You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
It's a very straight forward book on leadership. Short and simple principle you can apply to many other contexts. It's a good book to share and discuss (book clubs, classes).
fast-paced
Nothing new. A message about being disciplined, and intentional in your actions, but saturated with machismo.
An alright book, it has some interesting background from military experience and then the authors show it's use in the corporate world, doesn't really have some groundbreaking tips, but it is still ok to read.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
I liked the combat stories, very insightful and good way to learn lessons. Many of the lessons are inherently learned after working in an office for a few years.
2.0⭐Falls Short of 7 Habits and somewhat ill-considered
I’m a big fan of self-help because I’m a wreck. The 7 habits of Highly Effective People worked best for my personal psychology. If you’re seriously considering self-help, start there. I wrote two reviews on it, but I think I’ve read it 3 times. It’s a go-to when I’m struggling.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1977903226 (first reading)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24842130 (2/3 readings, seasoned opinion)
When I started community college in the summer of ‘21, I followed a Harvard live-study streamer on Youtube who sang the praises of Extreme Ownership, so here I am.
Some urgent prejudices to mention: I’m a leftist. I’m not a pure pacifist by any means, but consider me a weekday vegetarian where that's concerned. I lost my father, a former-navy contractor, to Iraq, and I believe that the war in the middle east was a fucking travesty.
I deeply respect our U.S. forces and hold a space of gratitude for what those folks are prepared to do in their line of work, despite the politics that surround it. I came to this book from that place in my heart, I just want the biases acknowledged.
The authors brilliantly format the book to show the principles as they learned it in war, and then the same principles seamlessly applied to business. I really don’t contest the principles. They prove themselves. They’re sound and effective.
What I contest, and what I think makes the book something of a morally dubious enigma, is that not everything should be viewed through the lens of war, especially business.
I know we’re not the first country or culture to do it. I know that every job will give its subjects a set of skills that can be applied beyond that specific job.
But war tactics applied to business suggest an all-or-nothing mentality that can compromise any compassion or consideration for consumers and other businesses, who are genuinely not enemies, they’re our friends, neighbors, and members of our community. Do you know what Amazon was called before it was Amazon? It was called Relentless. Type “relentless.com” into your browser and see where it takes you.
It was called Relentless, because its model was to cut its own throat until other businesses had to do the same in order to compete. The difference was that Relentless had an IV blood drip of resources to recover from these catastrophic losses, and the other businesses didn’t. Today, Amazon is notorious for destroying other businesses and some of the most dehumanizing cruelty in the workplace. They even anticipate completely running out of staff in a little over a decade because...
War makes casualties.
War involves destroying life and occupying territory (destruction of liberty). A few times in Extreme Ownership, the authors would mention cutting the weakest team members, firing the lowest earners, or cutting losses. Those losses are real people and resources.
I’ve worked in retail for a decade. Sometimes termination is all you can do after revised training and the best leadership you have to offer. Not everyone is right for every job. What happens after though?
Companies fire people, they apply these principles, and then they run like well-oiled armored tanks. What then? What happens when everyone is relentless?
Some of my elders talked about times when companies and businesses helped build up one another. Where the elite competed to prove that their cities were superior just for having them in it. Companies that flexed by building community libraries, hospitals, and parks with excess wealth. Relentlessness wasn’t the point. American capitalism has always been cruel, but there were real dreams, real jobs, real people who didn’t just mindlessly drive at their numbers for a win. Now just to survive, every company is following the Amazon brutality method. It’s literally the only way to compete now.
Extreme ownership doesn’t own the aftermath. What comes after the battle?
I prefer to see business in terms of Stephen Covey’s win-win or no deal. I prefer to see our entire society through that lens whenever possible.
I’ve recently been enjoying videos by urban planning managers. One pointed out how Houston Texas is almost one big parking lot and highway. There’s absolutely no space for adequate public transit or biking and devastatingly low community resources. I feel like that’s a product of war-driven consumerism. Ultimately, it’s expensive and miserable and there’s no reason for a city with that kind of population and access to resources to be living this bleak. These companies are so invested in their bottom line, they don’t ever look out the window.
War mentality makes a war zone. What if we centered community, inclusivity, and the bigger picture?
One of the 7 habit principles, is to begin with the end in mind. As a society, as moving parts of a globe, we have to decide what we want that end to look like and take extreme ownership over that.
And if this book really sold half a million copies, and even more read from libraries and pdfs, if everyone sees their business in terms of war, what will that mean for the rest of us?
Ultimately, I think the concept of extreme ownership is the most important part of this book, and it does make it worth a read. I don’t think most of these principles will serve me on the path I personally want to take. Humankind are workers the likes of ants and bees. Building is what we do, and it’s a job that’s never done. I don’t think seeing our businesses as a warzone is healthy. If you want to experience the life-changing nature of the extreme ownership concept, I suggest listening to the author’s personal account. It’s brief, it’s moving, and it brings home the best this book has to offer in a life-impacting way.
