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

“I think you might,” Jocko said. Darla knew enough to determine
how the scenario was likely to play out, and thus she knew enough to
make a decision. “There is another option,” said Jocko.
“What’s that?” Darla said incredulously.
“You could fire them both,” said Jocko. Darla and Jim looked at each
other, puzzled. “When Leif and I were in Task Unit Bruiser together,”
Jocko continued, “another task unit at our SEAL Team had a major issue
between the task unit commander and one of the platoon commanders.
Both were key leaders in positions critical to the task unit’s
performance. But these guys just couldn’t get along. They hated each
other. Each bad-mouthed the other to our SEAL Team’s commanding
officer and his staff. Finally, our commanding officer—our CEO—
declared he had had enough. He gave them the weekend to figure out a
way they could work together. On Monday morning, they both still
insisted they could not work together and each demanded that the other
be fired. Instead, and to their surprise, the commanding officer fired
them both.”
It took a moment to sink in. Darla was surprised. She had not
considered this option.
“I don’t want to lose either of them, much less both of them!” Darla
replied.
“Let me ask you this,” I asked Darla. “Are either one of them stellar
leaders?”
“Not exactly,” Darla admitted.
Jocko responded, “They haven’t found a way to work together. They
are both possibly interviewing at other companies. And now, they are
plotting against each other. All this has detrimental impact to your
company’s performance. Not exactly the kind of leaders I would want