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

building and growing.”
“So what would you say the ideal size would be for a team or branch
in your company?” I asked.
“Probably five or six, four or five financial advisors and support
people,” answered the president.
“That makes perfect sense,” I said. “The SEAL Teams and the U.S.
military, much like militaries throughout history, are based around
building blocks of four-to-six-man teams with a leader. We call them
‘fire teams.’ That is the ideal number for a leader to lead. Beyond that,
any leader can lose control as soon as even minimal pressure is applied
to the team when inevitable challenges arise.”
“So how do you lead larger teams on the battlefield?” asked the
president with genuine curiosity.
“Sometimes for our units, we can operate with as many as one
hundred fifty personnel on a particular operation,” I answered. “While
we might only have fifteen or twenty SEALs, when you tack on Iraqi
soldiers and mutually supporting troops from the U.S. Army or Marine
Corps, our ranks could easily grow to over a hundred or a hundred and
fifty,” I explained. “But the truth is, even with all those men out there, I
could only truly lead, manage, and coordinate with about four to six,
max.”
I could see this had sparked some interest with the president. “That is
why we had to utilize Decentralized Command,” I explained. “I couldn’t
talk to every shooter in every platoon, squad, and fire team. I would talk
to the platoon commander. He would take my guidance and pass it down
to his squad leaders. His squad leaders would pass it on to their fire team
leaders. And they would execute. If there was an Army company
supporting us, I would talk to the company commander, or perhaps one