Jocko Willink is an American author, podcaster and retired US Navy SEAL officer who teaches leadership lessons drawn from combat. He spent 20 years in the Navy and commanded SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser during the Battle of Ramadi in Iraq. He co-founded the leadership consultancy Echelon Front, hosts Jocko Podcast and co-wrote Extreme Ownership with Leif Babin.
London Real has published seven Jocko Willink episodes dated between 2014 and 2019: a full studio interview, the Lessons From War episode, and five bonus segments filmed with Brian Rose for Lessons From War. They cover extreme ownership, why good leaders make people want to follow them, the reality of combat, discipline, podcasting and raising children.
His best-known idea is in the title of one of his books: discipline equals freedom. Every episode is listed below in order, with a short summary.
Extreme Ownership (2016). The full studio interview: his first deployment, what makes a good SEAL, and why leadership is about getting people to want to do the job. For the core of his teaching on accountability, watch Lessons From War next.
Willink argues that a leader owns everything in their world, including the mistakes of their team. Instead of blaming others, you take responsibility, learn from the failure and fix it. The idea comes from his experience in Ramadi and is the subject of his first book with Leif Babin.
Speaking in 2016, he told Brian Rose that leadership is not about making people do what you want. It is about getting them to want to do it, and to see the mission as their own. Treat people as human beings and they will go into battle for you; treat them as robots and you will be at war with them.
His best-known line is that discipline is not a restriction. He argues that getting up early, training and doing the hard things today is what gives you choices and freedom tomorrow.
In the Lessons From War segments he explains how his task unit in Ramadi pushed decisions down to junior leaders who understood the mission. He says the same approach makes teams in business faster and more effective.
Jocko Willink is an American author, podcaster and retired Navy SEAL officer. He commanded SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser in the Battle of Ramadi, co-founded the leadership consultancy Echelon Front and hosts Jocko Podcast.
He talked about his SEAL career and the fighting in Ramadi, extreme ownership, why leaders must treat people as human beings, discipline equals freedom, decentralised command, podcasting and how to raise children with a warrior mindset.
Start with Extreme Ownership from 2016, the full studio interview with Brian Rose. Then watch Lessons From War and the bonus segments for more on leadership, combat and discipline.
London Real has published seven Jocko Willink episodes: two main interviews, Extreme Ownership and Lessons From War, plus five bonus segments filmed for Lessons From War and released in 2019.
Extreme ownership is the idea that a leader takes full responsibility for everything that affects the mission, including the team’s mistakes. Willink and Leif Babin set it out in their 2015 book Extreme Ownership.
Willink argues that discipline is what creates freedom. Doing the hard things now, such as early starts, training and good habits, gives you more options and control over your life later.
Official site: jockopodcast.com
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