60 pages • 2-hour read
Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win
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Discussion Questions
General Impressions
Invite readers to reflect on their broad takeaways and initial reactions to the book.
1. Extreme Ownership asks leaders to accept full responsibility, no matter the circumstance. Which example—whether from combat or corporate consulting—most challenged or reinforced your view of what responsibility looks like?
2. What did you think of the book’s balance of high-stakes combat storytelling and business examples?
3. Willink later wrote Leadership Strategy and Tactics. How do the two books compare? How has his perspective on leadership evolved?
Personal Reflection and Connection
Help readers relate the book’s lessons to their own life experiences.
1. Reflect on a time when you struggled to take full ownership of an outcome at work. What might you have done differently if you were applying the Extreme Ownership mindset?
2. Has there been a moment when you had to lead others toward a mission or project you weren’t fully convinced of at first? How did your own mindset affect your ability to lead?
3. In times of stress, how do you prioritize tasks? What motivates or stops you from executing?
4. The story of Ryan Job’s resilience speaks to perseverance in the face of life-changing hardship. What’s one personal or observed story of resilience that has stayed with you?
5. The phrase “discipline equals freedom” can feel counterintuitive (270). Where in your routines have you experienced greater freedom through structure?
6. Of the four Laws of Combat, which one feels most immediately applicable to your current professional challenges, and why?
Real-World Relevance
Encourage readers to think about the book’s role in current social, cultural, or professional conversations.
1. In today’s hybrid and remote workplaces, how does the idea of “leading up” and “leading down” become more complex? Have you seen successful (or failed) attempts to manage in both directions?
2. What broader insights can we gather about organizational culture from the tensions and collaborations between SEAL teams and conventional forces described in the book?
Practical Applications
Invite readers to consider how they might put the book’s advice into action.
1. You’ve been tasked with running a leadership workshop based on Extreme Ownership. Which three principles would anchor your agenda, and what simple exercises would help others apply them?
2. Imagine Jocko Willink or Leif Babin were advising you on a current leadership dilemma—what challenge would you bring them? What would they say to you?
3. Use the planning framework from Chapter 9 to outline your approach to a current challenge. What is your Commander’s Intent? What contingencies should you prepare for? How could you practice Decentralized Command in this case?
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