Introducing Jocko Willink, 2024 Congress Keynote Speaker!
We’re thrilled to introduce our exceptional Congress keynote speaker, Jocko Willink. With his impressive background and fantastic speaking style and presence, we’re sure you’ll come away inspired to tackle your toughest challenges and meet your loftiest goals. He’ll cover leadership, accountability, and more in his address.
Jocko is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL officer, co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, and co-founder of Echelon Front LLC, where he serves as CEO, leadership instructor, speaker, and strategic advisor. Jocko spent 20 years in the SEAL Teams, starting as an enlisted SEAL and rising through the ranks to become a SEAL officer. He is the recipient of the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and numerous other personal and unit awards.
Enjoy this sneak peek of Jocko’s dynamic presentation style and energy—and catch this special speaker live at Congress on Wednesday, October 23, at 10 a.m.!
Q and A with Jocko Willink
What makes you excited about Lean?
At its core, Lean is built on strong relationships and mutual respect throughout a team. These relationships allow for optimization of efficiency and continuous improvement. Lean isn’t just a set of tools; it’s a mindset that encourages everyone in an organization to take ownership of their role and find ways innovate and adapt.
This philosophy aligns perfectly with Extreme Ownership because it requires every individual to take responsibility for their tasks and contribute to the overall mission of the team.
How does Lean align with your leadership development work (your Leadership Development and Alignment Programs)?
Our Leadership Development and Alignment Programs identify and address an organization’s most pressing leadership challenges, teaching leaders up, down, and across teams to take ownership of everything in their world, including the processes and systems they work within.
Lean provides a framework for identifying inefficiencies and implementing changes that improve performance. By adopting both the principles of Extreme Ownership and Lean methodology, leaders can ensure that their teams are operating at their highest potential and continually improving.
What do you hope attendees gain from your keynote address?
Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental leadership principles of Extreme Ownership and see how these principles overlap and can have a symbiotic relationship with Lean construction methods. With this understanding, participants will see ways to implement these principles in their construction projects. Attendees will also see that these principles can be applied to solve problems beyond construction—in fact they are applicable to any problem in business or in life.
What are some key takeaways/sneak peeks of your presentation?
Participants will walk away with increased capabilities to:
- Build and maintain strong relationships
- Work cross-functionally to continuously improve processes and accomplish the mission
- Communicate effectively up, down, and across the chain of command
- Simplify plans, remove unneeded effort, and increase efficiencies
- Prioritize daily tasks as well as long-term strategic initiatives
- Empower others to solve problems and lead
- Subordinate their ego in support of the broader mission
- Adapt to changing environments
- Make decisions amidst uncertainty and chaos
- Take ownership and solve problems, in business and in life
What call-to-action do you hope attendees leave with?
Call to action: Take EXTREME OWNERSHIP of everything that impacts your mission and LEAD.