Without a team, you can't be a leader. Effective leaders win by completing the mission.

As the leader, you are always responsible. It's not what you teach your team that sets the culture of your team, it's what you tolerate. As the leader, you must enforce the right standards. Be brutally honest about you and your team's ability. Again, you are responsible for the team.

To perform and win, you and your team need to stay well-conditioned physically and mentally.

As the leader, articulate the Why to get your team committed to the mission. If you and your team do not resolutely believe in the mission, it'll be very difficult to win. Take time to address questions and if you're not fully sure, figure out why you're doing what you're doing.

Understand human nature:

• People don't like to look bad or to confront the boss so make it safe for people to share information with you
• Ego clouds everything but never put your interest above the team's interest

When you are winning, know that you're not too good to fail so you guard against being complacent after winning.

Teamwork is paramount and as the leader, you must break down silos. Get your team members aligned on the overall mission and help them to recognize that you have to work together to win. You need to ensure that everyone understands the mission and the front line is clear about what you're looking to accomplish.

To empower your front line, decentralize your structure and leave tactics to your front line leaders - just make sure they are ready to take on that responsibility. Ask your junior leaders, what are you going to do? Why? As the leader, you have to back up your direct reports and to build trust to foster an open exchange of information. When you decentralize, ensure the chain of command is clear to help facilitate information and resources flow.

When you are overwhelmed, relax, step back, prioritize, and execute.

• Stop and assess then make the call
• Decide on the priority and focus your energy on that

The planning processes must be standardized and kept brief and concise:

• Choose the simplest and best course of action
• Emphasize the commander's intent and communicate to your team to cascade down that intention
• Create a process you can repeat

When leading down the chain of command, connect specific tasks and tactics to the big picture. When you need resources, lead up the chain of command by:

• Pushing situational awareness up to your leaders - invite your leaders to the field to see for themselves
• Supporting your leader even when the focus is not on you or your team's need

If you feel that you're being asked to over-report, it's probably because you're underperforming.

It's important for leaders to be decisive under uncertainty.

• You must dictate the situation and be proactive - don't just wait around for someone else to take the lead or solve the problem
• Decide - during crisis situations, you don't want to be seen as indecisive