Top 120 Jocko Willink Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Everyone has an ego. Ego drives the most successful people in life – in the SEAL Teams, in the military, in the business world. They want to win, to be the best. That is good. But when ego clouds our judgment and prevents us from seeing the world as it is, then ego becomes destructive. When.”

— Jocko Willink

52. “As a leader, you have to balance the dichotomy, to be resolute where it matters but never inflexible and uncompromising on matters of little importance to the overall good of the team and the strategic mission.”

— Jocko Willink

53. “Another mission. Another task. Another goal. And the enemy is always watching. Waiting. Looking for that moment of weakness. Looking for you to exhale, set your weapon down, and close your eyes, even just for a moment. And that’s when they attack. So don’t be finished.”

— Jocko Willink

54. “Departments and groups within the team must break down silos, depend on each other and understand who depends on them. If.”

— Jocko Willink

55. “Because emotion and logic will both reach their limitations. And when one fails, you need to rely on the other. When it just doesn’t make any logical sense to go on, that’s when you use your emotion, your anger, your frustration, your fear, to push further, to push you to say one thing: I don’t stop.”

— Jocko Willink

56. “Take care of your gear and your gear will take care of you.”

— Jocko Willink

57. “The only meaningful measure for a leader is whether the team succeeds or fails. For all the definitions, descriptions, and characterizations of leaders, there are only two that matter: effective and ineffective. Effective leaders lead successful teams that accomplish their mission and win. Ineffective leaders do not. The.”

— Jocko Willink

58. “A good leader does not get bogged down in the minutia of a tactical problem at the expense of strategic success.”

— Jocko Willink

59. “The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win – you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail. Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.”

— Jocko Willink

60. “So how can a leader become great if they lack the natural characteristics necessary to lead? The answer is simple: a good leader builds a great team that counterbalances their weaknesses.”

— Jocko Willink

61. “Leaders must always operate with the understanding that they are part of something greater than themselves and their own personal interests. They.”

— Jocko Willink

62. “Once people stop making excuses, stop blaming others, and take ownership of everything in their lives, they are compelled to take action to solve their problems. They are better leaders, better followers, more dependable and actively contributing team members, and more skilled in aggressively driving toward mission accomplishment. But they’re also humble – able to keep their egos from damaging relationships and adversely impacting the mission and the team.”

— Jocko Willink

63. “Plans and orders must be communicated in a manner that is simple, clear, and concise. Everyone.”

— Jocko Willink

64. “Generally, when a leader struggles, the root cause behind the problem is that the leader has leaned too far in one direction and steered off course. Awareness.”

— Jocko Willink

65. “If the stress is something you can’t control: Embrace it. You can’t control it, but – How can you look at it from a different angle? How can you use it to your advantage? I couldn’t control the chaos of combat. I had to embrace it. I had to figure out a way to take advantage of it. Make it into your ally.”

— Jocko Willink

66. “There are no bad units, only bad officers.”3 This captures the essence of what Extreme Ownership is all about.”

— Jocko Willink

67. “If you can say the word: good. Guess what? That means that you are still alive, that means that you are still breathing. And if you are still breathing... well now... you still got some fight left in you.”

— Jocko Willink

68. “Our freedom to operate and maneuver had increased substantially through disciplined procedures. Discipline equals freedom.”

— Jocko Willink

69. “For this reason, they must believe in the cause for which they are fighting. They must believe in the plan they are asked to execute, and most important, they must believe in and trust the leader they are asked to follow.”

— Jocko Willink

70. “Boat Crew Six had become comfortable with substandard performance. Working under poor leadership and an unending cycle of blame, the team constantly failed. No one took ownership, assumed responsibility, or adopted a winning attitude.”

— Jocko Willink

71. “I had to take ownership of everything that went wrong. Despite the tremendous blow to my reputation and to my ego, it was the right thing to do – the only thing to do. I.”

— Jocko Willink

72. “As a leader, it is up to you to explain the bigger picture to him – and to all your front line leaders. That is a critical component of leadership,” I.”

— Jocko Willink

73. “There were no more questions. The most important question had been answered: Why? Once I analyzed the mission and understood for myself that critical piece of information, I could then believe in the mission. If I didn’t believe in it, there was no way I could possibly convince the SEALs in my task unit to believe in it. If.”

— Jocko Willink

74. “A leader must lead but also be ready to follow. Sometimes, another member of the team – perhaps a subordinate or direct report – might be in a better position to develop a plan, make a decision, or lead through a specific situation.”

— Jocko Willink

75. “His realistic assessment, acknowledgment of failure, and ownership of the problem were key to developing a plan to improve performance and ultimately win. Most important of all, he believed winning was possible.”

