On Point: Extreme ownership, leadership and lessons from special operations

The US Navy SEALs are among the most lethal and widely respected special operations forces in the world – with a history dating back to the Vietnam War and the growing need for clandestine, 'special forces' to counter asymmetric warfare and culminating in the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound. 

SEALs, like all special operations forces, are both born and forged through complex and gruelling trials known as Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs (BUD/S), a basic parachutist course and then the 26-week SEAL Qualification Training program in order to cut the wheat from the chaff. 

John Gretton “Jocko” Willink joined the US Navy in 1990 prior to undergoing BUD/S training at Coronado, California, before serving eight years on active duty as an enlisted Navy SEAL with SEAL Team ONE and SEAL Team TWO.

Willink was part of the SEAL team that seized Russian tanker Volga-Neft-147 in the Gulf of Oman, which was carrying Iraqi oil in violation of a UN economic embargo. Willink earned his commission via Officer Candidate School and eventually served as a platoon commander. 

Building on this, during Operation Iraqi Freedom he deployed to the Iraqi town of Ramadi in 2006 with SEAL Team THREE as commander of Task Unit Bruiser. Willink also served as a Navy SEAL instructor during his career. He retired in October 2010 after 20 years of service

Throughout his experience in elite special operations forces, Willink has developed an approach to life and business that he calls 'extreme ownership'. In this issue of On Point we speak to one of the world's most popular podcasters, motivational speakers, successful business owner, philosopher and warrior: Jocko Willink. 

What is the concept of extreme ownership, and what does it mean for people in business?

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One of those things that you really want to try and avoid is going to the extremes as a leader. 

You know, you want to maintain your balance, but the idea of extreme ownership is fundamentally that, as a leader, you're responsible for everything that happens.

What you need to do is take ownership of everything that's going on in your world. Don't blame anyone else. Don't make any excuses.

Take ownership of the problems and get them solved. It's pretty straightforward. It's not something that I had to dig very deep and into my brain to come up with.

This is something that people have been saying for thousands of years, so I said it again.

Why did you choose to a post-military career to work with leaders, shaping them into better leaders? Why did you want to do that? 

Well, as much as I talk about having a long, long range plan, and making sure that you understand what your strategic direction is, when I was getting out of the military, when I was retiring from the military, my plan was actually to hang out with my kids, surf and do Jiu Jitsu a lot.

I was probably about six months from retiring, I knew a guy that was the CEO of a big company. And he just asked me to come and talk to his executive team about leadership.

So, as a friend I just said, "Yeah, sure I'll do it." And I went up and sat there, and gave his executive team the same sort of briefing that I would give the young SEAL leaders.

When I got done, he came up to me and said, "I want you to brief every division of my company." And I said, "Well, you know, I'm getting ready to retire." And he said, "I'll give you money to do it." And I said, "Well, OK."

So I started briefing, going around the country, and kind of starting to teach leadership to all the divisions in his company. And at one of those divisional meetings, the CEO of the parent company was there.

When I got done, he came up to me and said, "Hey, I want you to come and talk to all the CEOs of the companies that I own." And he owned about 45 or 50 companies at the time.

I said yes, and I went and spoke at an event that he had. And as soon as I got done speaking, a bunch of those CEOs came up to me and said, "I want you to come and talk to my company," "I want you to come and talk to my company," "I want you to come and talk to my company," and the next thing you know, I had a new business.

So, that's how it started. I would love to say I had this grand strategic plan, but it's an opportunity that presented itself.

What I noticed immediately, and in talking to that first group of leaders, was that the problems that they suffered as an organisation were the exact same problems that any military unit suffers. And it's really the same problems of leadership that any team or organisations suffers.

What areas of similarity and what areas of difference did you notice between the military and civilian world?

The biggest impression that I got when I started working with civilian companies, the thing that really left a mark was, I was surprised how similar their problems were to the military problems. It's all just the exact same thing.

You've got a diverse group of people, and you're trying to get them kind of unified behind a common plan, so they can execute in an efficient way.

That's what the military does. That's what the business world does.

The problems that they have, in a SEAL platoon, or an infantry platoon, are the same problems that you're going to have in a business team. So that's what really struck me, was how much everything correlated, beyond anything I could have imagined.

I'd spent my entire adult life in the military, from the time I was 18 years old. So when I got out, I had no knowledge of the way the rest of the world worked. 

It surprised me that it was the same. But as you explore it, I mean, it's a bunch of human beings.

And even though someone's in the military, that doesn't mean they're not a human being anymore. They still have their own ego, they still have their own agenda, they still have their own desires, they still have their own personality and idiosyncrasies. And that's the same thing in the civilian sector.

So they just aligned really well on it. Leadership is leadership.

You can listen to the full Defence Connect podcast with John Gretton “Jocko” Willink here. 

Stephen Kuper

Steve has an extensive career across government, defence industry and advocacy, having previously worked for cabinet ministers at both Federal and State levels.

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