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

manager would certainly benefit from such a system.
“You could use a planning procedure like we had,” I told them. “You
should develop a standard process with terminology and planning
method that are interchangeable and can be utilized across all elements
within your team and within the company.”
“That is exactly what we need,” said the emerging markets VP. “We
need to capture our standard operating procedures for planning. We need
a process that is repeatable. Can you teach this to my team?”
“Absolutely,” I said.
Over the next few weeks, I sent a workbook to the emerging-markets
VP, his regional manager, and their senior staff. The workbook provided
an overview of the military-mission planning process we had used with
some adaptation to the business world. We scheduled several conference
calls in which I explained our process and why. The VP and his
leadership team adapted this planning process to the challenges of their
industry. Once they had a good understanding of the planning
framework, we scheduled a presentation to key leaders with the
emerging markets team.
I flew out and presented the foundational knowledge of the planning
process from the workbook in detail. We then gave the team a planning
exercise using a realistic future operation similar to those they routinely
encountered. The regional manager and I guided the team as they put
together the plan.
After an hour or so, they had built the basics of their plan into a brief
to present to us, just as a SEAL platoon or task unit would present an
OPORD. During the presentation, the regional manager and I analyzed
their plan. Afterward, we debriefed them on their plan’s strengths and
weaknesses, talked about where it was ambiguous and needed