Extreme ownership
by Jocko Willink, Leif Babin · first published 2015
76% recommend21% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Navy SEAL combat stories used to teach leadership: take responsibility for failures, shift from blame to accountability, and manage upward. Suits new managers, tech leads, and anyone wanting a sturdier mindset.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Jocko Willink and Leif Babin served together in SEAL Task Unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated Special Operations unit from the war in Iraq. Through difficult months of sustained combat, Jocko, Leif and their SEAL brothers learned that leadership -- at every level -- is the most important thing on the battlefield. They started Echelon Front to teach these same leadership principles to companies across industries throughout the business world that want to build their own high-performance, winning teams. This book explains the SEAL leadership concepts crucial to accomplishing the most difficu
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2016–2020Leading
Alex Ferguson
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 33 recommend · 3 mention3 recommend · 33 recommend
2018–2023The dichotomy of leadership
Jocko Willink
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 43 recommend · 4 mention3 recommend · 43 recommend
2017–2026The Manager's Path
Camille Fournier
Recommended by 89 · mentioned by 10789 recommend · 107 mention89 recommend · 10789 recommend
2017–2020Jewish wisdom for business success
Levi Brackman
Recommended by 2 · mentioned by 22 recommend · 2 mention2 recommend · 22 recommend
2018–2026The coaching habit
Michael Bungay Stanier
Recommended by 11 · mentioned by 1211 recommend · 12 mention11 recommend · 1211 recommend
2009–2026High Output Management
Andrew S. Grove
Recommended by 116 · mentioned by 161116 recommend · 161 mention116 recommend · 161116 recommend
2007–2024Effective Executive
Peter F. Drucker, Joseph A. Maciariello, Jim Collins, Tim Andres Pabon
Recommended by 48 · mentioned by 6048 recommend · 60 mention48 recommend · 6048 recommend
2019–2025The Making of a Manager
Julie Zhuo
Recommended by 14 · mentioned by 1514 recommend · 15 mention14 recommend · 1514 recommend
Everything by Simon Sinek, but most important for me is "Leaders Eat Last" [0]. I haven't read the last one (The Infinite Game), but I've heard it's pretty good as well. Also Extreme Ownership [1] and Dichotomy of Leadership [2] by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. All of these books had tremendous impact on me as a leader and I highly recommend them. [0]: https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/B...…
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗…Singer The best books I've ever read: Principles - Ray Dalio The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle The Effective Executive - Peter F. Drucker Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink, Leif Babin Influence - Robert B. Cialdini The Startup Way - Eric Ries The Lean Startup - Eric Ries 12 Rules for Life - Jordan B. Peterson Measure What Matters…
on “Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?” ↗Good Night Moon - 187 times The Cat In The Hat - 200 times The Very Hungry Caterpillar - 85 times But seriously, im on my third re-read of Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, In my opinion its the best book about leadership ever written.
on “Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?” ↗The best book on leadership I read was Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership[1]. He was a career US Navy SEAL and bring a lot of great leadership approaches from the SEALS and correlates them to the business world. His principles lead back to the idea of taking extreme ownership…
on “Ask HN: What makes a good technical leader – any recommended books?” ↗Never managed, but I strongly recommend reading Extreme ownership. It's a very good book. As someone who's been through a few managers. Please please give feedback, and not that yearly review stuff. Managers have a very hard time doing that, especially when it's needed.…
on “Ask HN: What is the thing you've did as a manager that you regret the most?” ↗…been approaching engineering. Some suggestions: Rands in Repose: http://randsinrepose.com/archives/category/management/ Radical Candor: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kim-Scott/dp/B01MY574E... Extreme Ownership: https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs/dp/B... Becoming a Technical Leader: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Technical-Leader-Problem-Sol... Peopleware: https://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Teams-...…
on “Ask HN: Just made Director, now what?” ↗…engineer who feels so overwhelmed with the tasks he is supposed to be focused on that he decides not to switch task to solving this other thing that may-or-may-not be a real problem? Also, are the phrases “Extreme Ownership” and “Question Behind the Question” from a US Navy SEAL book by Willink and Babin? Would you generally recommend that book?
on “What Working at Stripe Has Been Like” ↗If you're managing teams, a tech-lead, a manager, startup founder, or just someone who wants to learn more about owning problems, I can recommend reading or listening to "Extreme Ownership" by Jocko Willink [1] (fmr US Navy Seal) Compared to other Audiobooks I've listened to, this one is an engaging listen, and teaches good lessons about both team management and owning problems that is…
on “What I Learnt Becoming a Tech Lead” ↗…Boss So You Both Win (Useem) - It’s your Ship (Abrashoff) - The score takes care of itself (Walsh) - The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Horowitz) - Where good ideas come from (Johnson) - Extreme Ownership (Navy Seals) — (Willink) - Work Rules — (Bock) - 5 Dysfunctions of a team — (Lencioni) - Give and Take (Grant) - This is what impactful Engineering leadership looks like - http://firstround.com/review/this-is-what-impactful-engineering-leadership-looks-like/…
on “CTO Mentor Network – A virtual peer-to-peer network of CTOs” ↗High Output Management by Andy Grove, Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink & The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz would be my top 3.
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗…A couple of resources I've found useful in the switch have been Manager Tools [0] (book, site, and podcast) as well as The Manager's Path [1]. While his shtick can be a bit thick at times, I enjoyed Extreme Ownership by Willink [2], if only because it codified a lot of thoughts I've had for a long time. I've worked with a lot of military and defence so the stories and life views he teaches through didn't throw me,…
on “Ask HN: How can I be a better team lead? (corporate)” ↗As a developer, I got some valuable insights from the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willinck. I think particularly the principles of "leading up the chain" is crucial when you're a developer with managers who don't have the necessary context of understanding to make optimal…
on “Developers can't fix bad management (2020)” ↗…have something that works -- it may not be the whole kit -- or you can have nothing at all. Winning is about prioritizing objectives. One book I've read recently that taught me a lot about management is Extreme Ownership[0]. I think there's a lot of cross-over from this book into Agile methodologies that I think non-technical stakeholders can really understand. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848190-extreme-ownersh...
on “An epic treatise on scheduling, bug tracking, and triage” ↗1. Principles by Ray Dalio https://www.principles.com/ 2. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
on “Ask HN: Any recommended books on developing mental models?” ↗Freakonomics - good “everything you know is wrong” Promote yourself - meh “just become an influencer and pick a new job” Extreme Ownership - good “navy seal war story -> leadership principle -> business application” x12 Rise - good “wow I have an easy life” Drive - good “some people like doing stuff just because” The Accounting Game -…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