Danielle Grieco

ED 497

1 December, 2016

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win

In conducting a study of leadership within the forum of education, I wanted to investigate

seminal leadership principles, and I chose to go about it through the eyes of the military. One of

the books which was at the heart of my study, Extreme Ownership, was written by former U.S.

Navy Seals who prepared and successfully conducted countless dangerous missions in Ramadi,

Iraq, during the early years of the War on Terror. This book is a product of their reflection on the

most critical aspects of leadership; in addition to analyzing these principles as discovered during

their military career, the authors also delve into situations within corporate America where

struggling companies apply these military-discovered leadership tenets. Upon successful

completion of their years of service, both authors went on to create a leadership consulting firm,

Echelon Front, which provides leadership attainment and maintenance advice and assistance in

corporate America.

U.S. Navy Seal officers Jocko Willink and Leif Babin were high ranking officers in a

Task Unit, titled Bruiser, whose overarching goal was to subdue the Ramadi region of Iraq. The

method in which they were to accomplish this task, however, was far more difficult than the

initial command might lead one to believe. In fighting terrorist insurgents in the Middle East, the

method of warfare employed by our troops consisted in a cover-and-move attempted conquest of

each town; by means of a cover-and-move attempted conquest of each street, each building, each

room. Dangerous beyond belief, this method of warfare is painstakingly slow and tedious.

Military members never know where a hand grenade or bomb may be tucked away. They never
know whether their closest enemy is miles, feet, or inches away. This book is designed around

the idea that there is a single most important factor in any leadership arena, namely, the idea of

extreme ownership. From this foundational and all-encompassing point, their twelve principles

of effective leadership can be categorized into three sections: the war within, combat, and victory

maintenance. Each chapter is written in the same easy to follow format: the authors set the stage

in Ramadi, Iraq, and lead the readers to the focal leadership principle of that chapter. After

concluding the narrative based in their military history, the authors explain the principle. Each

chapter then concludes with another story from their past, this one a description of a company

that reached out to them to request assistance in identifying and solving an issue within the

company; this issue was always one solvable by implementing the leadership principle which

had formed the basis of the chapter.

As mentioned above, the book is subdivided into three major categories: winning the war

within, laws of combat, and sustaining victory. The twelve leadership principles are (as

categorized by which section of the book they fall in) 1) extreme ownership, no bad teams, only

bad leaders, believe and check the ego. In section 2) cover and move, simple, prioritize and

execute, and decentralized command. The final section includes 3) plan, leading up and down the

chain of command, decisiveness amid uncertainly, and discipline equals freedom- the dichotomy

of leadership. This breakdown mirrors principles of leadership that correspond to the inner life

and analysis of the leader: tenets of leadership that are within the individual, and which can only

be achieved by work on the part of the leader. The second part can be seen as a description of

principles that are of note in consideration of the leader-follower interactions that will take place

in the pursuit of a goal. The final section contains leadership elements that are of importance as
seen contained in the actual fulfilment of the goal. To differentiate, these final tenets are more

task oriented than concerned with the nature of the human interaction.

Although the authors present these twelve leadership principles as the ones most

necessary to successful leadership generally speaking, they extract an essential and superior two

tenets: extreme ownership and discipline. To the authors, these are the two that bookend the

necessities of successful leadership. If extreme ownership is crucial before a person attempts to

analyze their responsibility in any leadership capacity, then discipline in the entity that will

escort the leader through efficaciously. Extreme ownership is the mentality that Asthe senior

leaderin charge of the mission, I was responsible for everything. (Willink and Babin, 26).

To take the words of author Jocko Willink, when a ground operation ended in near fatal results

for members of his team due to a number of mishaps, only one person to blame for this: me. I

am the commander. I am responsible for the entire operationI am responsible for every action

that takes place... (Willink and Babin, 27). This quote summarizes the incredible weight of

leadership: if something goes wrong, I, as the leader, am responsible. No matter where the glitch

occurred, if there was a glitch, then there is something that I could have done better in my

planning, preparation, and execution. While this is a substantial load to bear, there is an

interesting freedom in its acceptance. While it may be hard to resolve all issues into a blame of

the leader, that simultaneously presents a one-stop option for solutions. The leader will find the

mistake, the error, the shortcoming, and the leader will take responsibility for ensuring that

materials get moved until the potential for shortcoming is eliminated. On the other hand, the

authors find a means of personal balance in discipline. This is the leadership principle that ties

together all the other aspects of successful leadership. It keeps the leader calm when things go

wrong; it allows the leader to take complete ownership over operational issues; it regulates the
leaders interaction with members of the team; it forces the leader to relegate certain aspects of

control to other authority members within the team; it guides the leader in maintaining humility

in his or her self-perception. Truly, discipline can be seen as the cohesive glue that binds together

all the other (potentially successful already) components of a leader.

Implications for Educators

Educators are leaders by definition, and should require the same gravity in approaching

their goal as any other military or corporate leader. True, our missions are not always life

threatening in an immediate sense, but they are of paramount importance when we analyze the

effect that we educators have on the lives of our students; their future thoughts and actions can

often be directly tied to the influence we had upon them when they were in our classrooms. How

we run our classes and clubs, and how we regulate our position of authority in relation to our

students and our peers, will have a huge impact on our success as an educator.

When it comes to leadership in an educational forum, I believe that every principle

extracted from these two successful Navy Seals can be effectively tied to educational leaders. By

this I mean teachers, administrators, team leaders, mentors, coaches and club heads. In essence,

the views and actions outlined above provide a very complete framework of concretes around

which anyone in a leadership position could draw from to improve their own influence and

performance with their subordinates. When I think of my work as a primary classroom instructor,

the takeaways from this book are believe and simple. When I think of my work as an

administrator, my takeaways are decentralized command, only bad leaders, and extreme

ownership. When I think of my methods when I prepare for upcoming activities, the takeaway is

prioritize and execute.

 In essence, this book is a must-read for anyone who is in any position of authority over

others. The format of the book allows the reader to be picky, and to take only those tenets which

seem most applicable to himself. The book presents these fundamentals of leadership in a clear,

easy-to-read, and easy-to-apply arrangement. While another readers favorite from the book

might be completely different from mine, this work presents a host of applicable ideas for leaders

in any environment.
 References
Willink, J. and Babin, L. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seas Lead and Win. 2015 NY.