-
I’m a big fan of self-help because I’m a wreck. The 7 habits of Highly Effective People worked best for my personal psychology. If you’re seriously considering self-help, start there. I wrote two reviews on it, but I think I’ve read it 3 times. It’s a go-to when I’m struggling.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1977903226 (first reading)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24842130 (2/3 readings, seasoned opinion)
When I started community college in the summer of ‘21, I followed a Harvard live-study streamer on Youtube who sang the praises of Extreme Ownership, so here I am.
Some urgent prejudices to mention: I’m a leftist. I’m not a pure pacifist by any means, but consider me a weekday vegetarian where that's concerned. I lost my father, a former-navy contractor, to Iraq, and I believe that the war in the middle east was a fucking travesty.
I deeply respect our U.S. forces and hold a space of gratitude for what those folks are prepared to do in their line of work, despite the politics that surround it. I came to this book from that place in my heart, I just want the biases acknowledged.
The authors brilliantly format the book to show the principles as they learned it in war, and then the same principles seamlessly applied to business. I really don’t contest the principles. They prove themselves. They’re sound and effective.
What I contest, and what I think makes the book something of a morally dubious enigma, is that not everything should be viewed through the lens of war, especially business.
I know we’re not the first country or culture to do it. I know that every job will give its subjects a set of skills that can be applied beyond that specific job.
But war tactics applied to business suggest an all-or-nothing mentality that can compromise any compassion or consideration for consumers and other businesses, who are genuinely not enemies, they’re our friends, neighbors, and members of our community. Do you know what Amazon was called before it was Amazon? It was called Relentless. Type “relentless.com” into your browser and see where it takes you.
It was called Relentless, because its model was to cut its own throat until other businesses had to do the same in order to compete. The difference was that Relentless had an IV blood drip of resources to recover from these catastrophic losses, and the other businesses didn’t. Today, Amazon is notorious for destroying other businesses and some of the most dehumanizing cruelty in the workplace. They even anticipate completely running out of staff in a little over a decade because...
War makes casualties.
War involves destroying life and occupying territory (destruction of liberty). A few times in Extreme Ownership, the authors would mention cutting the weakest team members, firing the lowest earners, or cutting losses. Those losses are real people and resources.
I’ve worked in retail for a decade. Sometimes termination is all you can do after revised training and the best leadership you have to offer. Not everyone is right for every job. What happens after though?
Companies fire people, they apply these principles, and then they run like well-oiled armored tanks. What then? What happens when everyone is relentless?
Some of my elders talked about times when companies and businesses helped build up one another. Where the elite competed to prove that their cities were superior just for having them in it. Companies that flexed by building community libraries, hospitals, and parks with excess wealth. Relentlessness wasn’t the point. American capitalism has always been cruel, but there were real dreams, real jobs, real people who didn’t just mindlessly drive at their numbers for a win. Now just to survive, every company is following the Amazon brutality method. It’s literally the only way to compete now.
Extreme ownership doesn’t own the aftermath. What comes after the battle?
I prefer to see business in terms of Stephen Covey’s win-win or no deal. I prefer to see our entire society through that lens whenever possible.
I’ve recently been enjoying videos by urban planning managers. One pointed out how Houston Texas is almost one big parking lot and highway. There’s absolutely no space for adequate public transit or biking and devastatingly low community resources. I feel like that’s a product of war-driven consumerism. Ultimately, it’s expensive and miserable and there’s no reason for a city with that kind of population and access to resources to be living this bleak. These companies are so invested in their bottom line, they don’t ever look out the window.
War mentality makes a war zone. What if we centered community, inclusivity, and the bigger picture?
One of the 7 habit principles, is to begin with the end in mind. As a society, as moving parts of a globe, we have to decide what we want that end to look like and take extreme ownership over that.
And if this book really sold half a million copies, and even more read from libraries and pdfs, if everyone sees their business in terms of war, what will that mean for the rest of us?
Ultimately, I think the concept of extreme ownership is the most important part of this book, and it does make it worth a read. I don’t think most of these principles will serve me on the path I personally want to take. Humankind are workers the likes of ants and bees. Building is what we do, and it’s a job that’s never done. I don’t think seeing our businesses as a warzone is healthy. If you want to experience the life-changing nature of the extreme ownership concept, I suggest listening to the author’s personal account. It’s brief, it’s moving, and it brings home the best this book has to offer in a life-impacting way.
-
Not terribly well-written, but some good ideas and engaging stories.
Some good messages but not my style. I don’t resonate with combat and war illustrations. I’m sure these are great illustrations for some people - just not for me
Great book. Listened to it on Audible. Have hardcopy if anyone wants to borrow.