45 Best Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes will fetch you some life-changing advice!

It will let you ponder on the responsibilities of a “True Leader.”

It’s all plain sailing following a leader but owning up to that position of leadership and taking up real hard decisions is the real game.

Below are chunks of guidance in the garb of Jocko Willink Quotes On Leadership. 

Without further ado, enjoy the Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes! Happy Reading!

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes 

Jocko Willink Quotes On Leadership 

1- “Leadership is hard. It’s a skill. It’s a technique.”

1 Leadership is hard. It's a skill. It's a technique.

2- “When I was running training, we would fire a couple of leaders from every SEAL team because they couldn’t lead. And 99.9% of the time, it wasn’t a question of their ability – it was a question of their ability to listen.”

3- “I did my utmost to ensure that everyone below me in the chain of command felt comfortable approaching me with concerns, ideas, thoughts, and even disagreements.”

4- “You can’t make people do those things. You have to lead them.”

4 You can’t make people do those things. You have to lead them.”

5- “Just as discipline and freedom are opposing forces that must be balanced, leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities between one extreme and another.”

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes

6- “The most fundamental and important truths at the heart of Extreme Ownership: there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.”

6 there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.”

7- “After all, there can be no leadership where there is no team.”

7 “After all, there can be no leadership where there is no team.”

8- “Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mind-set into the team.”

9- “A good leader has nothing to prove, but everything to prove.”

9 A good leader has nothing to prove, but everything to prove.

10- “One of the key qualities a leader must possess is the ability to detach from the chaos, mayhem, and emotions in a situation and make good, clear decisions based on what is actually happening.”

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes

11- “Extreme Ownership. Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.”

11 leaders must own everything

12- “If I’m going to get you to do stuff, I need to lead you. I can’t just order you to do it.”

12 If I'm going to get you to do stuff, I need to lead you. I can't just order you to do it.

13- “Leaders must always operate with the understanding that they are part of something greater than themselves and their own personal interests.”

14- “If you get your ego in your way, you will only look to other people and circumstances to blame.”

14 If you get your ego in your way, you will only look to other people

15- “The best leaders understand the motivations of their team members and know their people – their lives and their families. But a leader must never grow so close to subordinates that one member of the team becomes more important than another, or more important than the mission itself.”

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes

16- “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.”

17- “When a team takes ownership of its problems, the problem gets solved. It is true on the battlefield, it is true in business, and it is true in life.”

18- “A good leader does not get bogged down in the minutia of a tactical problem at the expense of strategic success.”

19- “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.”

20- “I explained how a leader who tries to take on too many problems simultaneously will likely fail at them all.”

20 eader who tries to take on too many problems will fail at them all.”

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes

21- “We learned that leadership requires belief in the mission and unyielding perseverance to achieve victory, particularly when doubters question whether victory is even possible.”

22- “The more you practice, the better you get, the more freedom you have to create.” 

22 “The more you practice, the better you get, the more freedom you have to create.”

23- “We named the book ‘Extreme Ownership’ because we really found that when we looked at not only at leaders but at teams that were the most successful, we found that the ones that had this attitude of extreme ownership were the ones that did the best, and it’s definitely an attitude that I had.”

24- “The leader is truly and ultimately responsible for everything.”

24 “The leader is truly and ultimately responsible for everything.”

25- “Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done.”

25 “Good leaders don’t make excuses. Instead, they figure out a way to get it done.”

Jocko Willink Leadership Quotes

26- “One of my direct subordinates, one of my guys that worked for me, he would call me up or pull me aside with some major problem, some issue that was going on. And he’d say, ‘Boss, we’ve got this, and that, and the other thing.’ And I’d look at him and I’d say, ‘Good.'”

27- “Leadership is simple, but not easy.”

27 “Leadership is simple, but not easy.”

28- “A lot of times, people have something that they’re afraid of. They’ve got a client that’s mad at them. They’ve got a project that’s due. And they let that stress hang over their head. I don’t let that happen.”

29- “There can be no leadership when there is no team.”

29 “There can be no leadership when there is no team.”

30- “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 Leadership Quotes

31- “Extreme Ownership is a mind-set, an attitude.”

31 “Extreme Ownership is a mind-set, an attitude.”

32- “Put your leaders in stressful scenarios. Make them figure out solutions under pressure. See if you can make them frustrated, angry, and flustered, and then demand decisive leadership from them. They will be challenged at first, but they will get better over time.”

33- “It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate.”

33 “It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate.”

34- “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.”

35- “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. Therefore, leaders must enforce standards.”

Jocko Willink Quotes On Leadership

36- “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.”

37- “Since the team understands that the leader is de facto in charge, in that respect, a leader has nothing to prove. But in another respect, a leader has everything to prove: Every member of the team must develop the trust and confidence that their leader will exercise good judgment, remain calm, and make the right decisions when it matters most.”

38- “It is essential to develop a standardized planning process.”

38 “It is essential to develop a standardized planning process.”

39- “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.”

40- “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 Leadership Quotes

41- “Leading people is the most challenging and, therefore, the most gratifying undertaking of all human endeavors.”

42- “You already know what the right thing to do is. You just gotta do it.”

42 “You already know what the right thing to do is. You just gotta do it.”

43- “The goal of all leaders should be to work themselves out of a job. When mentored and coached properly, the junior leader can eventually replace the senior leader, allowing the senior leader to move on to the next level of leadership.”

44- “Set your alarm clock and get out of bed when it goes off.”

44 “Set your alarm clock and get out of bed when it goes off.”

45- “Don’t just think. Don’t just talk. Don’t just dream. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is that you actually do. So: DO.”

Jocko Willink Quotes On Leadership

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