Extreme Ownership of the Agency
In May, one of our agency clients, Milestone Risk Management & Insurance Services in Irvine, Calif., (Ron & John Hoefer) sponsored an incredible Leadership Summit at the Hyatt in Huntington Beach, Calif. We attended the event along with 564 insurance clients, prospects and insurance company representatives. The all-day event featured Navy SEAL Jocko Willink and two of his fellow seals, Mike Sarraille and Andrew Paul, who commanded Unit Bruiser during the battle of Ramadi, Iraq, and helped bring stability to the violent, war-torn city after 9/11.
We found Jocko’s, who authors the books “Extreme Ownership, Discipline Equals Freedom” and some children’s books like “The Way of the Warrior Kid,” ideas to be a unique way to look at leadership principles that are directly transferable to the business world.
Extreme Ownership is taking complete responsibility for everything that happens in your organization, regardless of the circumstances. His strategies give the simple tools needed to be able to effectively lead a winning team. Great leaders own everything in their world that affects the mission. Every success, every failure, every problem and every solution. One must check their ego. Acknowledge failures and setbacks; analyze and develop solutions. One must not accept excuses and should find a way to win. Leaders must lead in the absence of orders. They figure out what needs to be done and they do it!
When Jocko left Ramadi in much better shape than when Unit Bruiser arrived, there were three key lessons learned that can be applied in any business:
The key is to balance all of these things in an organization. Leadership is the most important thing in any team, and it dictates success or failure.
People are their own harshest critics. What standards do you set for yourself? Success or failure rests with the team. Take blame; it is your fault. Be blunt and be brutal. Let people debrief themselves. Establish a culture of assessment – of the team and self. When companies stop debriefing, such as when they are winning too much, they become complacent. Keep debriefing.
There needs to be communication, or there is no relationship. Sales teams can lose if operations can’t deliver, or if sales can’t sell the product. Each side must know that without the other, or they don’t exist. Do whatever you can to support them. Tell people thank you. Take care of each other.
Make training realistic and repetitive, so that people don’t even have to think. Everyone in an organization should role play being the boss, the client and then the staff. That way, they can also see each other’s perspectives.
People need to know why they are doing something and what is the goal or mission? Otherwise, they don’t understand or know the consequences of not getting to the why.
These keys to extreme ownership and leadership were an inspiration on the battlefield and can also be so in running an insurance agency or any business. Please share these concepts with everyone in the organization, and it will help the firm reach its goals and improve communication. The owners will feel they are not alone in the process of making the firm a great place to work and a growing, exceptional entity that others will be proud to work for.