Get The Gist: Extreme Ownership

1) Extreme Ownership

• the leader is responsible for the success and failure of his team

• this principle describes the behaviour of the leader taking ownership and responsibility for everything which can impact his mission

• literally everything

• this means that at no point in time, one is blaming others or outside events, one is always blaming oneself

• it is not the fault of the team member that he is underperforming, but rather the fault of the leader because he did not lead/teach/instruct him correctly or because he is allowing that the underperformer is still in his team

• this also encompasses all things which are not in the direct authority of the leader, e.g. neighbouring teams or suppliers. The leader must ensure a good collaboration and do whatever is possible for thim to make the mission a success

2) No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders

• the leader is responsible for the success of the entire team, there is no such thing as a bad team, only a bad leader

• when it comes to standards, it is not what you preach but what you tolerate -> the team members must be held accountable

• the leader must make the different elements of a team collaborate and work together

• a leader must build a culture of extreme ownership into the team. This means also leading by example and taking ownership for the things one is doing

• a team leader must never be satisfied, they must always strive to improve and raise the standards. Constantly and continously.

3) Believe

• a leader must fully believe in the mission

• if the does not believe in the mission, he will not be able to take the risk required to overcome the challenges required to win

• if a leader does not believe in the mission, he must look at the bigger picture and ask himself why the mission is important and find out why senior leadership wants this mission to be executed. If he still does not understand, he must ask the senior leadership

• he can also clearly state, that he does not like the mission, but still believes that the mission is critical for achieving the greater objective

• it is really important to think about why the mission is important and what one wants to achieve with it

• it is also crucial to pass this understanding up and down the chain of command

4) Check The Ego

• a leader must always check his ego, ego is the enemy (see Ryan Holidays book)

• on one hand, ego enables people to reach extraordinary outcomes, but on the other hand it may also cloud their vision and hinder their ability to make decisions

• one must be humble and admit that one can fail

• the personal agenda must never become more important than the goal of the mission

• one way to check the ego, is to admit mistakes and then plan to avoid them in the future

• we must keep in mind that we are not standing above and that we all can fail

• it is totally normal, even necessary that his subordinates know more and habe a better expertise in their domain

• it is not the job of the leader to be better than everyone else in the team

• it is the job of the leader to lead. He must keep the bigger picture and the strategic situation in mind. If he is spending time trying to be better then all of his subordinates, then he is doing something wrong. Because who is looking after the bigger picture if the leader is satisfing the ego through trying to become better then his team members?

5) Cover and Move

• equals teamwork

• all people of the team with their special abilities must work together to accomplish the mission

• work together across departments to achieve the greater mission and do let frictions out of the competition between teams arise

• don´t forget about what others are doing and keep the big picture in mind (aka strategic mission)

• the entire team gets the credit for the success of the mission (both main effort and supporting efforts)

6) Simple

• most often we are planning things which are far to complicated

• focus on including some kind of contingency for when trouble arises (spoiler: it will)

• everything must be communicated in a simple, clear and concise manner

• the roles (who plays which part) must be clear

• make sure that everyone understands the information presented and feels empowered to ask questions

7) Prioritize and Execute

• briefly described with the following words: "Relax, look around, make a call"

• first determine the task with the highest priority

• plan ahead in your mind for at least the next two events which could happen (aka staying ahead of the curve)

• for effective planning it is crucial to step back from the immediate problem and think about the bigger (strategic) picture

8) Decentralized Command

• no one has the abilities to effectively monitor, supervise and lead a large group of people.

• to accommodate this restriction, one can implement decentralized command.

• this means enabling the subordinates to make decisions within a corridor of freedom which the leader has designed and thereby distributing or decentralizing the command

• in that way the amount of decisions a leader has to make gets reduced and the leader can once again focus on doing his job: looking at the big picture and do strategic planning, communication and coordination

• to enable the team members to make decisions, they have to understand not only what they are supposed to do, but also the why they are supposed to do it

• the why enables them to make the right decisions when things go haywire

• leaders must find the right balance between involvement and detachement from the action

9) Plan

• planning starts for the leader with the analysis of the plan: what does the plan mean for my team? what do we have to do to successfully execute the plan?

• this knowledge must of course be shared with the members of a team

• a plan for a mission must contain the overalll purpose and the desired outcome after the execution of the plan/mission

• an important part of this is the commanders intent, which basically summarizes plan in one brief statement in simple terms

• during the planning process multiple pathways, also called course of action must be considered and one must be chosen

• the planning process must be delegated down as much as possible to enable the team members and subordinates to take ownership and achieve a buy-in on their side

• planning must always be executed in a way so that everyone receiving the plan understands it

• briefing: the goal of the briefing is not to show your genious in coming up with a great plan and presenting it but rather that everyone involved understands the plan and asks questions if he doesn´t

• a control question for the brief can be: "Do the team and the supporting elements understand it?"

• risk mitigation is imporant, but not all risk can be mitigated "Those who will not risk cannot win" (John Paul Jones, as quoted in Extreme Ownership)

• of course the tactics and procedures must be continously adapted and evolved, so a debrief is a strict necessity

• the planning process should be repeatable and guided by a checklist (see the checklist in the book)

10) Leading Up and Down the Chain of Command

• leading down the chain of command:

  • explaining what role the current mission plays in the bigger picture (what are we contributing and why)

  • this can be facilitated through face-to-face conversations and observing the subordinates carrying out their tasks / mission to understand whether they have actually understood their role in the mission and the bigger picture

  • the goal is that they understand why they are doing something

• leading up the chain of command:

  • this starts by building a good relationship to the superiors. This can be achieved for example through volunteering for paper work

  • your superior wants you to succeed and in turn it is your most important job to support your leader

  • if you do not agree with a decision made by your superior, you must also communicate this upwards in a tactful manner

  • if you're blaming the leader, most likely you are doing something wrong and haven´t clarified everything or educated your leader properly

  • "Don´t ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do" (quote from the book)

  • if a decision is wrong in a way that you cannot live with, this can also mean to resign

11) Decisiveness Amid Uncertainty

• a leader must always make decisions proactively, he cannot be paralyzed by fear

• "It is critical for leaders to act decisively amid uncertainty; to make the best decisions they can based on only the immediate information available." (quote from the book)

• the "complete picture" almost never exists, a leader must be comfortable making decisions without knowing everything, swift decision making can make the difference between victory and defeat

12) Discipline Equals Freedom

• a leader must almost always find the balance between the dichotomy of two contradicting qualities (for the full list, please read the book)

PS: it is incredible and eye-opening to note down what one thinks what was written in the chapter and then looking the actual chapter up and then correcting what is written. Those two things are worlds apart and have made a difference in my understanding of this book.