Selected Quotes by Jocko Willink
Jocko Willink- John Gretton "Jocko" Willink (born September 8, 1971) is a retired United States Navy officer who formerly served in the Navy SEALs and is a former member of SEAL Team 3. He is now an author and podcaster.
His military service includes combat actions in the Iraq War, where he commanded SEAL Team 3's Task Unit Bruiser. It was the unit that fought in the battle against the Iraqi insurgents in Ramadi. He was honored with the Silver Star and Bronze Star Medal for his service. He achieved the rank of lieutenant commander.
He co-authored the books "Extreme Ownership and The Dichotomy of Leadership" together with fellow retired SEAL Leif Babin. He also co-founded the management consulting firm Echelon Front, LLC.
He hosts a weekly podcast with Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner Echo Charles which is called "The Jocko Podcast." He holds a B.A. in English from the University of San Diego.
Quotes by Jocko Willink:
“People do not follow robots.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“Don’t ask your leader what you should do, tell them what you are going to do.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“If mistakes happen, effective leaders don’t place blame on others. They take ownership of the mistakes, determine what went wrong, develop solutions to correct those mistakes and prevent them from happening again as they move forward.”
― Jocko Willink, The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“The only meaningful measure for a leader is whether the team succeeds or fails. For all the definitions, descriptions, and characterizations of leaders, there are only two that matter: effective and ineffective. Effective leaders lead successful teams that accomplish their mission and win. Ineffective leaders do not.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“Cover and Move, Simple, Prioritize and Execute, and Decentralized Command.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“As a leader, if you are down in the weeds planning the details with your guys,” said Jocko, “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. As a result, you will catch mistakes and discover aspects of the plan that need to be tightened up, which enables you to look like a tactical genius, just because you have a broader view.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“There are no bad units, only bad officers.”3 This captures the essence of what Extreme Ownership is all about.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“Leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities, between one extreme and another.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“Generally, when a leader struggles, the root cause behind the problem is that the leader has leaned too far in one direction and steered off course.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“A good leader has nothing to prove, but everything to prove.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“When a leader takes too much ownership, there is no ownership left for the team or subordinate leaders to take. So the team loses initiative, they lose momentum, they won't make any decision, they just sit around and wait to be told what to do.”
― Jocko Willink, The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“The true test for a good brief,” Jocko continued, “is not whether the senior officers are impressed. It’s whether or not the troops that are going to execute the operation actually understand it. Everything else is bullshit.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“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. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“So how can a leader become great if they lack the natural characteristics necessary to lead? The answer is simple: a good leader builds a great team that counterbalances their weaknesses.”
― Jocko Willink, Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Management
“Leaders must always operate with the understanding that they are part of something greater than themselves and their own personal interests.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“The Dichotomy of Leadership A good leader must be:
• confident but not cocky;
• courageous but not foolhardy;
• competitive but a gracious loser;
• attentive to details but not obsessed by them;
• strong but have endurance;
• a leader and follower;
• humble not passive;
• aggressive not overbearing;
• quiet not silent;
• calm but not robotic, logical but not devoid of emotions;
• close with the troops but not so close that one becomes more important than another or more important than the good of the team; not so close that they forget who is in charge.
• able to execute Extreme Ownership, while exercising Decentralized Command. A good leader has nothing to prove, but everything to prove.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“Belief in the mission ties in with the fourth Law of Combat: Decentralized Command (chapter 8). The leader must explain not just what to do, but why. It is the responsibility of the subordinate leader to reach out and ask if they do not understand. Only when leaders at all levels understand and believe in the mission can they pass that understanding and belief to their teams so that they can persevere through challenges, execute and win.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“After all, there can be no leadership where there is no team.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“When setting expectations, no matter what has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable—if there are no consequences—that poor performance becomes the new standard.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“Extreme Ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“the most fundamental and important truths at the heart of Extreme Ownership: there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“Implementing Extreme Ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of humility. Admitting mistakes, taking ownership, and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to any successful team.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management
“Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mind-set into the team. They must face the facts through a realistic, brutally honest assessment of themselves and their team’s performance. Identifying weaknesses, good leaders seek to strengthen them and come up with a plan to overcome challenges. The best teams anywhere, like the SEAL Teams, are constantly looking to improve, add capability, and push the standards higher. It starts with the individual and spreads to each of the team members until this becomes the culture, the new standard. The recognition that there are no bad teams, only bad leaders facilitates Extreme Ownership and enables leaders to build high-performance teams that dominate on any battlefield, literal or figurative.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management, Goals
“Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mind-set into the team. They must face the facts through a realistic, brutally honest assessment of themselves and their team’s performance. Identifying weaknesses, good leaders seek to strengthen them and come up with a plan to overcome challenges. The best teams anywhere, like the SEAL Teams, are constantly looking to improve, add capability, and push the standards higher. It starts with the individual and spreads to each of the team members until this becomes the culture, the new standard. The recognition that there are no bad teams, only bad leaders facilitates Extreme Ownership and enables leaders to build high-performance teams that dominate on any battlefield, literal or figurative.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management, Goals, Problems, Success
“Prioritize your problems and take care of them one at a time, the highest priority first. Don’t try to do everything at once or you won’t be successful.” I explained how a leader who tries to take on too many problems simultaneously will likely fail at them all.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management, Goals, Problems, Success
