{"id":398,"date":"2026-01-27T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:00:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T08:00:27","slug":"humble-leaders-lead-better-teams-with-retired-navy-seal-jocko-willink-a-bit-of-optimism-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398","title":{"rendered":"Humble Leaders Lead Better Teams with Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink | A Bit of Optimism Podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YeJ4b6eTmq8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Most people believe the only way to lead is to become the best at something. But what if great leadership means admitting you\u2019re not the best at anything?<\/p>\n<p>Jocko Willink believes the secret to his greatest achievements come down to one thing \u2013 humility. A retired Navy SEAL commander, Jocko served 20 years in the U.S. military, leading one of the most decorated special operations units through combat in the Iraq War. A New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, and entrepreneur, he now teaches those in the civilian world the skills he learned from his time in the SEAL Teams.<\/p>\n<p>This was my first time meeting Jocko Willink, and we discussed why new leaders should never try to prove their own competence and the difference between tyrannical and open-minded leaders.<\/p>\n<p>This\u2026is A Bit of Optimism.<\/p>\n<p>For more on Jocko and his work, check out:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"qH7aBsfxsp\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/jocko.com\/\">Home<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Home&#8221; &#8212; Jocko\" src=\"https:\/\/jocko.com\/embed\/#?secret=Hq3Mt5aKgp#?secret=qH7aBsfxsp\" data-secret=\"qH7aBsfxsp\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u23f0 Timestamps<br \/>\n0:00 An intro to Jocko Willink<br \/>\n1:16 What Jocko learned from the civilian world<br \/>\n5:34 Where Jocko falls short<br \/>\n9:04 There are no uber mensch in the SEAL Teams<br \/>\n11:58 Leaders shouldn&#8217;t need to prove themselves<br \/>\n14:50 How to deal with tyrannical leaders<br \/>\n18:33 Jocko&#8217;s mutiny story<br \/>\n23:37 The power of making tiny decisions<br \/>\n29:22 Leadership is about relationships<br \/>\n35:08 Jocko talks about military brotherhood<br \/>\n38:12 Jocko&#8217;s favorite moment from his career<\/p>\n<p>+ + +<\/p>\n<p>Simon is an unshakable optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together. <\/p>\n<p>Described as \u201ca visionary thinker with a rare intellect,\u201d Simon has devoted his professional life to help advance a vision of the world that does not yet exist; a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are and end the day fulfilled by the work that they do.<\/p>\n<p>Simon is the author of multiple best-selling books including Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, Together is Better, and The Infinite Game.<\/p>\n<p>+ + +<\/p>\n<p>Website: http:\/\/simonsinek.com\/<br \/>\nLive Online Classes: https:\/\/simonsinek.com\/classes\/<br \/>\nPodcast: http:\/\/apple.co\/simonsinek<br \/>\nInstagram: https:\/\/instagram.com\/simonsinek\/<br \/>\nLinkedin: https:\/\/linkedin.com\/in\/simonsinek\/<br \/>\nTwitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/simonsinek<br \/>\nFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/simonsinek<\/p>\n<p>Simon\u2019s books:<br \/>\nThe Infinite Game: https:\/\/simonsinek.com\/books\/the-infinite-game\/<br \/>\nStart With Why: https:\/\/simonsinek.com\/books\/start-with-why\/<br \/>\nFind Your Why: https:\/\/simonsinek.com\/books\/find-your-why\/<br \/>\nLeaders Eat Last: https:\/\/simonsinek.com\/books\/leaders-eat-last\/<br \/>\nTogether is Better: https:\/\/simonsinek.com\/books\/together-is-better\/<\/p>\n<p>+ + +<\/p>\n<p>#SimonSinek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most people believe the only way to lead is to become the best at something. But what if great leadership [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Humble Leaders Lead Better Teams with Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink | A Bit of Optimism Podcast - Leadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most people believe the only way to lead is to become the best at something. But what if great leadership [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-27T08:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ytb_thumb-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/\",\"name\":\"Leadership\",\"description\":\"All you need to know about leadership\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ytb_thumb-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ytb_thumb-2.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398\",\"name\":\"Humble Leaders Lead Better Teams with Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink | A Bit of Optimism Podcast - Leadership\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-27T08:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-27T08:00:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Humble Leaders Lead Better Teams with Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink | A Bit of Optimism Podcast\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Humble Leaders Lead Better Teams with Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink | A Bit of Optimism Podcast - Leadership","og_description":"Most people believe the only way to lead is to become the best at something. But what if great leadership [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398","og_site_name":"Leadership","article_published_time":"2026-01-27T08:00:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ytb_thumb-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/","name":"Leadership","description":"All you need to know about leadership","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ytb_thumb-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ytb_thumb-2.jpg","width":480,"height":360},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398","name":"Humble Leaders Lead Better Teams with Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink | A Bit of Optimism Podcast - Leadership","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2026-01-27T08:00:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-27T08:00:27+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/?p=398#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Humble Leaders Lead Better Teams with Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink | A Bit of Optimism Podcast"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duckpi.com\/leadership\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}