Hello. I am Deepak Kundu, an avid book reader and quotes collector. Here is a list of 25 quotes that I liked and saved while reading Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. I hope you enjoy reading them.
Extreme Ownership Quotes
Leadership is the most important factor on the battlefield, the single greatest reason behind the success of any team.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Combat is reflective of life, only amplified and intensified. Decisions have immediate consequences, and everything – absolutely everything – is at stake. The right decision, even when all seems lost, can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The wrong decision, even when a victorious outcome seems all but certain, can result in deadly, catastrophic failure.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
On 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.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Whether a team succeeds or fails is all up to the leader. The leader’s attitude sets the tone for the entire team.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mind-set into the team.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done and win.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
In order to convince and inspire others to follow and accomplish a mission, a leader must be a true believer in the mission.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leadership isn’t one person leading a team. It is a group of leaders working together, up and down the chain of command, to lead. If you are on your own, I don’t care how good you are, you won’t be able to handle it.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Almost no mission ever goes according to plan. There are simply too many variables to deal with. This is where simplicity is key. If the plan is simple enough, everyone understands it, which means each person can rapidly adjust and modify what he or she is doing.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
A leader who tries to take on too many problems simultaneously will likely fail at them all.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
SEALs are known for taking significant risk, but in reality SEALs calculate risk very carefully.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
As a leader, if you are down in the weeds planning the details with your guys, you will have the same perspective as them, which adds little value. But if you let them plan the details, it allows them to own their piece of the plan. And it allows you to stand back and see everything with a different perspective, which adds tremendous value. You can then see the plan from a greater distance, a higher altitude, and you will see more.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leadership doesn’t just flow down the chain of command, but up as well. We have to own everything in our world. That’s what Extreme Ownership is all about.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leaders in any chain of command will not always agree. But at the end of the day, once the debate on a particular course of action is over and the boss has made a decision – even if that decision is one you argued against – you must execute the plan as if it were your own.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
There is no 100 percent right solution. The picture is never complete. Leaders must be comfortable with this and be able to make decisions promptly, then be ready to adjust those decisions quickly based on evolving situations and new information.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Every leader must walk a fine line. That’s what makes leadership so challenging. Just as discipline and freedom are opposing forces that must be balanced, leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities, between one extreme and another. The simple recognition of this is one of the most powerful tools a leader has.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
A leader must lead but also be ready to follow.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
A true leader is not intimidated when others step up and take charge. Leaders that lack confidence in themselves fear being outshined by someone else.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
A leader must control his or her emotions. If not, how can they expect to control anything else? Leaders who lose their temper also lose respect.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Confidence is contagious, a great attribute for a leader and a team. But when it goes too far, overconfidence causes complacency and arrogance, which ultimately set the team up for failure.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
A leader must be attentive to details but not obsessed by them.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
A leader must be strong but likewise have endurance, not only physically but mentally.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leaders must recognize limitations and know to pace themselves and their teams so that they can maintain a solid performance indefinitely.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
A leader must be close with subordinates but not too close. […] A leader must never grow so close to subordinates that one member of the team becomes more important than another, or more important than the mission itself. Leaders must never get so close that the team forgets who is in charge.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
A person’s biggest strength can be his greatest weakness when he doesn’t know how to balance it.
from Extreme Ownership book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin