Extreme Ownership has taught me that…
This morning, one of my managers requested a raise to the highest pay tier in the company.
And he requested that we promote a few other people to the manager.
He has the worst-performing team in the company by far.
A younger Dennis would have been mad— I would have said “How dare you ask for a raise when your team is wasting money like crazy.”
But extreme ownership has taught me that there are no bad teams, only bad leaders.
Because I didn’t make his team’s performance more clearly and consistently enforce our standards, he would have thought that merely punching the clock was enough for advancement.
And so his team members believed the same, too– that automatic advancement is guaranteed, even if the performance isn’t there.
If you want a goal-oriented team, focus on the results, not how much time they’ve put in or how hard they’ve worked.
Then you can gladly reward those who get the job done.
Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations.
You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel.
You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.
