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

“Not yet,” Andy answered, “but it will be.”
“How many months until it is?” I asked.
Andy paused. “Honestly,” he said, “it could be three to five years.”
“Ouch,” I said. “That sounds like a long time in this business.”
“And it could be too long. It is costing us money every month to keep
him operating,” Andy admitted. “But they just aren’t getting any
contracts outside of our company right now.”
“Have you thought about shutting it down?” I asked directly.
“I have ... but ... you know, it will be profitable in a few years,” he
replied slowly.
“Let me ask you this,” I said. “What if some other unforeseen event
comes up? Costs you didn’t expect? A major incident or accident? A
large contract that falls through? Could you afford this kind of drain on
the company if things went sideways?”
“Probably not,” Andy replied.
“Is that the best strategy for the company?” I asked.
“You know, it’s not that simple. I’ve known Mike for a long time.
Long time,” Andy said. “He has always done me right. I can’t just shut
him down.”
There it was. Andy knew this loyalty was misguided. I just needed to
get him to come to terms with it and see it for what it was.
Since Andy had just sat through my brief on the Dichotomy of
Leadership, I stole one of my own lines right from it: “So one of your
men is more important than the mission?” I asked bluntly.
“I didn’t say that,” Andy insisted.
“As a leader, you have to be close to your people,” I told him. “And
just like I said in the brief, the balance is that you can’t be so close that
one person becomes more important than the mission or the good of the