Darius Butler

From Jocko Willink, the New York Times best selling author of Discipline Equals Freedom and Leadership Strategy and Tactics, an updated edition of the blockbuster bestselling leadership book that took America and the world by storm, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special forces unit of the Iraq War demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life. Now with an excerpt from the authors' new book, THE DICHOTOMY OF LEADERSHIP. Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq. As leaders of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadership―at every level―is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails. Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training to pass on their harsh lessons of self-discipline, mental toughness and self-defense learned in combat to help forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After leaving the SEAL Teams, they launched a company, Echelon Front, to teach those same leadership principles to leaders in businesses, companies, and organizations across the civilian sector. Since that time, they have trained countless leaders and worked with hundreds of companies in virtually every industry across the U.S. and internationally, teaching them how to develop their own high-performance teams and most effectively lead those teams to dominate their battlefields. Since it’s release in October 2015, Extreme Ownership has revolutionized leadership development and set a new standard for literature on the subject. Required reading for many of the most successful organizations, it has become an integral part of the official leadership training programs for scores of business teams, military units, and first responders. Detailing the resilient mindset and total focus principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult combat missions, Extreme Ownership demonstrates how to apply them to any team or organization, in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, Extreme Ownership challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.

He was too short, they said. Too light, they thought. By the time National Signing Day rolled around in February 2002, not a single Division 1 or Division 2 school offered Antoine Bethea a football scholarship. At 5 feet 11 and 170 pounds, Bethea did not fit the mold of a college middle linebacker, the position he played as a high school senior. But while Bethea didn't have prototype size, what those colleges couldn't measure was how much he wanted to succeed. Bethea attended Howard University -- a nearby historically black college -- and walked onto the team, determined to earn a football scholarship. Bethea's bet on himself eventually paid off, despite a series of setbacks and no shortage of doubters, as this ultimate underdog grew into a Super Bowl champion and three-time Pro Bowler thanks to seven core lessons he'll share in this book, including: - No Excuses, No Explanations Why the motto of Bethea's Super Bowl championship team resonates in all walks of life. - Take Slights Personally & Never Get Complacent The secret to developing and maintaining an unyielding mental edge. - Stand For What You Believe In Why personal integrity drove Bethea's decision to join the NFL anthem protests. This is not only the inside story of how Antoine Bethea bucked the odds to become an NFL star; it's also a case study on how to fight back when people underestimate you. If Antoine Bethea -- a 5-foot-nothing middle linebacker with zero college scholarship offers -- can go on to play 13 years in the NFL, then you can also make your dreams come true, too, whatever they are, as long as you learn how to bet on yourself.