A retired Navy SEAL commander’s 12 rules for being an effective leader

May 3, 2016

This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider.

A businessman avoids puddles at the International Financial Services Centre - the business district of Dublin May 27, 2007. Picture was rotated 180 degrees.

Leadership requires finding the equilibrium in the dichotomy of many seemingly contradictory qualities between one extreme and another. Image: REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

Richard Feloni

For their service in the 2006 Battle of Ramadi, Navy SEAL Team Three Task Unit Bruiser and its commander Jocko Willink became the most highly decorated special-operations unit of the Iraq War.

Willink is now retired from the SEALs, and he and his former platoon commander Leif Babin released a bestselling book last year titled "Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win." In it, they explain the lessons learned in combat that they've taught to corporate clients for the past five years in their leadership-consultancy firm, Echelon Front.

Willink writes that he realized during his 20 years as a SEAL that, "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."

By being aware of these seeming contradictions, a leader can "more easily balance the opposing forces and lead with maximum effectiveness."

Here are the 12 main "dichotomies of leadership" Willink identifies as rules every effective leader must follow.

A retired navy seal commander's 12 rules for leaders

Image: Business Insider

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.