as I get ready to graduate from college I would appreciate your input on the
following question I've always loved to take part in a variety of projects and I
have ended up in in a leadership position in multiple organizations be be
it in student VC firm the student body my professional fraternity etc in a way
this is this was natural to me it's about extreme ownership right I loved
what I was doing you shouldn't just slough off that that phrase oh it's not
extreme ownership right right yeah that's how it should be okay
okay all this stuff is about extreme ownership right can't be that hard right
kind of kind of course see motor ship right okay I loved what I was doing I
had a vision where to take things and I was chosen to lead so I felt that I was
doing the right thing recently though I've started to feel overwhelmed and
feel that my productivity has diminished by being in a managerial position it
seems harder to see the direct output of my work but it's as easy it's as easy as
always to see what's not working I don't want to be let go of any projects
because I'll still love to make love to take ownership of them he says I don't
want to be let go it says I don't want to let go of any projects because I
still love to take ownership of oh yes yes yes love yes I'm fine symptoms oh
yeah you like the word ownership that's like a like a really I definitely like
the word ownership and as you also know I also like another word that's that
cata me you know because it gets seen violations here all right well they
either either way this guy he he doesn't want to let go of any projects because I
still love to take ownership of them and lead these organizations but I think I'm
no longer able to handle this much how do you balance those things yeah so
there is a chapter in the dichotomy leadership called own it all but that's
not the title of the chapter the title of chapter continues mmm this the title
the chapters own it all , but empower others mm-hmm and it sounds like this
individual who's getting after it for sure
props getting after leadership position multiple organizations going hard taking
ownership very cool but it sounds like you need
to lean more towards decentralized command because just because you take
ownership of things doesn't mean you're supposed to do everything that you take
ownership of it doesn't it doesn't actually doesn't work what this what you
need individual is you need subordinate leaders inside these multiple
organizations that you're in charge of that you trust and you got to let them
run with the broad guidance and the mission the broad guidance of the
mission and with your commander's intent that's how you're gonna work us so for
instance when I was in charge of training on the west coast I was
responsible for a lot of stuff for land warfare for maritime operations dive
operations air operations close quarters combat urban warfare training mobility
training heavy weapons defensive tactics combat leadership and every other block
for guys that are getting ready to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan
now on top of those tactical things I'm in charge I'm actually also in charge of
safety and actually also in charge of maintenance and actually also in charge
of the administration of the command that's a lot of stuff to be running
right I know that Holmes is in charge of you know the VC firm and the student
body that's that stuff too this is a lot of stuff could I
personally manage and conduct all of those things that I was in charge of not
even close not even close not you you talk about feeling overwhelmed you
wouldn't last 15 minutes if you tried to be the person that made every decision
and all those different divisions that were inside of the Training Command so I
couldn't manage and run them all myself but I had great leaders that I trusted
that were going to make things happen and I gave them the broad guidance of
what we were trying to do what they're part of the mission was the parameters
that they were allowed to work within and then go get some and it's the same
thing to ask you to commander to house task unit commander got two platoons
plus you got a squad of augmentees plus you got Seabees and you've got an in
alfe use and sell you got interrogators and you got radio communications crew
and you got the IT crew and you got you got the whole tactical operations center
that you're running and it's the same thing
I can't run all that no no human can run all that so what do you do you have
subordinate leaders that have the broad guidance they understand what the
mission is they understand the commander's intent they go forward and
get after it and they they know the parameters and sometimes they have
issues and when they have issues you can step in and you give them a hand or
sometimes they get a little Auerbach's you've got to put them back in the box
but it's the same thing even right right now I got a chalan front I got the
podcast I got the the store got the supplements the apparel the online
training coming out we got the tea the real estate the gym you get the list
goes on and I can't I can't run all those things but I got people leading
those things and running those things and I can do the same thing it's like
hey here's the guidance here's the mission here's the commander's intent
here's the sanity check on something here's the parameters we're trying to
move within and then go go and get some so if you do well with decentralized
command you can handle a lot now could you possibly bite off more than you can
chew yeah you could get involved in so many things that you don't even have
time to monitor the situations at all and you don't have time to tell when
people are getting out of their zone or out of the parameters that they're
allowed to work within or you don't have time to help when if something goes
sideways you don't have these so you could get there and that will happen
especially quickly if you have failed to train and mentor and give directions and
give guidance to the leaders that you have and that are actually on the front
lines running things so that that's part of it
now the other part of it is you can't do any of this if your ego will not allow
you to let things go I mean you literally said I don't want to let go of
any projects I've said this before if you want to be in charge of everything
you have to be in charge of nothing your goal should be in charge of nothing only
if you're in charge of nothing can you truly be in charge of everything because
when you're in charge of every single thing guess what you can handle nothing
your task saturated it doesn't work so that's what you need to do get some good
solid leaders subordinate leaders empower them train them trust them make
sure they understand where they're going make sure they understand what the
mission is make sure they understand what the goals are make sure they
understand what things are outside the box that they need to come and talk to
you about and then let them rock and roll boom