Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win

Jocko and I had spoken to Gary by phone several times over the past
few months and helped him solve some minor leadership dilemmas and
build a more effective team. He was a hard worker, dedicated to his job
and his team, and he was eager to learn. It was rewarding to watch him
grow as a leader over the months of our course. As a result, he had much
greater confidence in himself to make the decisions that would help his
team more effectively execute their mission. Now he had a major issue
—a serious leadership challenge that was pressing. I was eager to help.
I quickly gave him a call to find out what had happened and what I
could do.
“How you doing, Gary?” I asked when he picked up the phone.
“Not too good,” Gary responded. “We just had a major issue on one
of our critical projects.”
“What happened?” I asked. I couldn’t hope to match Gary’s expertise
in this industry. But I could help him solve his leadership challenges,
improve communication, and run a more effective team.
“Our drilling superintendent made a call on his own to swap out a
critical piece of equipment,” said Gary. “He totally violated our standard
operating procedures. I have told him before how I wanted this done, and
he completely blew me off!” Gary was angry.
Obviously, Gary’s ego had been bruised by the fact that the drilling
superintendent hadn’t cleared the decision through him.
“This was something he knew he should have run through me,” Gary
continued, “and he blatantly did not. He made the wrong call, and that
set our completion date back several days, costing our company serious
capital.” In this industry, each day lost on the project could cost
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Tell me about your superintendent,” I said. “Why do you think he