“We learned that leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory, particularly when doubters question whether victory is even possible.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management, Success
“A good leader does not get bogged down in the minutia of a tactical problem at the expense of strategic success.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management, Problems, Success
“If the stress is something you can’t control: Embrace it. You can’t control it, but— How can you look at it from a different angle? How can you use it to your advantage? I couldn’t control the chaos of combat. I had to embrace it. I had to figure out a way to take advantage of it. Make it into your ally.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Goals
“Because emotion and logic will both reach their limitations. And when one fails, you need to rely on the other. When it just doesn’t make any logical sense to go on, that’s when you use your emotion, your anger, your frustration, your fear, to push further, to push you to say one thing: I don’t stop. When your feelings are screaming that you have had enough, when you think you are going to break emotionally, override that emotion with concrete logic and willpower that says one thing: I don’t stop. Fight weak emotions with the power of logic; fight the weakness of logic with the power of emotion.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Goals
“But we can’t ever think we are too good to fail or that our enemies are not capable, deadly, and eager to exploit our weaknesses. We must never get complacent. This is where controlling the ego is most important.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Goals
“Question yourself every day. Ask yourself: Who am I? What have I learned? What have I created? What forward progress have I made? Who have I helped? What am I doing to improve myself—today? To get better, faster, stronger, healthier, smarter?”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Goals
“Instead of letting the situation dictate our decisions, we must dictate the situation.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Goals
“You have to BE VIGILANT. You have to be ON GUARD. You have to HOLD THE LINE on the seemingly insignificant little things— things that shouldn’t matter—but that do.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Goals
“Because emotion and logic will both reach their limitations. And when one fails, you need to rely on the other. When it just doesn’t make any logical sense to go on, that’s when you use your emotion, your anger, your frustration, your fear, to push further, to push you to say one thing: I don’t stop.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Goals
“Humans can withstand almost inconceivable stress—and you can too. So that is your first step: Gain perspective. And to do that you must do something critical in many situations: Detach. Whatever problems or stress you are experiencing, detach from them. Stress is generally caused by what you can’t control.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Goals
“You can’t make people listen to you. You can’t make them execute. That might be a temporary solution for a simple task. But to implement real change, to drive people to accomplish something truly complex or difficult or dangerous—you can’t make people do those things. You have to lead them.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Goals
“Relax. Look around. Make a call.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Goals
“The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win—you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail. Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Goals
“The people who are successful decide they are going to be successful. They make that choice. And they make other choices. They decide to study hard. They decide to work hard. They decide to be the first person to get to work and the last to go home. They decide they are going to take on the hard jobs. Take on the challenges. They decide they are going to lead when no one else will.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Goals, Success
“Take care of your gear and your gear will take care of you.”
― Jocko Willink, Marc's Mission: Way of the Warrior Kid
Jocko Willink, Life
“PRINCIPLE Ego clouds and disrupts everything: the planning process, the ability to take good advice, and the ability to accept constructive criticism. It can even stifle someone’s sense of self-preservation. Often, the most difficult ego to deal with is your own.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Life
“Hesitation allows the moment to pass, the opportunity to be lost, the enemy to get the upper hand. Hesitation turns into cowardice. It stops us from moving forward, from taking initiative, from executing what we know we must. Hesitation defeats us. So we must defeat it.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Life
“The shortcut is a lie. The hack doesn’t get you there. And if you want to take the easy road, it won’t take you to where you want to be: Stronger. Smarter. Faster. Healthier. Better. FREE.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Life
“That’s it. When things are going bad: Don’t get all bummed out, don’t get startled, don’t get frustrated. No. Just look at the issue and say: “Good.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Life
“Is this what I want to be? This? Is this all I’ve got—is this everything I can give? Is this going to be my life? Do I accept that?”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Life
“There is no easy way.
There is only hard work, late nights, early mornings, practice, rehearsal, repetition, study, sweat, blood, toil, frustration, and discipline.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Life
“Don’t fight stress. Embrace it. Turn it on itself. Use it to make yourself sharper and more alert. Use it to make you think and learn and get better and smarter and more effective. Use the stress to make you a better you.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Life
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”
― Jocko Willink, The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Life
“It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Life
“There were no more questions. The most important question had been answered: Why? Once I analyzed the mission and understood for myself that critical piece of information, I could then believe in the mission. If I didn’t believe in it, there was no way I could possibly convince the SEALs in my task unit to believe in it.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management, Planning
“Waiting for the 100 percent right and certain solution leads to delay, indecision, and an inability to execute.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management, Planning
“don’t try to plan for every contingency. Doing so will only overburden you and weigh you down so that you cannot quickly maneuver.”
― Jocko Willink, The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Management, Planning
“Stop researching every aspect of it and reading all about it and debating the pros and cons of it … Start doing it.”
― Jocko Willink, Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual
Jocko Willink, Goals, Planning
“Although discipline demands control and asceticism, it actually results in freedom. When you have the discipline to get up early, you are rewarded with more free time.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Freedom
“But, in fact, discipline is the pathway to freedom.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Freedom
“Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures. Discipline equals freedom.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Freedom
“Discipline equals freedom.”
― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink, Freedom
“So what does it take to win? Yes, you have to be determined. Yes, you have to be driven. Yes, you must have the unconquerable will to win. But to really win, to truly win at all cost, requires more flexibility, more creativity, more adaptability, more compromise, and more humility than most people ever realize. That is what it takes to win.”
― Jocko Willink, The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win