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

This contradicted popular thinking. Typically, the frontline troops
wanted senior leaders as far away as possible to avoid questions or
scrutiny on the smallest of things like grooming standards and whether
or not our camp was squared away.
“We are here. We are on the ground. We need to push situational
awareness up the chain,” Jocko said. “If they have questions, it is our
fault for not properly communicating the information they need. We
have to lead them.”
“They are in charge of us,” I questioned. “How can we lead them?”
This epiphany had come to Jocko in examining his own frustrations
up the chain. “Leadership doesn’t just flow down the chain of command,
but up as well,” he said. “We have to own everything in our world.
That’s what Extreme Ownership is all about.”
I nodded, coming around to his logic. Jocko’s guidance had not yet
steered me wrong in the year we had worked together. He had taught me
to be the combat leader I needed to be. But this was a whole new
attitude, a completely different mind-set from anything I had seen or
been taught. Instead of blaming others, instead of complaining about the
boss’s questions, I had to take ownership of the problem and lead. This
included the leaders above me in our chain of command.
“We need to look at ourselves and see what we can do better,” Jocko
continued. “We have to write more-detailed reports that help them
understand what we are doing and why we are making the decisions we
are making. We have to communicate more openly in calls, and when
they have questions, we need to immediately get them whatever
information they need so that they understand what is happening out
here.”
I now understood. Far from simply trying to overburden us with