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

through to those below and above in the chain of command. Actions and
words reflect belief with a clear confidence and self-assuredness that is
not possible when belief is in doubt.
The challenge comes when that alignment isn’t explicitly clear.
When a leader’s confidence breaks, those who are supposed to follow
him or her see this and begin to question their own belief in the mission.
Every leader must be able to detach from the immediate tactical
mission and understand how it fits into strategic goals. When leaders
receive an order that they themselves question and do not understand,
they must ask the question: why? Why are we being asked to do this?
Those leaders must take a step back, deconstruct the situation, analyze
the strategic picture, and then come to a conclusion. If they cannot
determine a satisfactory answer themselves, they must ask questions up
the chain of command until they understand why. If frontline leaders and
troops understand why, they can move forward, fully believing in what
they are doing.
It is likewise incumbent on senior leaders to take the time to explain
and answer the questions of their junior leaders so that they too can
understand why and believe. Whether in the ranks of military units or
companies and corporations, the frontline troops never have as clear an
understanding of the strategic picture as senior leaders might anticipate.
It is critical that those senior leaders impart a general understanding of
that strategic knowledge—the why—to their troops.
In any organization, goals must always be in alignment. If goals
aren’t aligned at some level, this issue must be addressed and rectified.
In business just as in the military, no senior executive team would
knowingly choose a course of action or issue an order that would
purposely result in failure. But a subordinate may not understand a