Book of the Quarter

At Bridge Financial Strategies (“Bridge”), continuing to grow and learn is extremely important to us.  One way we pursue this is by reading a book each quarter and discussing it together as a team.  This quarter we finished Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.

The authors present leadership qualities that they learned on the battlefield and translated to the corporate world.  Each chapter begins with an intense narrative of an operation they experienced in combat.  They share the tactical planning, the interpersonal strategies, and the outcomes from implementing their procedures.  As a team, we found many parallels from the book to our business and were able to discuss ways we can work better together both for the good of our clients and our team.

A few of the strategies we learned are:

• The importance of keeping plans and communications simple
• How prioritization and execution can help a leader anticipate challenges before they happen
• Creating a plan gives team members the ability to be more decisive which enables the team to execute well and be successful
• How to make good, quick decisions without a complete picture, then allow for adjustments if needed.

The prevailing concept of the book is that the most successful teams are ones where each member takes “Extreme Ownership” over the mission—not just their part of it.  It’s a great idea which we are embracing!