Extreme Ownership

The Book in 1 Sentence

Navy Seals provide combat and business recommendations based on combat experience during OIF.

Brief Review

Jacko Willink and Leif Babin do a fantastic job of presenting leadership qualification and skills, as something we should all recognize. Through the lens of failure and near misses, they provide real world recommendations to how to be an effective leader on and off the battlefield. With the notable exception to the last chapter, which feels cut short in an effort to sell a second book.

Why I Read this book

I have had some bad leaders on and off battlefields. However, the ones that have always stood out are those that take ownership of their mistakes.

In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)

There really seems to be common theme this about the books this year. That theme is removing the Ego from life. I think we all know that it shouldn't be in our life, but honestly it might be one of the hardest things to work through.

Overall, this book is really well done. I think those without military experience or those that have a special appreciation of that, will honestly feel these stories are of the right detail to give you some information to make you feel there. Thinking of those lessons, I do feel that they do a great job of providing information to give you the stakes of what was happening.

I do feel that some of the lessons to business, while accurate to the principles they present, I feel that the stories are very shallow. They hit the lesson, but almost to the point that they feel fabricated.

How my life / behavior / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

The lessons in this book are solid. As I continue to move on in my career, I feel that there are some solid things that I can implements. Specifically the principals below.

1. Cover and Move - Making sure that when I do something or if I need to peel off a task, people that I am working with know that I had to move on.
2. Prioritize and Execute - We constantly get told to add more task to our day to day and with that we can't always finish the task. So making sure that I am focusing on the right one and finishing it with the same standard as always.
3. Decisiveness amid Uncertainty - We live in uncertain times. I think that realization since COVID has really made that clear. What we do with that uncertainty is really what matters. We have to make a choice with the information at hand and were we believe we want to go. Once the decision is made and we have executed on that decision, you can't look back with new information. A for instance of this would be in 2018 I took a job I thought was going to be awesome. It had some awesome intangible perks that I could never get elsewhere, but as time went on I hated the job and thought about leaving within a couple months of taking it. However, if I had left, I never would have met my wife.
4. Extreme Ownership - This isn't last for any reason other than it needed to be important. We have to take responsibility for our actions and the actions the team does. I am not saying to have to turn yourself in if your team does something illegal, but if you decide as a leader that your team is going to do something and it fails; That is on you.

Rating

This is a great book to listen/read and digest the information presented. I know Jacko might be a decisive character, but he has good information in this book. What this book fails at is the end. The last chapter is short and in the Audible the last chapter shoves the newer book into it rather than just finishing their thought. Its still an 8, just hate when books do that.