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

might understand their individual pieces of the plan, they have a hard
time following all the intricacies of the grand scheme. Perhaps they can
even get away with that a few times if everything goes smoothly, but
remember: the enemy gets a vote.”
“The enemy gets a vote?” the plant manager repeated, questioning
what that meant.
“Yes. Regardless of how you think an operation is going to unfold,” I
answered, “the enemy gets their say as well—and they are going to do
something to disrupt it. When something goes wrong—and it eventually
does—complex plans add to confusion, which can compound into
disaster. Almost no mission ever goes according to plan. There are
simply too many variables to deal with. This is where simplicity is key.
If the plan is simple enough, everyone understands it, which means each
person can rapidly adjust and modify what he or she is doing. If the plan
is too complex, the team can’t make rapid adjustments to it, because
there is no baseline understanding of it.”
“That makes sense,” the chief engineer said.
“We followed that rule with everything we did,” I continued. “Our
standard operating procedures were always kept as simple as possible.
Our communication plans were simple. The way we talked on the radio
was as simple and direct as possible. The way we organized our gear,
even the way we got a head count to ensure we had all of our people was
broken down into the simplest possible method so we could do it
quickly, accurately, and easily at any time. With all this simplicity
embedded in the way we worked, our troops clearly understood what
they were doing and how that tied in to the mission. That core
understanding allowed us to adapt quickly without stumbling over
ourselves.”