What does leadership mean? Here at Echelon Front — a performance development company that offers leadership training based on principles learned on military battlefields — we think of leadership as “the influence you have with the people you interact with.” This is very different from the traditional view of leadership as something that involves a position or title, but that’s the great thing about leadership: It’s not a position, it’s influence, and anyone can influence others.
Who can be a leader?
Our CEO, Jocko Willink, says: “If you interact with other humans in any capacity, you’re a leader, and you have to influence them to work together to accomplish a goal.” This means you don’t have to be the person with their name on the door to be a leader, and you don’t have to have a title or rank in your organization. Everyone is a leader — and to be successful at anything, you must lead yourself and you must lead others.

Why is leadership important?
Willink and Echelon Front co-founder Leif Babin learned in combat that leadership is the critical factor determining whether a team succeeds or fails. Again, leadership doesn’t refer to only the senior person in charge; it includes midlevel managers, front-line leaders, and everyone down to individual contributors who aren’t in charge of anybody else, only themselves and their small piece of the mission.
“Leadership at every level” is the critical factor in whether a team succeeds or fails. We’ve seen this both on the battlefield and in the business world: When things are going catastrophically wrong, the right leadership decision can turn the tide and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Conversely, when everything seems to be going right and success is all but assured, the wrong leadership decision can lead to epic failure.
How is leadership measured?
The only meaningful measure of success for leadership is whether the team succeeds or fails. It’s not enough to work hard and try your best.
You can employ leadership strategies and tactics to help build effective relationships, create buy-in from your team, peers, and senior leaders, and effectively accomplish your mission.
Leadership is taking “extreme ownership” of everything in your world — everything that impacts your mission. When you cast blame or make excuses, the problems don’t get solved. But when you take ownership of the problems, you can implement solutions to get those problems fixed. It isn’t magic. The strategies and tactics we teach at Echelon Front are simple, practical, and actionable, but they aren’t easy — they require putting your ego in check and conducting an honest self-assessment of where you can do better.
Leadership is a skill
How can you improve your leadership? Like any skill, such as playing football or jamming on the guitar, you must learn, practice, and develop it.
Nobody is born with such skills, although some may have qualities that give them an edge over their peers or enable them to develop more quickly, such as natural agility or a musical ear. To develop into a great football player or an exceptional guitarist, you must still develop your skills through years of practice, repetition, coaching, and mentorship. The same applies to leadership.

Leadership is the solution
At Echelon Front, we work with leaders at every level across a broad spectrum of industries, including business, health care, military, education, and nonprofits. We help them analyze their frustrations, challenges, and friction points and devise solutions to solve those problems.
What many people don’t realize until careful examination is that all of their problems are leadership problems. On the professional side: the micromanaging boss, a team that won’t take ownership, a peer or department that won’t provide the necessary support, a missed opportunity for promotion. On the personal side: a work/life balance that’s far out of whack, disagreement with a spouse, or kids who shun guidance and refuse to listen.
Why is leadership important? All of these problems are, fundamentally, leadership problems. And the good news is that leadership is the solution to every problem. Every single problem.