Training his Navy SEAL unit to deploy to Iraq, Jocko Willink got the feeling his men were just not getting everything they would need to face a rising insurgency.
“Jocko taught us this concept of ‘extreme ownership,’” recalled Leif Babin, Willink’s comrade in Anbar province in 2006. “We couldn’t blame it on the trainers. We had to take ownership of it.
“Thank God we did that…we get new orders and find out we’re going to a little place called Ramadi.”
Now partners in their leadership consulting firm Echelon Front LLC, Willink and Babin shared what the learned with a full house audience Wednesday at the 2016 International WorkBoat Show.
With their life or death decisions at the squad and platoon level, the Ramadi SEALs helped the Army and Marines secure the city, ultimately helping make it one of the safer places for Iraqi citizens, Willink recalled. That experience and their later work as top SEAL trainers led Willink and Babin to adapt their combat rules for use by business.
“Cover, move. Simple. Prioritize and Execute. Decentralized Command.” Inside those four concepts are their rules for leading and working together.
“If the team fails, everyone fails,” Babin said. “It’s not about you, it’s about the mission…I’ve got to help you get better.”
In charge of two SEAL platoons, Willink was frustrated by excessively complicated plans, ineffectively communicated by young officers.
“If people don’t understand, they can’t execute,” he said.
At the same time, “it’s your responsibility to raise your had and find out why,” Willink said. That’s what makes decentralized command work. And when you get it right, you will win.”
