Jocko Willink on how to cultivate leadership skills
Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Jocko Willink shares some of the leadership tips taught in his new MasterClass
Former U.S. Navy SEAL Jocko Willink knows a thing or two about leadership.
The American author, podcast host and co-founder of leadership consulting firm Echelon Front spent 20 years in the military, where he learned to lead other SEALs.
San Diego-based Willink announced on Thursday that he will be releasing a MasterClass at Work course on effective leadership, available on the MasterClass streaming platform.
In an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital, Willink revealed how his course encourages a variety of business leaders, from real estate to entertainment to tech, to talk through leadership trials and tribulations.
Jocko Willink joined Fox News Digital for an on-camera interview. Leadership is the "most important thing," he said. "Good leadership has the most massive impact on the performance of a team." (Angelica Stabile/Fox News Digital)
"We solve problems through leadership, through interacting with other human beings," he said.
Willink shared that on both the battlefield and in business, leadership is the "most important thing."
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"That was very clear when I was in the military," he said. "When you had a good leader, that platoon or battalion would perform well. If you had a bad leader, that platoon would not perform well."
"So good leadership has the most massive impact on the performance of a team," he added.
As a former Navy SEAL and today a jack of all trades, Willink decided to focus his MasterClass at Work on finetuning leadership, a skill that he has found to be the "biggest void" after leaving the military.
"Of all the different things that I have learned to do throughout my life, leadership was the most important," he said. "It's the thing that I ended up teaching to the young leaders in my last few years inside the SEAL teams."
Once Willink began teaching leadership off the battlefield, he realized that military concepts such as "cover and move" and "prioritize and execute" were resonating with civilian workers.
As a former Navy SEAL and today a jack of all trades, Willink decided to focus his MasterClass at Work on finetuning leadership, a skill that he has found to be the "biggest void" after leaving the military. (MasterClass)
"I realized almost instantly that all the leadership lessons that I had learned inside the military, under the most stressful environment possible, applied in any leadership situation," he said.
"I know that when you have problems in an organization, those problems are leadership problems, and leadership is how you solve those problems."
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The former SEAL revealed a few of his top tips for achieving effective leadership through the lens of military initiatives.
1. Listen
Although this may seem "counterintuitive," Willink said that listening to input and feedback from members of a team will improve leadership performance.
"Listening is a seriously underrated skill," he said.
This includes considering the ideas of other team members and adopting a "decentralized command" approach in which everyone chips in as a leader.
Willink (not pictured) has applied what he learned as a Navy SEAL leader to civilian workplace leadership. (iStock)
Decentralized command is one of the "laws of leadership" that Willink teaches in his course, which requires every team member to understand the team’s mission and goals.
"Everyone has to be aligned," he said. "And then you have to empower those subordinate leaders."
Particularly in the age of hybrid and remote work, Willink noted that using a decentralized command approach will allow employees to take ownership of their jobs from varying locations.
"People have to have a better understanding of why they're doing what they're doing, so they can actually execute," he said.
2. Build strong relationships
In order to effectively use decentralized command in the workplace, Willink emphasized that building relationships is key.
"If we have good relationships, then we can have trust between us, listen to each other, influence each other and make decisions based on our common shared knowledge," he told Fox News Digital.
Willink considers every person on a team a leader, he told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
This is especially important in a modern-day workspace, where co-workers are not always co-located, Willink stressed.
"Relationships are paramount," he said. "In my mind, everyone’s in a leadership position."
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"We might be in a traditional leadership situation where I'm above you in the chain of command, but regardless, what I'm trying to do is build relationships and make sure that we get along, that we understand each other," he said.
Fostering strong relationships requires listening to, trusting, caring for and respecting one another, Willink noted.
"You've got to make sure that you've got your own world in order, because if you can't square yourself away, there's no way you can lead other people."
"If you're building those types of relationships with people, you're going to be able to work with them better, and you're going to be able to accomplish the mission," he said.
3. Practice discipline
One of Willink’s major philosophies is the power of discipline, which he said correlates to effective leadership.
"If you're in a leadership position, you've got to be able to make sure that you're doing well," he said.
"You've got to make sure that you've got your own world in order, because if you can't square yourself away, there's no way you can lead other people."
Cam Hanes and Jocko Willink attend the UFC 276 event at T-Mobile Arena on July 2, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images)
Discipline is "absolutely critical" inside an organization, Willink said.
Even though people often view discipline as constricting, he said, "the opposite is true."
"When you have a disciplined organization, that allows them to understand what it is they're doing [and] why they're doing it, [and] the parameters they're allowed to work within, and then they can go and make decisions based on those parameters … and they can make things happen a lot quicker."
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"It gives you freedom, and it gives them freedom," he went on.
There must be a balance in regard to discipline, Willink warned, since it’s easy to "go overboard" and become overbearing.
Discipline is "absolutely critical" inside an organization, Willink said. (iStock)
"There are organizations that I've worked with where they had so many rules, so many regulations, so many protocols in place that no one could really move anymore," he said.
"And when they can't move, they stop thinking — and that turns horrible."
4. Strike a balance
Those looking to up the ante as leaders need to first find balance, Willink advised.
"I think any time a leader has an extreme opinion about something, it's usually not going to work out well," he said.
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"If they're extremely emotional, it's not going to work out well," he went on. "If they're extremely unemotional, that's not going to work out well. So, it's very important for a leader to be balanced."
While showing up with an open mind strikes a balance within the workplace, it’s also crucial for a leader to discuss the need for work-life balance, Willink noted.
Finding balance as a leader should be applied at work and at home, according to Willink. (iStock)
Willink urged all individuals to pay attention to certain signals that may point toward the need for a better balance.
These include feeling unhealthy from working long hours, lacking sleep, hearing complaints from significant others about work habits and missing out on important events at home.
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"We have to pay attention, then make adjustments and be aware that we are staying balanced," he said.
"If you go too far in the work direction, you won't have a family anymore," he also said. "If you go too far in the family direction, you might not have a job anymore or be able to support your family."
5. Take ownership
Willink's final piece of advice is for leaders to take responsibility for what occurs within their team.
"It's your team. You're in a leadership position," he said.
"When things go wrong, it's your fault — and you're the one who needs to fix it."
The American author, podcast host and co-founder of leadership consulting firm Echelon Front spent 20 years in the military, where he learned how to lead other SEALs. (Jocko Willink/MasterClass)
Willink also encouraged leaders to practice making small decisions quickly instead of attempting to solve large problems with one "giant" decision.
"It’s easier, smarter and more efficient to try and make small decisions very rapidly and make adjustments on those decisions," he said.
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Many leaders are adamant about making decisions that fit their personal agenda, pushing people to "just get in line" and follow the leader, Willink added.
But it’s "so much better" to also allow others to take ownership over projects to create more leaders within the group, he suggested.
"They're on the front lines," he said. "They can solve these problems."
"I think that's one of the most important things that we as leaders can do is to create other leaders, and we do that by empowering the people around us."
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Ahead of the start of his MasterClass at Work course on Aug. 31, Willink reminded the public that becoming a good leader means acquiring the skills to lead.
"Leadership is a skill, just like playing basketball or guitar," he said.
