The book Extreme Ownership was an effective publication written by two Navy SEAL commanders that promoted a very tough approach to leadership with an emphasis on control, domination, and discipline. However, many readers faced with serious problems in their personal and professional lives trying to be so called “extreme”.
In the book the Dichotomy of Leadership the authors promote a more balanced approach to leadership simply because a good leader is almost never an extremist and the very art of leadership is about finding the sweet spot in between two extremes, a trait possessed only by top leaders since going to extremes is always easy but having a balance requires not only mental strength and emotional intelligence but also intelligence and wisdom.
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A good leader is as strong as a rock while as soft as a leather, he or she is paradoxical in nature and knows there are times to enforce the rules and there are times to bend them. Also a good leader is aware that in order to realize the final objectives sometimes he or she has to cut off ties with team members or associates who despite coaching, mentoring, and warnings do not change their behaviors.
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Extreme ownership doesn’t mean doing everything yourself, nor does it mean being at the leading role all the time. Rather good leadership is about dividing responsibilities among the team and telling them why it is important for them to do what they ought to do so that they themselves feel a sense of responsibility to do their tasks. Also being a leader means that you need to be a follower in an area when someone in your team has superior skills, talents, or experience in that particular area. After all, all leaders have only so much leadership capital to spare and by trying to take charge for things that are not very important or the things that they are not qualified for, they run the risk of losing credibility among their followers.
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Being aggressive has been associated with winning in life and business and all leaders possess that sense of aggression and initiative but being overly aggressive itself can lead to major problems whereby the leader acts to maintain his or her ego instead of doing the right thing.
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Ultimately training and mentoring the subordinates is a big component of leadership and all leaders should aspire to push their teams out of their comfort zone but at the same time burning out the team won’t yield good results either which means that, like all other dichotomies mentioned in the book, finding the middle ground is extremely imporant in good leadership.
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Daniel Molgan Official 