— Jocko Willink

76. “Regardless of how you think an operation is going to unfold,” I answered, “the enemy gets their say as well – and they are going to do something to disrupt it. When something goes wrong – and it eventually does – complex plans add to confusion, which can compound into disaster. Almost no mission ever goes according to plan. There are simply too many variables to deal with. This.”

— Jocko Willink

77. “When everyone participating in an operation knows and understands the purpose and end state of the mission, they can theoretically act without further guidance.”

— Jocko Willink

78. “The infamous they.”

— Jocko Willink

79. “In Extreme Ownership, chapter 2, “No Bad Teams, Only Bad Leaders,” we wrote that “when it comes to standards, as a leader, it’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate.”

— Jocko Willink

80. “As SEALs, we operate as a team of high-caliber, multitalented individuals who have been through perhaps the toughest military training and most rigorous screening process anywhere. But in the SEAL program, it is all about the Team. The sum is far greater than the parts.”

— Jocko Willink

81. “More than a decade of continuous war and tough combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan gave birth to a new generation of leaders in the ranks of America’s fighting forces.”

— Jocko Willink

82. “For this reason, they must believe in the cause for which they are fighting.”

— Jocko Willink

83. “Speaking angrily to others is ineffective. Losing your temper is a sign of weakness. The aggression that wins on the battlefield, in business, or in life is directed not toward people but toward solving problems, achieving goals, and accomplishing the mission.”

— Jocko Willink

84. “Implementing Extreme Ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of humility. Admitting mistakes, taking ownership, and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to any successful team. Ego can prevent a leader from conducting an honest, realistic assessment of his or her own performance and the performance of the team.”

— Jocko Willink

85. “Fight weak emotions with the power of logic; fight the weakness of logic with the power of emotion. And in the balance of those two, you will find the strength and the tenacity and the guts to say to yourself: I. DON’T. STOP.”

— Jocko Willink

86. “We wrote this so that the leadership lessons can continue to impact teams beyond the battlefield in all leadership situations – any company, team, or organization in which a group of people strives to achieve a goal and accomplish a mission.”

— Jocko Willink

87. “The shortcut is a lie. The hack doesn’t get you there. And if you want to take the easy road, it won’t take you to where you want to be: Stronger. Smarter. Faster. Healthier. Better. FREE.”

— Jocko Willink

88. “At the board meeting, the VP did just that. He took the blame for the failure to meet the manufacturing objectives and gave a solid no-nonsense list of corrective measures that he would implement to ensure execution. The list started with what he was going to do differently, not about what other people needed to do. Now, the VP was.”

— Jocko Willink

89. “The focus must always be on how to best accomplish the mission.”

— Jocko Willink

90. “And The Warpath is a path – it’s a route – it leads somewhere. Where does it lead? Yes, it can lead to war. And that is fine. Because I am ready; I am waiting. But the war might not come. And that is okay. Because The Warpath is also a war against weakness – and so it leads to strength. It is a war against ignorance – and so it leads to knowledge. It is a war against confusion – and so it delivers understanding.”

— Jocko Willink

91. “So as a leader it is critical to balance the strict discipline of standard procedures with the freedom to adapt, adjust, and manoeuvre to do what is best to support the overarching commander’s intent and achieve victory. For leaders, in combat, business, and life, be disciplined, but not rigid.”

— Jocko Willink

92. “You have to detach from those emotions – step back from them a little so they don’t control you. You can do that by taking a deep breath and telling yourself to calm down.”

— Jocko Willink

93. “It falls on leaders to continually keep perspective on the strategic mission and remind the team that they are part of the greater team and the strategic mission is paramount.”

— Jocko Willink

94. “The most impressive thing about this improvement in performance was that it did not come from a major process change or an advance in technology. Instead, it came through a leadership principle that has been around for ages: Simple.”

— Jocko Willink

95. “Once people stop making excuses, stop blaming others, and take ownership of everything in their lives, they are compelled to take action to solve their problems.”

— Jocko Willink

96. “Hesitation allows the moment to pass, the opportunity to be lost, the enemy to get the upper hand. Hesitation turns into cowardice. It stops us from moving forward, from taking initiative, from executing what we know we must. Hesitation defeats us. So we must defeat it.”

— Jocko Willink

97. “Live in defiance of the weakness and in rebellion against the decay.”

— Jocko Willink

98. “The goal of leadership seems simple: to get people to do what they need to do to support the mission and the team.”

— Jocko Willink

99. “An opportunity to come out of the gate like a man possessed and attack the day: Without mercy. Today: I’m taking scalps. I’m putting the pressure on. I’m the aggressor. I’m on the attack. And of course: I will get tired. I will get beat up. I will get knocked down and drained and will have some bad days. But I will not Stop.”

— Jocko Willink

100. “Nothing breeds arrogance like success – a string of victories on the battlefield or business initiatives. Combat leaders must never forget just how much is at stake: the lives of their troops.”

— Jocko Willink