When I worked in manufacturing, I regularly visited other facilities to assess productivity, waste, costs, retention – basically everything the plant measured. (And to recommend a few areas they should measure.)
I was fairly good at spotting problems and creating plans to address those problems, but I didn't follow a formal structure. A little pattern matching, a dollop of experience – those were my guides.
What I needed was the approach described by Jocko Willink, a former Navy SEAL, bestselling author, and leadership instructor in his new class on MasterClass.
"There are four laws of combat leadership," Jocko says. "Cover and move, simplify, prioritize, and decentralized command. Almost every company has a problem in one or more of those areas."
Take decentralized command. In most startups, the founder naturally makes all the important decisions. As a company grows, that command and control leadership structure makes less and less sense.
"If you're doing everything yourself," Jocko says, "if you are the 'easy' button, you're doing a terrible job as a leader. When most decisions flow through you, your primary focus remains down and in when it needs to be up and out. Making longer-term plans. Developing employees. Building relationships with key vendors, suppliers, and customers."
That's just one example. A company without priorities is a company that may have empowered its employees, and is quick to move – but doesn't necessarily do things that best move the needle.
The four laws of command leadership are a simple framework for assessing the effectiveness, efficiency, leadership, and overall focus of any business. Thinking back, few facilities I assessed scored highly on decentralized command. Most also lacked focus; again, just because you can act quickly doesn't mean you are acting on or reacting to what is truly important.
Because you, as a leader, haven't made your "why" as clear and simple as possible.
"Clearly if an employee understands why," Jocko says, "they tend to make a connection. But that's not enough. Even more important is that the leader understands the employee's why. It may be love for the industry. It may be a step on a career path. It may be as simple as wanting to pay the bills. When a leader understands each person's why, then they can create opportunities that are important to that person."
"In the SEALs, we say if you take care of your gear, your gear will take care of you," Jocko says.
"The same thing applies to people. If I take care of you, you will take care of me. That's why it's so important to understand why people are working for you, what goals they're trying to achieve, and help them move in that direction."
And then there's you. To start a company you need to possess irrational optimism. You must embrace self-belief and push aside all the self-doubt: the feeling you aren't smart enough, dedicated enough, adaptable enough, or simply that, in spite of your best intentions and best efforts, you won't succeed.
"As an entrepreneur," Jocko says, "you have to take risks. You have to have an egocentric attitude to move forward. You need to believe in yourself.
But at some point, you have to shift to a decentralized leadership structure. That means you have to put your ego aside. Your attitude has to shift from "I think I'm right" to "I think I'm wrong, and I need to listen."
Try it. Take a step back and assess your business using the four laws of combat leadership.
Does every person both understand and embrace the same priorities? Can you move quickly? (If you can't, the problem likely isn't your employees; the problem is you haven't given them the authority to make decisions.) Are your goals simple and easy to understand?
Most important, have you set your ego aside?
Because, as your business grows, you'll need to. Otherwise, you won't tap into the collective wisdom, talent, and experience of the people around you.
Check out Jocko's class on MasterClass. It's great.
And it will definitely – especially if you're willing to do a little soul-searching – make you a better leader.
Inc
