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

executives, this was an example of a boss who didn’t fully comprehend
the weight of her position. In her mind, she was fairly laid back, open to
questions, comments, and suggestions from people. She talked about
maintaining an “open-door policy.” But in the minds of her sales
managers, she was still The Boss: experienced, smart, and most
important, powerful. That position demanded a high level of reverence—
so high, in fact, that for an employee to question her ideas seemed
disrespectful. None of them were comfortable questioning her, even
though none of the midlevel managers actually worried about losing
their jobs because they asked a question. But they were certainly worried
about looking bad in front of The Boss.
“I’m not sure they are as comfortable confronting you or opening up
to you as you think,” I stated bluntly.
“Really?” The CEO asked with a slightly puzzled face.
“Let me give you an example that came up today,” I replied. “The
new sales compensation plan.”
“What about it? Don’t they like it?” the CEO asked with surprise.
“It’s not that they don’t like it,” I answered. “I don’t think they get
it.”
“Don’t get it? The plan isn’t really that complex. In fact, it is
simple,” said the CEO, preparing to give me the quick explanation.
“It’s not that they don’t get what the plan is,” I said. “You’re right: it
is simple. It reduces overall compensation for sales staff, especially for
the low producers.”
“Exactly. What’s the issue with that?” the CEO said. She was right.
Even I, without experience in this particular field, had no trouble
understanding the basic concept of the new compensation plan.
“The issue is not that they don’t understand the plan, but that they