An Analysis Of Extreme Ownership By Jocko Willink And Leif Babin

It takes a lot for an average person to swallow their pride and admit when they are wrong, but it garners outstanding respect for those who take responsibility. In the book Extreme Ownership, the authors, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, express the crucial need for leaders to take ownership in a situation. Extreme Ownership was written with the purpose to recommend and provide detailed examples of successful leadership traits. The book is written from the perspective of two Navy SEALs, who use their leadership examples from combat to drive home the main argument of taking responsibility even in the most adverse of circumstances. I believe this book was written not to make the point that this is how leadership should be, but rather that these …show more content…
For instance, one of the first chapters is named Extreme Ownership (like the title of the book), which gives a hint to the leadership topic of the section. This chapter is written by Jocko Willink with his experience in the Ma’Laab District, Ramadi, Iraq. It was the beginnings of the war in Iraq set on by America after the horrific 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers. On a typical operation into the urban battlefront, all hell had broken loose. Willink’s SEAL sniper elements were embroiled in a serious gunfight with what they thought was enemy muj. Willink had figured his element had abandoned their location since they were no where in the vicinity. Willink went up to the Marine Gunnery Sergeant in charge of the Marines and Iraqi soldiers who were trying to take down a building full of “insurgents”. He asked the Gunny the plans to take down this building, to which the Gunny replied with an airstrike. Willing has a bad feeling about this and went to investigate this building. He broke open the door to the held up building, and staring back at him shocked was his element of SEALs. What had gone wrong to allow blue-on-blue fighter fight? One of Willink’s SEAL men had been severely wounded and an Iraqi soldier had been fatally shot. He was fully responsible for the situation. Willink could blame the failed mission on a multitude of factors, but he choose to take …show more content…
I feel that, in class, taking responsibility is seen as a given, however, the book expresses the true impact it has on a leader and the team he leads. The authors show how it benefitted their personal leadership growth as well as the leadership expansion of many companies they worked with. With team purpose, it is a new topic that has not been study in depth in class. The book demonstrates the importance of reciting the mission or goal to a team, but also why they are accomplishing it in the first place. There are many times, in business or military, when followers may ask why they should really care to help their team anyway. By giving the “why” proceeding the announcement of a team goal, leaders can gauge a better follower understanding of their main purpose. I’ve started to apply both of these attributes to my leadership development as