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

team. Frankly, it sounds to me like Mike is more important than the
financial stability and success of your company.”
It was evident that Andy knew he was leaning too far in one
direction. As with many of the dichotomies of leadership, a person’s
biggest strength can be his greatest weakness when he doesn’t know how
to balance it. A leader’s best quality might be her aggressiveness, but if
she goes too far she becomes reckless. A leader’s best quality might be
his confidence, but when he becomes overconfident he doesn’t listen to
others. In this case, Andy was a very loyal leader. He knew his people
well and took care of his leaders and employees. But here, his loyalty to
Mike was jeopardizing the financial stability of the entire company. His
loyalty was out of equilibrium. But beyond the company’s balance sheet,
Andy’s other leaders throughout the company saw what was happening,
and it slowly undermined Andy’s leadership as their CEO.
Finally, Andy relented, “I know, I know. I should shut it down, cut
my losses. But it’s hard in a situation like this.”
“Of course it is. Being a leader is never easy,” I said. “Imagine the
U.S. Navy Sailors in World War II whose ships had been severely
damaged. With their ship taking on water and in danger of sinking, those
sailors sometimes had to secure the hatch to a flooded compartment
when men who were their friends were still in those compartments, in
order to save the ship. That’s an unbelievably hard decision. But they
knew if they did not make that call, they risked everyone else. They
needed discipline to make the toughest decision in order to save the ship
and save all the other men aboard. There is a lesson in that for your
situation here with Mike. You require discipline to shut this hatch, to
shut down the electrical division, in order to ensure the safety of your
company—and all the other employees here.”