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

areas. It was heavy on PowerPoint slides, overly complex, and not
explicitly clear on the different pieces and parts of the execution. We
were running out of time.
“We are going to fail,” insisted the other platoon commander to
Jocko and me. Frankly, I wasn’t a whole lot more confident.
“Listen,” said Jocko. “Here is what I want you to do: forget about all
this crazy PowerPoint. I want this plan to be clear to everyone that is
actually in your platoon. I’m not worried about the CO or the master
chief. Brief it to your guys: the troops who will be executing the
mission.”
“The true test for a good brief,” Jocko continued, “is not whether the
senior officers are impressed. It’s whether or not the troops that are
going to execute the operation actually understand it. Everything else is
bullshit. Does any of that complex crap help one of your SEAL machine
gunners understand what he needs to do and the overall plan for what
will happen on this operation?”
“No,” I responded.
“Far from it!” Jocko continued. “In fact, it’s confusing to them. You
need to brief so that the most junior man can fully understand the
operation—the lowest common denominator. That’s what a brief is. And
that is what I want you to do. If there is some flak over this from the CO,
don’t worry. I will take it.”
With this guidance, we revamped our OPORD presentations. We
simplified and cut down the number of PowerPoint slides and focused on
the most important pieces of the plan, which would give our troops a
chance to ask questions to clarify anything that wasn’t understood. We
hung maps on the walls—the same ones that we would carry in the field
—and referenced them so that everyone was familiar. We incorporated