By Jacqueline Torres
About the Author
Leif Babin is a former U.S. Navy SEAL officer and co-founder of Echelon Front, a leadership training company based on the principles discussed in Extreme Ownership. Babin served thirteen years in the Navy, after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. During that time, he served as a SEAL platoon commander, where he planned and led major combat operations. His SEAL team, Task Unit Bruiser, became the most decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War.
Jocko Willink is also a retired Navy SEAL and co-founder of Echelon Front. Willink served as a Navy SEAL for 20 years, where he worked his way up to become a SEAL officer. He also served as commander of Task Unit Bruiser, where he and Babin started to form their friendship. After returning from Iraq, Willink served as Officer-in-Charge of all West Coast SEAL Teams training. Through this, he led the way in leadership training and instruction for the next generation of SEAL leaders.
About the Book
The primary takeaway from Extreme Ownership is that leaders are responsible for everything within their organization, whether in business or on the battlefield. This concept challenges leaders to take full ownership of the success and failures that occur within their team.
The book unpacks leadership lessons in a very unique way by providing plenty of examples from the battlefield and business applications. In fact, each chapter starts off with an exhilarating anecdote from a SEAL team mission which demonstrates a significant leadership lesson. Willink and Babin then breakdown the lesson and explain the leadership principle that it taught them. After each principle is explained, the chapter includes an example of how they coached a business client through a related challenge.
Through this format, I found it very engaging and enticing to read real-world applications of leadership concepts. I found this help to envision how I could personally apply these same lessons in my own career.
Lessons for Leaders in Manufacturing
I found that many of the business application examples could be very related to manufacturing leadership and sales. For instance, one example demonstrated how a simple change, like simplifying and communicating a new compensation structure, significantly increased the performance of sales reps. This example and many others can help equip manufacturing owners and CEOs with the solutions they need to improve their leadership and performance within their company.
We highly suggest you read this book to understand how small leadership shifts can make huge impacts on your company’s success and ability to rebound post COVID-19. For we all understand that leadership is more crucial than ever before as we continue to navigate this era of uncertainty and concern.
About The Reader/Reviewer
Jackie Torres has served as an Account Specialist and Marketing Specialist at VizBiz Solutions since September of 2019. Her biology background equipped her with the critical thinking and analytical skills to be able to understand our wide variety of manufacturing clients.
Having served as an ASB officer and captain of her college volleyball team, she has always been passionate about leadership and plans to continue to develop her ability to lead throughout her career.
