Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Book Club: My Top 5 Takeaways from Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Episode Date: December 28, 2020

“Can you recommend a book for…?” “What are you reading right now?” “What are your favorite books?” I get asked those types of questions a lot and, as an avid reader and all-around bibliophile, I’m always happy to oblige. I also like to encourage people to read as much as possible because knowledge benefits you much like compound interest. The more you learn, the more you know; the more you know, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. On the flip side, I also believe there’s little hope for people who aren’t perpetual learners. Life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic, and it slowly suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. So, if you’re a bookworm on the lookout for good reads, or if you’d like to get into the habit of reading, this book club for you. The idea here is simple: Every month, I’ll share a book that I’ve particularly liked, why I liked it, and several of my key takeaways from it. I’ll also keep things short and sweet so you can quickly decide whether the book is likely to be up your alley or not. Alright, let’s get to the takeaways. Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

Hey, it's another episode of Muscle for Life. Welcome, welcome. I am your host, Mike Matthews, and thank you for joining me today to learn about a book that I liked. Now, why am I doing an episode about books that I like? Well, I often get asked for book recommendation. Many people want to know what my favorite books are on various topics. They want to know what books I'm reading right now or what books I've read recently and which

ones I've liked, as well as my all-time favorite books, again, on various topics or in various genres. And as an avid reader and all-around bibliophile, I am always happy to oblige. I also like to encourage people to read as much as possible because knowledge benefits you much like compound interest, because the more you learn, the more you know, the more you know, the more you can do, and the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. On the flip side, I really do believe that there is little hope for people who are not perpetual learners. Life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic, and it you would just like to get into the habit of reading, then this episode is for you. And this series of episodes is for you. I post one every

four to six weeks or so. And the idea behind the series is very simple. I share books that I have particularly liked. I explain why I liked them. And I share several of my key takeaways from the books. Usually it's five, sometimes it's three, as well as some of my own thoughts on those key takeaways. Also, if you like what I am doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, definitely check out my sports nutrition company, Legion, which, thanks to the support of many people like you, is the leading brand of all natural sports supplements in the world. And we're on top because every ingredient and dose in every

product is backed by peer-reviewed scientific research. Every formulation is 100% transparent. There are no proprietary blends, for example, And everything is naturally sweetened and flavored. So that means no artificial sweeteners, no artificial food dyes, which may not be as dangerous as some people would have you believe. But there is good evidence to suggest that having many servings of artificial sweeteners in particular every day for long periods of time may not be the best for your health. So while you don't need pills, powders, and potions to get into great shape, and frankly, most of them are virtually useless, there are natural ingredients that can help you lose fat, build muscle, and get healthy

faster, and you will find the best of them in Legion's products. To check out everything we have to offer, including protein powders and protein bars, pre-workout, post-workout supplements, fat burners, multivitamins, joint support, and more, head over to www.buylegion.com, B-U-Y Legion.com. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code MFL at checkout, and you will save 20% on your entire first order. So again, if you appreciate my work, and if you want to see more of it, and if you also want all natural evidence-based supplements that work, please do consider supporting Legion so I can keep doing what I love, like producing more podcasts like this. Okay, so let's get to the featured book, which is Extreme Ownership by

Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Now, over the last couple of millennia, many smart and successful people have said many things about leadership. And like any subject or activity, a minority of those things have proven uniformly workable and are now recognized as first principles. And this book, Extreme Ownership, is an exploration of several of these non-negotiable laws of effective leadership, including one, a leader is only as good as he or she can win. 2. A leader must be fully responsible for everything in his or her world. 3. A leader must face reality as it is, not as he or she wishes it were. 4. A leader must earn the trust, confidence, and respect of those he or she is leading. And 5. A leader must put the group's well-being before his or her ego and personal interests.

