“The most fundamental and important truths at the heart of Extreme Ownership: there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.” “any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. The leader must own everything in his or her world. There is no one else to blame”

Regardless of the stage you are in your life, regardless or your sport level or type of sport you do; regardless of all of this we are all leaders….but not necessarily leaders as most people intend. We are leaders of ourselves.

I am currently reading Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win book by Jocko Willink, which I would highly recommend it. The book focused on the notion of full ownership that true leaders must accept and stick by. There are no places for blaming others or finding excuses. When you think about what Navy SEALs training mean and what life changing decisions their leaders have to make (deciding to send a troop of young people and be accountable for their life ultimately, on a military operations) it is very courageous and admirable but it could be also extremely high pressure for some of us.

The book is full of examples of how to motivate team and bring the best out of them. It is all about true and real leadership. Leaders who do not have followers but leaders who create new leaders. I really like the concept to take extreme accountability for our actions. There is no place for blames, excuses or looking for something to make us feel less or not at all responsible. In the end, army leaders are extremely scrutinized and under constant pressure, need to make quick decisions (involving lives) based on partial information and ultimately lead by example. No room for errors are allowed, which would be fatal with loss of young lives.

The parallel with sports is obvious, specifically with the team sport but all individual sport (which in the end the public just see the visible figure of a team. Example with tennis players)

Key points with my personal comments

1. Extreme Ownership: You own what you are doing all the way through. Don’t try to find someone
2. There is no bad team, only bad leaders : Indeed, the team is driven by the leader, who needs to lead by passion and example. Good leaders have followers. Great leaders create new leaders. So don’t have just followers
3. Believe in you, the team and the mission : This is the Why ? You and the team must have in mind all the time in all what you are doing
4. Check the ego:
5. Cover and Move: This relates to sense of sacrifice and camaraderie. Cover your team mate when necessary and move all together
6. Simplify: This doesn’t mean not taking into account complexity, but rather when you face difficulty, simplify and break down stuff and act on what you can
7. Prioritize and Execute: We just have 24h a time. So you must learn to focus on what is really critical
8. Decentralized Command : Let the people in the act as a leader
9. Plan, Plan, Plan, Plan
10. Leading is UP, Down, Lateral: Lead in all directions with different way of communication
11. Be decisive and learn to deal with uncertainty. Always expect the unexpected
12. Discipline = Freedom: Although it sounds contradictory, it is not. It is just by being disciplined with yourself and others, that you will be able to feel free and focus on what is important

In my experience, all those 12 concepts are applicable to any sport but also in life in general. I like the concept of extreme ownership, when I want to reach certain goals in life. At the end of the day, you are the captain of your ship and nobody else will drive it for you. Believe in yourself and if you apply those concepts, for sure it will bring success soon or later.

Whether you are an amateur or semi-professional or even a professional either athletes or working the sport business, I would highly recommend you this inspiring and actionable book.