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

making the right decisions.”
“If you aren’t winning,” I responded, “then you aren’t making the
right decisions.” The CTO was so sure he was right, so content to make
excuses and shift blame for his own mistakes and failures, that he made
ludicrous claims to avoid taking any ownership or responsibility.
Just like the original boat crew leader in Boat Crew VI, this CTO
exhibited the opposite of Extreme Ownership. He took no meaningful
action to improve his performance or push his team to improve. Worse,
he refused to admit that his own performance was subpar and that he and
his team could do better. His CEO had stated plainly that the company’s
performance must improve substantially. But the CTO was stuck in a
cycle of blaming others and refused to take ownership or responsibility.
He had become what a good friend from my own BUD/S class and SEAL
qualification training dubbed the “Tortured Genius.” By this, he did not
mean the artist or musician who suffers from mental health issues, but in
the context of ownership. No matter how obvious his or her failing, or
how valid the criticism, a Tortured Genius, in this sense, accepts zero
responsibility for mistakes, makes excuses, and blames everyone else for
their failings (and those of their team). In their mind, the rest of the
world just can’t see or appreciate the genius in what they are doing. An
individual with a Tortured Genius mind-set can have catastrophic impact
on a team’s performance.
After lengthy discussion with the department heads and managers,
many of them came to understand and appreciate Extreme Ownership.
But not the CTO. After the workshop concluded, I met with the
company’s CEO to debrief.
“How did things go?” he asked.
“The workshop went well. Most of your department heads and key