What's more, this book wasn't written by an ivory tower intellectual or an executive sidekick who maybe has worked with great leaders but never actually led themselves. No, this was written by a couple of frontline soldiers who not only led men into battle, but into some of the heaviest and sustained urban combat operations in the history of the SEAL teams that successfully wrested control of the war-torn city of Ramadi, Iraq, away from Al-Qaeda loyalists. This book is a distillation then of the leadership principles and practices that proved the most successful during their time as soldiers, and specifically during the Battle of Ramadi. And these teachings were so successful that they were subsequently incorporated throughout

the SEAL teams as standard protocols. Now, as you can guess, leadership precepts that work in the harshest conditions imaginable, war, are easily transferable to lower stakes endeavors like business and even interpersonal relationships. Hence the popularity of this book, which explains how the authors have helped business people use these hard-won lessons to create bonanzas and breakthroughs. Additionally, this book is not just for people in a leadership position at work or elsewhere. I think it's for people who aspire to lead in any capacity, starting with simply taking charge of their own affairs for their own benefit. Because unless someone can assume full responsibility, full ownership, extreme ownership for their immediate sphere of influence, what is directly

under their control, and unless they can earn their own trust and their own confidence through thoughtful planning and effective execution that produces desirable long-term results, they will never be able to create or even meaningfully contribute to a group that wins. And so this is a book that I recommend you read regardless of whether you consider yourself a leader. We've all been tasked with leadership of minimally just ourselves, right? been tasked with leadership of minimally just ourselves, right? Nature has given us that job. Our creator has given us that job or some cosmic unknown force or entity has, right? And our ability to flourish depends primarily on how well we can execute that mission. So let's get to the takeaways. The first one is, quote, 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. Now, my note here is, by my lights, this really is the most powerful teaching in the book. Effective leadership requires the willingness to be ultimately responsible for everything that leads to the group's success or failure because the moment a leader explains a failure by pointing their finger elsewhere or making an excuse, they abdicate from their position. As the title of the book implies, the authors champion this mindset in the extreme. No matter the circumstances, they say, an effective leader always accepts ownership of the outcome and never tries to finesse their mishap. The authors

share many examples of this attitude in action throughout the book, ranging from wrestling with administrative palaver to executing dangerous missions with unskilled and unreliable Iraqi soldiers. And the moral of the stories is simple. No matter the reason, if we're not getting the outcomes that we want, we must hold ourselves exclusively accountable and then figure out why we're floundering and what it'll take to win. Now, many people find this philosophy unpalatable because it invalidates their precious justifications for their failures. But the proof of the extreme ownership pudding is in the eating because the less inclined someone is to make excuses,iomatic observations of life. And on the other hand, the people that are going nowhere always have a wheelbarrow of excuses to explain why. The crucial realization here is this. Nearly every problem we could ever have has a solution.

It may not be the one we want, but it is a solution. It may not be easy. It may not be enjoyable. we want, but it is a solution. It may not be easy. It may not be enjoyable, but who said it should be? No matter how difficult or daunting a situation is, there is always a path forward. Whether we take it is on us. Okay, takeaway number two, quote, there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. My note here is if a group isn't winning, it's only because the leader has not created the conditions necessary to win. Maybe they have the wrong attitude. Maybe they haven't developed the right plans. Maybe they haven't assembled the right team. Maybe they're

asking people to do things they're unwilling to do themselves. Maybe they're more interested in assigning blame than discovering solutions. Maybe they're weak interested in assigning blame than discovering solutions. Maybe they're weak-hearted or complacent, or maybe it's some other factor. And that's a philosophy that I remind myself of when any part of my businesses aren't performing to my expectations. It would be easy to pass the buck to employees who did bad work or vendors who didn't deliver as promised. But who's responsible for the systems used to hire those employees and vendors? Who's responsible for ensuring those employees are trained and evaluated and reassigned or dismissed if necessary? Who's responsible for making sure vendors are held to our agreement? Oh, that's right. It's me in every case. So if I'm

dissatisfied with the effects that I have created, then there's only one question to ask. What am I going to do about it? And therein lies the real power of this prism of extreme ownership. It automatically orients you away from stewing about the past and fretting over the future and toward taking action to create a favorable tomorrow. I apply this perspective to the maximum degree too, to every effect I experience in every corner of my life, both good and bad, including the occurrences that many people would say are simply beyond my control. I agree that there are many forces in life that are outside my control, but this is a precondition for any game because if everything is under your control, what fun is that, right? And who's

responsible for the decision to participate in this game of life? Who's responsible for the decisions to expand that participation, to include more people and more activities and greater ambitions? Who's responsible for learning how to keep winning if I'm going to keep playing? And you know, what I really like about this approach to living is its elegance

