I have written several times about my love for the principles in Jock Willink’s and Leif Bain’s book, “Extreme Ownership – How US Navy SEALS Lead and Win”. When leadership principles are tested under the most extreme situations, when the lives of your family are on the line, the BS falls away and only the stuff that is affective remains.
Another great book I have read is Mike Seeklander’s, “The Art of Instruction – Your Guide to Instructional Excellence”. I have even studied this book as part of a book club, whose members are all firearms instructors, in order to do some community/self improvement. A quote hit me from this book… “Instruction goes beyond teaching – instruction is LEADERSHIP at the highest refined level.” This is one heck of a statement to make, as my ideals of leadership have significantly high standards.
In my efforts to reconcile my love of teaching and the profound ideals behind Leif and Jocko’s leadership principles, I thought I might give it a try to translate between the two worlds. So here it is… my attempt at to equate SEAL Leadership principles to my aspirations of being a teach, instructor, mentor or coach.
Laws of Combat
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Leadership Principles
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Dichotomies in Leadership and Teaching
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Metrics – How do you measure success?
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Final Thoughts
These are my thoughts and ideals in trying to reconcile Extreme Ownership and Extreme Teaching. I demand a high-level of responsibility for my own teaching and do the absolute best I can to provide the best quality of instruction to my students. These principles are very much what I endeavor to be as a teacher, coach and mentor to my students.
These two books were instrumental in my personal development as an instructor. If you are an instructor, I highly recommend you read both of these intently. Here are links to purchase these books on Amazon.
Extreme Ownership – by Jock Willink and Leif Babin
The Art of Instruction – by Mike Seeklander