while working under some of the most intense conditions, where life and death are actually on the line. After leaving the SEAL Teams, Willink and Babin formed Echelon Front, a consulting company where they could teach the leadership principles they learned in Ramadi to business leaders looking to take their companies to the next level.
Throughout the book we learn the different elements that make up extreme ownership. We are taught that there are "No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders." Concepts like "Cover and Move" and "Prioritize and Execute" are brought from the battlefield and into the boardroom. The lesson on "Decentralized Command" is especially vital to creating teams that are able to function at optimal levels.
Each chapter starts with the telling of a real life situation that happened while Willink and Babin were in the SEAL Teams. From there they break out the specific lesson that was learned from that particular story. Finally, each chapter takes the lesson that was learned and applies it directly to business by giving an example of how the principle helped one of their clients move past a particular challenge they were facing.
I found the stories at the beginning of each chapter to be exciting and fascinating. To have my eyes opened to just a little of what our men went through in Iraq was extremely valuable in and of itself. Extreme Ownership, however, is not a military book. It is not written with the intent to tell war stories except for the lessons that can be learned by their telling.
Some may think that Extreme Ownership is a book for guys or those that like reading about the military and war, but this would be a major misunderstanding. The first time that I read Extreme Ownership it was with the owner of our company and a small group of his leaders. None of us had ever been in the military and all but the owner and I were women. Everyone was drawn into this book and had a great time discussing and learning the principles. More importantly we actually implemented what we had learned.
If there was one book that really lends itself to this kind of group reading it is Extreme Ownership. By taking it chapter by chapter, lesson by lesson, and discussing it with others and then utilizing what you have learned to change the culture of your organization, Extreme Ownership can be one of the most valuable books you will ever read.
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