because it doesn't matter whether it's ultimately true in a metaphysical sense, because if you just behave as if it were true, you will immediately increase your ability and your potential. And that's something that really resonates with a dyed-in-the-wool pragmatist like me. Okay, let's move on to the next takeaway. Quote, when it comes to standards as a leader, it's not what you preach, it's what you tolerate. And my note here is no matter what a person in a leadership position says or writes or even does themselves, if they accept substandard performance from people in their charge, that will become the new standard for the group at large. A downward drift in execution and achievement will be inevitable. Therefore, it is incumbent

upon leaders to not only embody but also uphold the virtues and values required for winning and to communicate and enforce consequences for failing to meet those standards. And this is a lesson I've had to learn more than once in building my businesses because in several instances, I've allowed the wrong people to stick around much longer than I should have and significantly retarded growth as a result. In one case, for example, I truly believe that Legion, my sports nutrition company, would be at least double its current size if I had fired and replaced a key employee a couple years earlier than I did, which given the circumstances at that time would have been perfectly appropriate. This principle of getting

what you tolerate applies to a lot more than business too, because we get the body that we tolerate. We get the mind that we tolerate. We get the mind that we tolerate. We get the relationships that we tolerate, the community that we tolerate, the government we tolerate, and really the world that we tolerate. In other words, while we may not feel we are responsible for the vicissitudes of life, disease, dysfunction, hardships, we're minimally responsible for tolerating them. Extreme ownership. Okay, takeaway number four, quote, leaders must delegate the planning process down the chain as much as possible to key subordinate leaders. Team participation, even from the most junior

personnel, is critical in developing bold, innovative solutions to problem sets. Now, my note here is in business and life, many people become leaders by first excelling at something, right? By being able to personally produce outstanding results in some activity. Now, many of those same people then struggle as managers or directors because they can't or won't give up any control of plans and operations or even seek input from their team members. Instead, these would-be leaders believe that they know best and they seek to direct every part of every process. And the result is a group of demotivated, disengaged, and discontented people who will never perform at a high level. Now, the solution, according to the authors, is ensuring

that everyone involved in a project has ownership of some part of it, even if it seems trivial. For example, the authors noted that the soldiers who experienced the most combat fatigue, dejection, and skepticism were the ones who were given the least amount of ownership of the planning of the operations that they participated in. And conversely, the operators who fared the best mentally, emotionally, and spiritually all had ownership of some part of the plans they executed, even if it was just picking a route to travel or a method for breaching an entry door or a protocol for coordinating with supporting aircraft. So the point here is good leaders create understanding and buy-in by encouraging opinions, questions, and suggestions from everyone, no matter their station, and by resisting the urge to domineer and to discourage discussion or dissent.

Okay, takeaway number five, quote, 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. And my note here is this really encapsulates the secret sauce of good leadership. It isn't raw talent or skill or confidence, but modesty, diligence, self-awareness. In other words, the absence of ego. A leader must maintain the willingness and the discipline to conduct honest, realistic assessments of their own performance and that of their team. And they must accept that there's always someone out there who is better than they are and that they always have more to learn. They must remember that, as the poet Theognis wrote,

the first thing the gods bestow on those who they wish to annihilate is pride. What's more, great leaders keep their ego in check by holding themselves to standards that others consider excessive or unreasonable, because winning alone is not enough. People can get lucky and win, but can they be the best version of themselves? Can they embody more and more of their true potential? That is the inner scorecard, as Warren Buffett put it, that exceptional leaders measure themselves against, not others' opinions on what objectively qualifies as success. All right, well, that's it for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it and found it interesting

and helpful. And if you did, and you don't mind doing me a favor, please do leave a quick review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to me from in whichever app you're listening to me in, because that not only convinces people that they should check out the show, it also increases search visibility. And thus it helps more people find their way to me and learn how to get fitter, leaner, stronger, healthier, and happier as well. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then simply subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any new stuff. And if you didn't like something about the show, please do shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com, just muscle, F-O-R, life.com, and share your

thoughts on how I can do this better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback, even if it is criticism. I'm open to it. And of course, you can email me if you have positive feedback as well, or if you have questions really relating to anything that you think I could help you with, definitely send me an email. That is the best way to get ahold of me, mikeatmuscleforlife.com. And that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode. And I hope to hear from you soon.