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

strategic goals, and what impact it has, they can then lead, even in the
absence of explicit orders.”
“That makes sense,” he acknowledged.
“The teams have to be small enough that one person can truly lead
them,” I continued. “‘Span of control’ is the commonly used business
term. How many people can a leader effectively lead? In combat,
depending on the experience and quality of the leader, the skill level and
experience of the troops, and the levels of violence and potential
mayhem in an area; those numbers vary. You need to find out the
optimal size for your teams. And if it is five or six, with a leader at the
top, then that is the way you should set them up.”
From a leadership perspective, I explained to the president, there is
truly nothing more important than an understanding of the dynamics of
Decentralized Command. This is proper command and control in a
nutshell. It is one of the most complex strategies to pull off correctly. As
a leader, it takes strength to let go. It takes faith and trust in subordinate,
frontline leaders and their abilities. Most of all, it requires trust up and
down the chain of command: trust that subordinates will do the right
thing; trust that superiors will support subordinates if they are acting in
accordance with the mission statement and Commander’s Intent.
Trust is not blindly given. It must be built over time. Situations will
sometimes require that the boss walk away from a problem and let junior
leaders solve it, even if the boss knows he might solve it more
efficiently. It is more important that the junior leaders are allowed to
make decisions—and backed up even if they don’t make them correctly.
Open conversations build trust. Overcoming stress and challenging
environments builds trust. Working through emergencies and seeing how
people react builds trust.