Introduction
Extreme Ownership, written by former Navy SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, guides individuals in becoming successful leaders. It is strongly recommended that everyone read the book, as it applies to both personal and professional life. Below are significant lessons drawn from it. The lessons are critical in guiding the personal, academic, and professional lives of people of different calibers.
People often neglect taking ownership of their failures and instead focus solely on their successes. A team’s success is built on the leader’s capability to accept their responsibilities and encourage the team members to work towards achieving a specific goal. A leader needs to be flexible and tolerant in situations when working towards their goals.
Lesson 1: Leaders Should Accept Responsibility for Failure
Taking responsibility for failure or mistakes is a key to success in any aspect of life, whether it involves achieving personal, academic, or professional goals. Throughout the book, the author highlights guidelines that link with the necessity of taking responsibility for failures in any phase of life. I will apply the lesson described above in my life by learning how to accept my mistakes and failings, take full responsibility for them, and create a winning strategy that can lead to success within a team (“Naval women win World War II,” 2018).
I have always believed that there is no fault to be found with the manager, product, industry, or rivals. The team leader is responsible for ensuring that the teams are prepared, have the necessary tools, and know their objectives. Such a leader gives other seniors / junior leaders, along with their teams, the glory for their accomplishments instead of taking credit for them themselves.
Professionally, people are enlightened that to accomplish significant career goals, they should accept their mistakes and take full responsibility for them. I will apply this lesson in my profession by aspiring to be a great leader in the military and ensuring that team members have the necessary tools and are aware of their tasks (Umbrello, 2021). Moreover, I will continually remind the team and give credit to the whole team once a specific goal is achieved, rather than taking all the credit myself.
The leader is responsible for setting the tone for the entire team. Either the leader inspires performance, or they do not. People are therefore encouraged to adopt the mentality that they should exemplify the behavior they desire to see. They should be honest in their personal assessments, work to develop themselves, identify their flaws, and develop a strategy to overcome them. Individuals are reminded to keep their team focused on clear objectives rather than tolerating internal conflict within the team.
What people tolerate matters more than what they advocate. The new norm will be established if they accept below-par productivity and no one is held responsible. Standards and the repercussions of not upholding them must be enforced, but not in a dictatorial manner. Leaders must set standards to empower and inspire the team (Umbrello, 2021). People should have confidence in the goal, the team, and the working systems and establish a course while staying flexible to change it when new information becomes available (“Naval women win World War II,” 2018).
An atmosphere where team members can ask questions until everyone understands the mission should be promoted. Success for leaders depends on their ability to accept faults, take responsibility for them, and devise solutions. The most effective leaders are not motivated by ego or private interests but merely concentrate on the task and how to complete it effectively.
Lesson 2: Leaders Should Encourage Teamwork
I will apply the lesson in my profession by embracing mutual trust, being mindful of each other’s blind spots, and acting in accordance with the team’s rules and regulations. The responsibility of maintaining focus on the strategic objective rests with leaders, who must also persuade teams that the strategic mission is crucial and that they are part of a larger team (Shah, 2021). A leader’s strategy should be understandable to even the lowest-ranking employee in the firm.
Members will have a greater sense of purpose when they realize their crucial part in the overall scheme of things. This enables the organization to remain adaptable and responsive to change, ultimately increasing job satisfaction. Secondary and tertiary company priorities can be achieved by creating a space where people can inquire about their responsibilities and assignments, as the key is to determine what is essential to the company.
In working places, people must be divided into manageable groups (teams within teams), and each unit must have a single leader. After setting the team, I can make choices at their level and roles assigned to them, depending on their level of seniority. For this to succeed, senior and junior leadership must be trusted and believed in (Umbrello, 2021).
The effectiveness of decentralized administration depends on everyone sharing information throughout the entire chain. Leaders and junior leaders should adopt the attitude of “this is what I am going to do” rather than “what should I do?” since they are aware of the overall aim and can work towards a centralized objective (Taylor, 2022). The book encourages top management to create and support leadership at every organizational level, allowing young leaders to focus on their priorities. In contrast, senior leaders concentrate on system-level thinking.
Lesson 3: Leaders Should Be Tolerant and Strict With Their Goals
Through the application of the lesson, I will establish a culture of tolerance in the workplace. I will ensure that everyone is on the same path while also receiving appropriate feedback from subordinates and experts in the military field. For individuals working directly on the plan, this will naturally foster a sense of ownership, buy-in, and comprehension. In any organization where they are working, people should achieve complete agreement on the organization’s goals by empowering leaders at every level both to guide the squads they supervise below (or to lead themselves in entry-level positions) and to create a climate in which they may ask open questions of and offer reports to top leadership levels.
Leaders should make every effort to be engaged and anticipatory. Professionally, I must choose the best course of action, utilizing all available knowledge, to bring about positive change within the team. The book emphasizes the importance of keeping an open mind and avoiding becoming too focused on one specific plan when circumstances change and more details become available. Leaders should use their knowledge and expertise to give the most informed opinion. Since leaders may have more personal time, freedom, and flexibility to plan and experiment, they ought to be stricter with what must be accomplished to create a high chance of success.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Extreme Ownership presents ideas that apply to all leaders, and although they are straightforward to read, they are challenging to implement. While some aspects are more relevant to combat, Lief and Jocko significantly extend the ideas to particular corporate contexts. The authors urge leaders to take decisive and deliberate action in the face of uncertainty by demanding that they fully embrace responsibility for their purpose and team. Anyone looking to develop their leadership skills should include this book on their reading list, as it is packed with valuable lessons learned the hard way.
References
Naval women win World War II. (2018). A History of The Royal Navy. Web.
Shah, Z. (2021). Leadership lessons from the book: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, LinkedIn. Web.
Taylor, J. (2022). Effective leadership through extreme Ownership: Conductor, Conductor Spotlight. Web.
Umbrello, S. (2021). Leadership strategy and tactics: Field manual, by jocko Willink. Journal of Military Ethics, 20(1), 82-83. Web.
Willink, J., & Babin, L. (2017). Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs lead and win. St. Martin’s Press.