Book SummaryLeadership Strategy and Tactics, by Jocko Willink

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Leadership Strategy and Tactics

Leadership Strategy and Tactics by Jocko Willink argues that the key to being a good leader is putting others before yourself. By being humble, building good relationships, and taking responsibility for your team’s mistakes, Willink claims you can help your team become more successful and reach common goals.

After serving for 20 years as a US Navy SEAL, Willink developed a unique leadership philosophy that he shares through his leadership consulting program, Echelon Front, in books like Extreme Ownership (2015) and _[The Dichotomy of...

Leadership Strategy and Tactics Summary The Importance of Leadership

First, we’ll discuss Willink’s idea of leadership to establish what this term means throughout this guide and why it’s worth considering. We’ll start by distinguishing it from manipulation, then we’ll explain why leadership is essential for success.

What Is Leadership?

According to Willink, leadership is the ability to get people to support each other to achieve a common goal. He explains that leadership fundamentally involves getting people to do what you want them to do—when what you want them to do serves the common interest. Although this sounds similar to manipulation, Willink claims that these two strategies have different purposes. If you’re manipulating people, you’re simply controlling others to serve your own benefit. Manipulation might secure temporary success, but your team will eventually recognize your self-interested motivation and stop following you.

In contrast, Willink claims true leadership is motivated by the good of the people you’re leading and a goal you all share. If you...

Leadership Strategy and Tactics Summary Good Leaders Are Humble

Now that we’ve covered what leadership means to Willink, we’ll discuss the principles and practices that good leaders embody—the first of which is humility. To Willink, humility means recognizing that you’re not more important than anyone on your team. He argues that you can’t be a good leader if you aren’t humble, because without humility, your team won’t follow you. We’ll first discuss how humility inspires your team to follow you by earning their respect. Then, we’ll explain why humility is essential to make informed decisions and grow as a leader.

Practice Humility to Earn Respect From Your Team

When you’re in a leadership position, don’t ever consider yourself above your team. Doing this could cause your team to resent you and, as a result, they won’t follow you with much enthusiasm. Instead, work alongside your team with humility. If you demonstrate humility, Willink says you’ll influence your team to cooperate with you to achieve a common goal. This is because acting humbly will earn you respect, and when people respect you, they follow you.

(Shortform note: Willink proposes that you can earn your team’s respect by displaying humility. A slight nuance,...

Leadership Strategy and Tactics Summary Good Leaders Build Relationships With Their Team

Once you’ve earned your team’s respect by practicing humility, you can build strong relationships. According to Willink, your team is held together by relationships, and relationships are built on trust. Without relationships, you simply won’t have a team to lead. To build good relationships with people, Willink says you have to extend trust to your team by empowering them to lead, by communicating regularly, and by always telling the truth.

(Shortform note: How do good relationships improve your team? Research shows that good relationships improve your team by increasing everyone’s creativity, collaboration, and productivity. Additionally, people who feel they have good relationships with work colleagues feel more satisfied with their jobs, are less likely to experience burnout, and are more likely to stay with their team long-term.)

Empower Your Team to Lead

Let your team know what needs to be done and why it matters to your shared mission, then give them freedom to decide how to do it. Willink claims that by trusting your team with opportunities to lead, you’ll inspire...

Leadership Strategy and Tactics Summary Good Leaders Take Responsibility for Their Team’s Problems

According to Willink, as a leader, you’re responsible for any problems that occur on your team. Casting blame when something goes wrong wastes time and causes your team to stagnate. Instead, embrace the responsibility you have for your team's problems and focus on creating solutions.

In this section, we’ll explain how adopting a sense of radical responsibility for your team prevents future problems and encourages your team members to take more responsibility for themselves. We’ll then discuss Willink’s advice for how to make effective decisions that lead to solutions.

Benefits of Radical Responsibility

Willink coined the phrase “extreme ownership” and even titled a book after it. In this section, we’ll explore what this means, referring to it as “radical responsibility.” Radical responsibility means taking responsibility for all of the problems related to your team and mission. A mindset of radical responsibility not only puts you in a position to solve whatever problems are at hand, but it also helps prevent future issues. **If you know that you’ll bear the weight of responsibility for any of your team’s potential missteps, you’ll take preemptive actions to avoid...

Leadership Strategy and Tactics Summary Good Leaders Are Balanced

Willink argues that leaders must remain balanced to operate effectively. He claims that the extreme ends of any strategy or behavior can be harmful. In this section, we’ll discuss a couple key areas of leadership where striking a balance helps you lead your team well.

Balance Between Optimism and Realism

When your team is facing difficulty and morale is low, maintain a balanced attitude. Your attitude as a leader influences the attitudes of the people on your team. If you succumb to negativity, your team will follow suit. On the opposite end, if you’re blinded by optimism and put an unrealistically positive spin on everything, your team will think you’re oblivious to the problems at hand. As a result, you’ll lose credibility with your team. Instead, acknowledge the reality of the situation but focus your effort on the solution.

(Shortform note: In The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday explains that...

Shortform Exercise: Strengthen Your Leadership

In Leadership Strategy and Tactics, Willink stresses the importance of humility, good relationships, and taking responsibility. Think about how you can do these things right.

Think of a time when a leader of yours didn’t show humility and it hurt morale. What happened? How did you or your teammates respond?