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

hundred percent of your attention for the next few weeks or months?”
“It would probably make a huge difference,” the CEO admitted.
“As a SEAL, I often saw this with junior leaders on the battlefield,” I
continued. “With so much going on in the chaos and mayhem, they
would try to take on too many tasks at once. It never worked. I taught
them to Prioritize and Execute. Prioritize your problems and take care of
them one at a time, the highest priority first. Don’t try to do everything
at once or you won’t be successful.” I explained how a leader who tries
to take on too many problems simultaneously will likely fail at them all.
“What about all the other initiatives?” the CEO asked. “They will
help us as well.”
“I’m not saying to throw them away,” I replied. “They sound like
great initiatives that are definitely important. But you won’t move the
needle on them when you are spread so thin. My suggestion is to focus
on one and when that one is completed, or at least has some real
momentum, then you move on to the next one and focus on it. When that
one is done, then move on to the next, and so on down the line until you
have knocked them all out.”
“Makes sense,” the CEO replied. “I’ll give it a try.” He was eager to
turn the company’s performance around.
For the next several months the CEO focused the efforts of the entire
company on supporting the frontline sales force, making it clear that this
was the company’s highest priority. The labs set up tours for customers.
The marketing designers helped create new, informative pamphlets for
products. Sales managers set minimum marks for the number of
introductory meetings with doctors and medical administrators that the
sales force had to achieve each week. The company’s marketing team
created online videos interviewing their top salespeople on the most