Leadership: 12 Lessons from Navy Seals

Always looking for the keys to leadership, the ability that some people have to guide people to achieve their goals and succeed together, I wanted to share with you 12 keys to leadership, taken from the book ” Extreme Ownership, how US Navy Seals lead and win ” written by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.

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Jocko and Leif were part of the U.S. military’s military elite, the Navy Seals, and participated in and led U.S. and allied soldiers during the “Battle of Ramadi” in Iraq.
The special interest in the leadership of an elite unit stems from the fact that these professionals, once in the field, have to lead men in an environment where the slightest mistake can lead to death. Despite enormous stress and challenges that few could bear, these men and women manage to work as a team with formidable efficiency. I invite you to discover the 12 keys to the “Extreme Ownership” program that Jocko and Leif have drawn from their experience as skilled soldiers and adapted to the business world where they are now leadership consultants.

1. Extreme Ownership

For Jocko and Leif, there is no beating around the bush. There is never only one possibility… take full responsibility for what is happening or has happened. If a member of his team has not understood one of his instructions, the team leader cannot blame him. It is his role as a leader to ensure that his team members understand his instructions. In the other direction, if he does not understand the data he has received himself, he will take the responsibility to ask his superior for explanations rather than saying that it was not well explained at the beginning. As part of the company, a customer decided to change supplier and turned to a competitor? … No need to try to say that it’s not our fault, what are the lessons to be learned? An employee did not understand a ?… instruction No, he is not to be questioned, as a supervisor, it is my role to check that he has understood what I expect of him! My boss doesn’t give me enough time for career development?… It’s my responsibility to go and solicit him and get his attention.
The advantage of “Extreme Ownership” is that it creates momentum. This leads to action and it is no longer possible to indulge in complaints and criticism.
How to apply “Extreme Ownership”? Count the number of times you blame someone else or an external circumstance, and instead of complaining, actively look for what you could do to solve the problem.

2. There is no such thing as a bad team, just bad leaders

One of the most important characteristics for a Navy Seal is their ability to work in a team. In fact, there is nothing worse for a Navy Seal than being an individualist or perceived as an individualist. Individuals alone cannot get out of the extreme conditions of Special Forces interventions. This is why during the selection of candidates, a lot of energy is put into stimulating teamwork. But as important as it is to work as a team, it is also important to have a good leader at the head of these teams. You have probably already seen for yourself that a good leader can make a team evolve towards success and a bad leader can make it lose.
Jocko and Leif say they have seen teams consistently lose the rigorous Navy Seal selection tests because they are led by a bad leader. And suddenly, when a better leader is placed at their head, these teams that were always losing started to win the endurance and speed races.
When a team is not working well, there is no point in blaming the people who make it up. You always have to look at the leader’s abilities.
It is also a question of motivating employees according to their personal profile.

3. Believing in it is the first step

When first exposed to the fact that his Navy Seal team would have to take Iraqi soldiers fresh out of school into the field, Jocko and Leif couldn’t hide their dismay. Not only did it seem ridiculous to place elite soldiers like the Navy Seals alongside rookie soldiers, but it could also be very dangerous. Some of these Iraqi soldiers were known to desert at the first shot or even sometimes shoot each other by accident.
It is therefore difficult to present himself in front of his team and to defend this plan correctly.
In fact, it is not possible to “sell” a plan to your team if you do not first believe in it yourself. The worst thing would be to say: “it’s not me, it’s from above”. Jocko and Leif therefore took the trouble to meet with their superior officer to better understand the context of this request. The reason behind this decision was simply that the Iraqi army had to take over in the near future if the Navy Seals ever dreamed of returning home. With this explanation, Jocko and Leif were better able to convince their team to accept this decision and the additional risks because their leaders were now the first to “believe” in the interest of their mission.
If you want to maintain leadership on your team, never let it appear that you don’t understand or approve of a decision “from above”. If you don’t understand the reasons for a strategy, go and look for the information so that you can “believe” yourself, trust the decision made by your superiors.