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While I was in London last month, I was browsing through a little indie bookstore and found these two treasures nearly side by side. (Jocko Willink’s Leadership Strategy and Tactics / James S. A. Corey’s Memory’s Legion) These two became my ‘bus books’ in London, since my baby always decided to sleep on the bus and trips were nearly an hour each way.
For those who are unaware of Jocko Willink (shame on you!), he was a Navy SEAL for twenty years, rising through the ranks to become the commander of Task Unit Bruiser – The most decorated Special Operations Unit of the Iraq War. After retiring, he co-founded Echelon Front, a leadership and management consulting company, and wrote two books with Leif Babin, also former Navy SEAL. He’s written a series of kids’ books (Warrior Kid series and Mikey and the Dragons). Co-owns Origin USA. He also hosts the Jocko Podcast, Unraveling Podcast, and the Warrior Kid Podcast.
For those who are unaware of the Expanse universe (also shame on you!), James S. A. Corey is the pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. In addition to writing the novels and short stories of the Expanse, they wrote and produced the television series of the same name. Ty also hosts a podcast with Wes Chatham (Amos Burton in the series) called Ty and that Guy, which I’m also a big fan of.
If you look at these two authors side by side, they look nothing alike (besides the fact that they’re two white dudes). Look them up. But I find these two books have a lot in common.
Of course, Jocko will always say that every problem is a leadership problem, and that the number one thing a leader needs is humility. He also talks a lot about how everything can be resolved by better relationships and by people taking ownership of whatever comes up and doing something to fix the issue.
Memory’s Legion is a collection of the short stories that give more insight on the background of a character or an end note. And it’s just a ‘real life’ scenario of the principles that Leadership Strategy and Tactics tries to teach.
As someone wise once said, “If you know the way broadly, you will see it in everything.”
