Extreme Ownership
Chapter 6 – Simple
Nothing feels simple anymore. Organizations are overloaded with information, processes, policies, and tools. What was supposed to make life easier—technology—has often done the opposite. We’ve created so much complexity that real work slows down and good decisions become harder to make.
You see this clearly in most organizations’ policy manuals. They’re massive, detailed, and nearly impossible for employees to remember or apply consistently. Complexity creeps in over time, and leaders often add more rules, more steps, and more layers instead of stepping back and simplifying. The result is confusion, hesitation, and inefficiency.
The principle of Simple reminds leaders that clarity wins. Plans, communication, and execution must be easy to understand—especially under pressure. If your team can’t explain the mission or the process simply, it’s probably too complex to execute well.
This is also where modern tools, especially AI, can be a game-changer. Used correctly, AI isn’t just about automation. It can help leaders and teams take complex information, ideas, and data and distill them into something clear, focused, and actionable. Leaders who ignore this will fall behind. Leaders who learn to simplify—both in how they lead and how they leverage tools—will move faster, think clearer, and execute better.
The takeaway is straightforward: complexity is a leadership problem. Simplicity is a leadership responsibility.
In this chapter, five excerpts really stood out to me.
- “Combat, like anything in life, has inherent layers of complexities. Simplifying as much as possible is crucial to success. When plans and orders are too complicated, people may not understand them. And when things go wrong, and they inevitably do go wrong, complexity compounds issues that can spiral out of control into total disaster.”
- “Plans and orders must be communicated in a manner that is simple, clear, and concise. Everyone that is part of the mission must know and understand his or her role in the mission and what to do in the event of likely contingencies.”
- “Simple: this principle isn’t limited to the battlefield. In the business world, and in life, there are inherent complexities. It is critical to keep plans and communication simple. Following this rule is crucial to the success of any team in any combat, business or life.”
- ““It doesn’t matter if I understand it,” I responded. “What matters is that they understand it—your production team. And not in some theoretical way. They need to understand it to a point that they don’t need to be thinking about it to understand it. It needs to be on the top of their minds all the time.””
- “People generally take the path of least resistance. It is just in our nature.”
Here are a few questions to help you dive deeper into this chapter:
- Where have I allowed complexity to creep in—and am I honest enough to admit that the confusion it causes is a leadership failure, not a team failure? (Forces ownership of complexity instead of blaming execution.)
- Could every person on my team clearly explain the mission, priorities, and contingencies without referencing a document—or have I mistaken documentation for understanding? (Tests whether communication is truly simple or just written down.)
- What policies, processes, or expectations exist today mainly because “we’ve always done it that way,” and how might they be actively slowing execution? (Challenges legacy complexity.)
- Have I simplified work to match how people actually operate under pressure, or have I designed plans that only work when everything goes perfectly? (Connects simplicity to real-world conditions.)
- Am I intentionally using tools—like AI—to reduce cognitive load and clarify priorities for my team, or am I adding technology that increases noise and distraction? (Bridges Extreme Ownership with modern leadership leverage.)
Go – Be the Hero of Your Story