Some bits from the book “Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual”, by Jocko Willink:

The body language and tone of voice are important. A leader must be articulate.

The leader always puts themselves at the bottom of the priority list. The manipulator has one ultimate priority in every move they make: that priority is the manipulator.

Subordinate your ego. Your ego could get in the way; don’t allow it to happen.

You need to tell the truth. Always. You can soften it (ex. wrap it nicely), but never hide it.

Stay humble, and always learn.

“I told the CEO of an equipment manufacturer that he should go and build a product from beginning to end at least once a month so he was always in touch with the process; that way, he would understand the challenges his frontline workers experienced firsthand”. Listen to your subordinates.

Teams are built on relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust goes up and down: ask Fred to do something, he will trust you and ACK. But if Fred says ‘negative’, you will trust him and abort.

If you want to have influence over others, you need to allow them to have influence over you.

Use decentralized command.

Extreme ownership: the leader is responsible for everything. Absolutely everything. This means there are no “buts” to taking Extreme Ownership. The moment a leader decides he is going to allow excuses, it opens up the door to shift blame onto others. That leads to failures.

“There are no bad teams, only bad leaders.”

When you are a leader and someone blames you for something going wrong, you accept the blame. If you are a subordinate: any leader wants people on his or her team that step up and take ownership. So be one of those people.

Your team wants you looking up and out, not down and in.

It is almost always preferred for the leader to lead from the rear, to allow the troops to take the lead on the plan and to take ownership of it. The best ideas often come from the people on the team who are closest to the problem. Don’t inhibit them; instead, allow them the freedom and authority to create and execute new plans and ideas. They have the knowledge. Give them the power. Don’t feel the need to always lead from the front. Take a step back and let your team lead.

A good leader cannot simply apply leadership tools universally; a leader must apply them to teams and individuals with tact, diplomacy, prudence, and subtlety. Everyone is different.

12 fundamental leadership rules

1. Be humble.
2. Don’t act like you know everything. You don’t.
3. Listen. Ask for advice
4. Treat people with respect. Regardless of rank, everyone is a human being and plays an important role in the team.
5. Take ownership of failures and mistakes.
6. Pass credit for success up and down the chain.
7. Work hard. As the leader, you should be working harder than anyone else on the team.
8. Have integrity. Do what you say; say what you do. Don’t lie up or down the chain of command.
9. Be balanced. Extreme actions and opinions are usually not good.
10. Be decisive. When it is time to make a decision, make one.
11. Build relationships. That is your main goal as a leader.
12. Lastly, get the job done. That is the purpose of a leader—to lead a team in accomplishing a mission.

Mediocristan vs. Extremistan

• Mediocristan refers to domains where deviations are small and predictable (example: human height, weight).
• Extremistan refers to areas where a single event can have a massive impact (example: financial markets, wars, technological revolutions).

Most of modern life is influenced by Extremistan, meaning Black Swans are more common than we assume. Reminder, a Black Swan event:

• It is highly improbable.
• It has an extreme impact.
• It is unpredictable, but in hindsight, people try to rationalize it as if it was predictable.

Weak-link vs strong-link problems

Weak-link problems are problems where the overall quality depends on how good the worst stuff is. You fix weak-link problems by making the weakest links stronger, or by eliminating them entirely (example: food safety, nuclear proliferation, space missions safety, football).

In strong-link problems, the overall quality depends on how good the best stuff is, and the bad stuff barely matters (example: music, science, research, basketball).

Making the link

Weak-link problems are more likely to happen in Mediocristan:

• The system’s performance depends on improving the weakest part rather than relying on one exceptional element.
• Small, incremental improvements matter more than single outliers.
• Black Swans do not play a major role—consistency is more important.

Strong-link problems are more likely to happen in Extremistan:

• The system is shaped by a few extreme outliers rather than the overall average.
• A single individual or event can dominate and change everything (a few star investors, a group of scientists making a major breakthrough, etc).
• Black Swans are crucial—a breakthrough or disaster can redefine the entire landscape.

1. It’s increasingly difficult to get informed, but much easier to be fed narratives
2. The politicians are not supposed to be the story.

So, while this book is a love letter to the West, this chapter is a plea from the heart to journalists – please stop fucking with the media. It is not yours to co-opt or use to spread propaganda. You are merely stewards of the industry.

Konstantin Kisin: An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West

Notice anything? 
Where’s the policy? Politicians are supposed to be vectors to solve our problems. They’re not supposed to be the story. We are supposed to be the story.

Brian Klaas. The Death of Serious Politics