Get Task & Purpose in your inbox
MOST READ
The 2 Biggest Mistakes New Leaders Always Make, According To Navy SEAL Commanders
Jocko Willink and Leif Babin have built their post-Navy SEAL careers around the art of leadership.
Willink was the head of US Navy SEAL Team 3 Task Unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated U.S. special operations unit of the Iraq War, and Babin was one of the two platoon leaders who reported to him. After their service, Willink and Babin founded Echelon Front in 2010 as a way to bring what they learned in the military to the business world.
Business Insider interviewed Willink and Babin about their new book on the subject, The Dichotomy of Leadership, and they told us that over their work with more than 400 businesses and their leadership conferences, they've found inexperienced leaders are regularly making the same mistakes.
1. They think they have to know everything
"The best possible thing you can do as a new leader is, if there's something that you don't know, raise your hand and say, 'Hey guys, I'm new at this. Do you know a better way to do this?' or, 'Do you know how to do this?' or, 'Can you give me a hand?'"
Willink said he's found that a fear of losing trust is what keeps leaders from asking these simple questions, but that this approach actually increases a team's respect because it shows honesty, and it will avoid problems in the long term because it won't require faking knowledge.
"So don't worry about saying, 'I don't know something,'" Willink said. "It's perfectly fine. You just showed up! No one expects you to know everything. Relax. And ask some questions."
2. They think their problems are unique
Babin said he also regularly finds new leaders become convinced that the problems they're facing are so specific to them that outside help wouldn't help. "And they think their problems are harder than everyone else's problems," he said. "It's very common. I've fallen into that trap, as well."
This tendency is ultimately about shifting responsibility.
"Because as long as you're making excuse for yourself, an excuse for your team, you're never going to actually solve the problems that are causing you to not perform the way you should, and therefore you're going to keep repeating those same mistakes," Babin said. "Step up, find a way to solve those problems, and win."
Read more from Business Insider:
- These are the 7 finest moments in Army history
- The 7 best military commanders of all time, according to Napoleon Bonaparte
- The Marine Corps’ F-35 combat debut was flown in honor of a fallen hero
- The top enlisted adviser to the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been suspended pending an investigation into 'alleged misconduct'
- Rare photo shows an F-4 recklessly inverted over a Russian Tu-95 during an intercept
'Millions' stolen in decade-long buying fraud at Florida VA hospitals, officials say
Editor's Note: This article by Dorothy Mills-Gregg originally appeared on Military.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
At least 15 Department of Veterans Affairs employees and vendors in Florida were engaged in an "elaborate" fraud scheme that cost the government "millions" since 2009, two government agencies announced in a joint press conference Wednesday.
Mark Wahlberg and his family's fast-casual chain Wahlburgers may be coming to a base near you
Actor Mark Wahlberg will be visiting troops overseas to plug Wahlburgers, a fast-casual restaurant chain owned by the actor and his two brothers, Donnie Wahlberg, and chef Paul Wahlberg.
US troops will not burn and pillage like Genghis Khan's hordes as a result of Trump intervening in war crimes cases, Milley says
The U.S. military will not disintegrate into an undisciplined horde following President Donald Trump's recent intervention in three war crimes cases, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley assured lawmakers on Wednesday.
Milley was testifying before the House Armed Services Committee when he was pressed by Iraq war veteran Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) about the president's actions in the cases of former Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, retired Army Maj. Matthew Golsteyn, and retired Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher.
US troops repelled a brazen Taliban attack that was literally on Bagram Airfield's doorstep
Taliban fighters attempted to fight their way into Bagram Airfield on Wednesday by invading a medical facility just outside of the base's perimeter, a spokesman for Operation Resolute Support said Wednesday.
J.P. Lawrence of Stars and Stripes and Jim LaPorta of Newsweek first reported that the battle lasted for several hours after using car bombs to attack the hospital, which is near the base's northern corner. Helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft were reportedly used to drop ordnance on the hospital.
An armed suspect was taken into custody at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi on Wednesday morning after a brief lockdown period, according to the Texas base's Facebook account.
Though the exact nature of the incident is unclear, base officials wrote that no shots were fired and no injuries were reported.