Leadership is a key component in the success of any business. Leadership comes primarily from the CEO of the company. So what kind of leadership should the CEO exhibit?
Extreme Ownership (How U.S. Navy Seals LEAD and WIN) is a book by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. You may wonder how military leadership applies to the business world. The authors are business consultants and in the book they illustrate the lessons learned in combat and how they apply to the world of business. Chapter after chapter take you into their world of training and war operations, then how they apply these lessons to actual business problems. [NOTE: Only 6% of those who start the training program make it through to become Navy Seals]
The following is just a couple of examples of the basic concepts from the book. If you are looking for practical business ideas, I highly recommend you read the book to fully understand these and other concepts.
What Extreme Ownership Is About
The basic concept of the book is this – a leader takes total responsibility for leading. It is always easy to assign blame to others. As CEO you can tell yourself you didn’t fail, it was the fault of the sales people who didn’t deliver, the financial manager provided poor assumptions, etc. If you assume extreme ownership you understand that you are totally responsible. You look to yourself in terms of what you could have done differently. For example, how could you have provided clearer directions, asked better questions, provided better guidance, better monitor operations, etc.? This moves you from “people don’t listen” to how can I get them to listen? This is a 180 degree shift in focus. The key point is – when you as the leader take total responsibility for everything, your team members (the Management Team) learn to do the same.
No Bad Teams Only Bad Leaders
A Seal training exercise involves teams paddling boats in competition. Time after time the same team won and another team came in last. Then the instructors changed the team leaders. The leader of the boat crew that always came in first was switched to the team that always came in last. In the next race, the last place crew with their new leader from the winning team came in first. The first place crew dropped to second place. In life and in business there are two types of leaders – effective and ineffective. Good leaders don’t make excuses. They figure out a way to win.
Belief in the Mission
This is a mission example. It comes from the SEALS in Iraq being required to involve Iraqi soldiers in their operations. In order to convince and inspire a team, the leader has to believe in the mission. This involves explaining and answering the team’s questions so they understand the why of the mission so they can believe in the mission, too. If the leader does not believe in the mission, he/she will not take the risks necessary to overcome the inevitable challenges necessary for the mission to be successful. The business application was a new sales incentive program that the sales team did not understand. It wasn’t the details that were the problem, the question was why a new compensation plan? What was the company attempting to do? Without the why, the sales team did not believe in it. Once the why was understood (in this case to better reward the high performing sales people), then the sales team believed in the plan. Who was to blame for not understanding the plan? The people with the questions needed to ask their questions (CEO is not a mind reader). Likewise, the CEO needed to explain the why. When everyone takes total responsibility, then the core issues get addressed.
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
You, the CEO, know what you know. If you draw knowledge from your Management Team, you increase your knowledge base. However there are still things neither you nor your Management Team know. For example, would you like to know how to diagnose problems before they surface? Or how to focus on the right things at the right time? Would you like to be able to predict how growth will impact you? Fortunately, you can get answers to these questions and more by understanding that there is a model to help you manage growth based on the number of people you have. This model is called the 7 Stages of Growth and by just knowing how many people you have you can identify critical issues that must be addressed today. And even more important, you can look back to earlier stages of growth and identify issues that are creating obstacles to growth. From this clarity, you’ll be able to better lead your team, make better decisions and improve profitability.
A Researched Foundation
Based on interviews and working with 650 CEO’s in 35 different industries, James Fischer was able to identify 7 Stages of Growth that firms pass through. In this research, he also found that a businesses will
- Face 27 different Challenges as they grow through these 7 Stages of Growth. At each stage the Top 5 Challenges change. Any challenge not addressed does not go away and in fact can slow growth.
- Need to understand the appropriate Builder: Protector Ratio. In Stages 1 & 2 you need to be builder. That is a person who takes risks. By Stage 3 you need to balance being a builder with being a protector, thus becoming more conservative person.
- Need to know the 5 Non-Negotiable Rules you will face. Like with challenges, unaddressed Rules will restrict future growth
- Face an ever changing focus on a shifting priority of Profit, People, and Process. You need to focus on all three and all times, but the top priority changes as the company grows.
- Need to adjust your Leadership Face from Specialist with a Vision at Stage 1 & 2 to a Manager in Stage 3. Ultimately will become focused on becoming a Visionary in Stage 7.
Getting Started – A FREE Test Drive
James Fischer identified the top five challenges at each stage of growth. Do you know your Top 5 Challenges? I challenge you to take the FREE 27 Challenge Assessment. It will not only give you better insight into your Top 5 Challenges, but you will receive a Special Report for your Stage of Growth. The Report will provide you with the following:
- 5 Biggest Challenges for your firm’s stage of growth
- Tools to Build Your Business
- 5 Non-Negotiable Rules for your firm’s stage of growth
- Business Building Blocks
- Getting Ready for the next Stage of Growth
To take the FREE 27 Challenge Assessment go to https://www.trwconsulting16.com/ and click on Take 27 Challenge Assessment.