Introduction

The horrors of war are traumatizing and inhuman. They are also the toughest school anyone can attend. As graduates with honors, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin have internalized the subtleties of tactical combat and then some. Above all, they learned the value of leadership, and the humility required to maintain it:

To be an effective leader, one must be an effective follower.

Put another way: In order to give orders, you need to understand what it means to take them. Finding balance between too much aggression and too little is at the philosophical core of this summary.

When facing thick enemy fire, survival depends on your ability to be cool under pressure. In the hierarchy of a SEAL platoon, this is only possible when leadership is given at all levels. When everyone feels they have a voice and knows their voice will be heard, equilibrium becomes possible. Having a voice, however, means also owning up to your mistakes and to those taking place under your command. Being candid and forthcoming about your weaknesses leads to innovation, improvement, and progress.

Take any one of these principles too far, and positions get compromised. Effective leadership is a continual process of negotiation. No leader can manage everything. Which is why balance is the absolute foundation.

Balancing People

A young SEAL lies gravely wounded in a military hospital thousands of miles from home. Despite the prospect of losing his leg, he wants nothing more than to stay. Letting his team down just isn’t an option. Willink, as his commander, is heartbroken for the boy, whose selflessness is as instructive as it is futile. Fighting against the pity welling up inside, Willink deems it best to get this dedicated soldier back home, where he’ll receive far better medical care than is available on base. It’s a painful reminder that, while he’s there to protect his men, he’s also putting them in harm’s way at every turn.

The members of his unit are simultaneously his children and his brothers — a relationship so deep that inevitable losses tear everyone to emotional shreds. Each person killed in action undermines any delusions of omniscience. The integrity of the team matters more than their individual lives. Every casualty is a major blow, but in accepting their responsibility in those lost lives, those who survive earn their keep as leaders. The mission is bigger than all of them combined.

It’s a profound dichotomy to swallow: caring so much about your time that you’re willing to risk it for the mission. But if a leader’s only purpose under fire were to offer protection, then nothing would ever be accomplished. The same holds true in business: If by “leadership” you mean mitigating risk at every turn, you will never innovate.

Back in the field, Willink is realizing that his junior leaders have never stepped up to the challenge of leadership because he hasn’t allowed them to do so. Only when he concedes some of that leadership does he see how different operations might work (or not work) in tandem, and gain a better grasp of intelligence. Hence a shift from Extreme Ownership to Decentralized Command. Somewhere between micromanaging and employing a hands-off approach is the fulcrum on which the ideal leader sits.

Symptoms of micromanaging include:

• Teams who are less likely to act without orders
• Waiting for solutions instead of coming up with them
• Failing to mobilize during an emergency
• Fear of being bold
• A lack of creativity
• Self-compartmentalization
• Settling into passivity as a default

To solve these issues, you must focus on mission goals and priorities, oversee without dictating, and observing how your team reacts under pressure.

Symptoms of hands-off approach include:

• Lack of vision
• Little or no coordination
• Team members who exceed their brief
• Lack of coordination
• Nearsightedness when it comes to strategic trajectory
• A competitive approach to leadership

In business, you can defuse these problems by outlining your company’s mission in simplest terms, setting clear boundaries, and assigning specific leadership roles across the board.

While seemingly endless details imposed by an overbearing leader bog people down and kill motivation, the disadvantages of being too forgiving can be equally detrimental to your business. In order to strike the right balance between enforcing the rules and allowing them to bend, you must have Leadership Capital in your toolkit.

Leadership Capital means acknowledging your limits as a leader. It means not wasting time lording your authority over insignificant things, instead building trust among your team slowly and surely. It’s not merely a question of being accountable, but also being prepared to answer the “Why?” question at any given moment.

If, for example, a CEO were to demand that everyone turn off their cell phones during meetings, but enforced this rule only because they wanted it that way, employees would naturally feel that their leader was imposing on their routines. Reveling in one’s power for the sake of it isn’t sustainable business practice. But if that same CEO explains, clearly and succinctly, why a “No Cell Phones” policy would be beneficial to productivity, everyone knows where they stand in relation to the larger goal.