3/23/2021 - By Clay Breazeale

As I prepared to write my first blog as a Harrell’s Employee-Owner, I was looking through past posts and was amazed at the tenure and breadth of knowledge many of my new team members possess. Oddly enough, at the time of writing, I will have been with the company for only 2 months. Quite the contrast!

Since moving and changing jobs is fresh in my mind, I wanted to touch on my recent experiences. As many professionals have done throughout their careers, moving for new growth opportunities allows for a period of reflection regarding career and personal development. Each of my moves has led to a retrospective period for self-improvement. I have always been fascinated by the way strong business and military cultures contribute to strong employee performances, common goals, and “buy-in.” Think about the Navy Seals or businesses like Chick-Fil-A, Publix and Disney, to name a few. From the top down, everyone is working together to produce a common vision and goal. When visiting Disney or ordering a sandwich at Chick-Fil-A, it is incredible to witness teamwork and company culture at its best. At Harrell’s we have our Company Philosophy, Core Values, Our Why, and the Four Pillars as guiding principles for our company culture.

Building on my curiosity of military and company cultures, I recently read Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, which was written by two retired Navy Seals, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Jocko and Leif now teach ways to incorporate the leadership principles they learned through military training and experiences into businesses. They intertwine war stories with business examples, which makes it an interesting read. While the focus of the book is leadership, Extreme Ownership is intended to help people at all levels. Regardless or role, title or position, learn to be a leader and better teammate. It can be summarized by the 12 summary points below.

1. Extreme Ownership:

• Leaders and teams should take 100% ownership of everything they can control, including the outcome, good or bad.
• Don’t blame circumstances. Actively look for ways the opportunity can be resolved.
• Demanding extreme ownership of yourself and the team is contagious and is a positive mindset that will spread throughout the team.

2. No Bad Teams:

• Good leaders help teams evolve and develop towards success of a common goal.
• All teams have the opportunity to be successful.

3. Belief and Clarity:

• Everyone on a team must have complete understanding and belief in a common goal, especially leaders.
• If the goal isn’t clear, it is the job of the team and leader to obtain further understanding so the task can be completed with complete “buy-in.”

4. Be Humble, Be Confident:

• Be willing to learn, accept good ideas from others, and own up to mistakes.
• You don’t have to know everything, but you need to work to find the answers that the team seeks.
• Admitting that you may need to seek further guidance will only reinforce your confidence amongst your team.

5. Cover and Move:

• In the military, one team covers another while they move to gain ground. This is also an important aspect of teamwork in business.
• Teammates and teams who work together must learn to develop trust and extend that trust during interactions to accomplish a designated goal.

6. Keep It Simple:

• Complexity is the enemy of execution.
• If strategies are kept simple, teams can efficiently process information, make decisions and act to achieve a goal.

7. Prioritization and Action:

• In our busy lives and careers, take a step back, determine the most important priority, develop a plan and act tirelessly until the goal is achieved.

8. Decentralize Command:

• Teams need to know the “why.”
• Engagement is the key to commitment.
• Consider feedback and collaborative decision making amongst a team because it leads to motivation and a stronger commitment to a goal and organization.

9. Sound Planning:

• Plan the work, work the plan.
• Plan for contingencies and thoroughly explain those options for entire team understanding.
• Plans should be clear, specific and with a well-defined expected result.

10. Lead Up and Down:

• Enforce situational awareness to your superiors and obtain all the support to enable you and/or your team to accomplish set goals and objectives.

11. Be Decisive:

• Decisiveness breads confidence.
• Analyze factors to minimize risk and make a decision.
• Be honest and relentlessly work to rectify issues if a decision doesn’t go as planned.

12. Be Disciplined:

• Discipline in work and life requires commitment and investment.
• Discipline and details bring knowledge that allows for quicker reactions and decision making.

That’s the quick, Cliff’s Notes version of Extreme Ownership. As I stated earlier, it’s important that regardless of occupation or job title, we all have opportunities in life to be a good leader and teammate.

At some point in our lives, we will all need to support someone else or receive support. While far from perfect, I use some of these bullet points to keep me grounded and focused in my work life. Planning, being humble, simplicity and decentralizing command are personal areas of focus. I also find it interesting that much of this summary can be found in our Four Pillars: Humility, Gratitude, Intentionality and Accountability. While there may be some subjectivity regarding these 12 bullet points, I believe that all of us can take something away from them. What are 1 or 2 that you think would improve your leadership and team?