Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Jocko Willink and his philosophy on extreme ownership and discipline rocketed him from a recently retired Navy SEAL to a man with a huge following and multiple successful businesses. The daily Instagram posts of his 4:30 wakeup and morning workout are his way of putting actions to his philosophy of “discipline equals freedom”.
Before becoming famous for his podcast interviews, books, and social media posts, Jocko and his business partner (and also former SEAL) Leif Babson ran a management consulting firm, Echelon Front. There they sought to take the leadership principles they learned and developed in the SEAL teams to the corporate world. What first started as a leadership consulting firm, Echelon Front (EF) now also encompasses two separate veteran hiring companies: EF Legion and EF Overwatch.
When guys like these step into the business of bringing veterans into the corporate world, you can expect results.
What helps these two companies stand out is that they demand ownership and accountability of the veterans they bring into their process. Other military recruiting firms don’t make nearly the same effort to hold veterans accountable for their individual transition. The transition from the military to the civilian world is more than just filling out some paperwork — it takes some serious mental effort as well.
What is Echelon Front?
Echelon Front focuses on applying its expertise in building and leading teams in the SEAL community toward businesses and organizations. They aim to “educate, train, mentor, and inspire leaders and organizations to achieve total victory.” Organizations looking to apply principles outlined by Jocko and Leif Babin in their #1 Bestseller Extreme Ownership can work with Echelon Front to find solutions to bring the same principles to their organization.
Even if you don’t run a business, you can access EF’s online training or attend one of their workshops. EF Online costs for 24.99 the first month and then $9.99 a month thereafter.
EF Legion and Veteran Hiring
Seeing a need to help corporate America improve how they bring veterans onto their team, Jocko and his team founded EF Legion. Beyond just improving the veteran hiring process, they sought to help bring Extreme Ownership principles and military values to corporate America.
Beyond just “feeling good” for hiring veterans, there are serious advantages to bringing military experience and values into an organization. According to data taken from Linkedin, veterans stay with their initial company 8.3% longer than nonveterans. This saves time and effort in the hiring and training processes. To add to this return on investment, veterans are 39% more likely to get promoted than their civilian counterparts — demonstrating their ability to provide long-term value to the organization. And veterans are 160% more likely to have a graduate degree or higher. With the GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon Program, veterans have unbelievable access to higher education.
EF Legion makes it bold and clear on their site that the transition process is unique to every veteran. They operate under the veteran transition Golden Rule:
“No organization or person can or should own your transition for you. You are solely responsible for your transition, so take ownership!”
I couldn’t agree more.
While in the military, a lot can be handled for you by the entirety of the DoD system. Medical appointments have automatic reminders, your next job in uniform may be decided for you, and the resources at your disposal are numerous. But during the transition, no one will make you take advantage of resources and opportunity — only you can do that.
Beyond the services they offer in connecting veterans with companies seeking military hires, their website also has some of the best resume and interview prep resources for veterans out there. Translating military experience into civilian vernacular can be tough, and these resources provide an excellent tool at helping any veteran through the process.
EF Overwatch and the Nation’s Elite Warriors
EF Overwatch takes the top 2.5% of veterans, regardless of branch or military experience. They are looking for those who buy-in to the Extreme Ownership mindset and want to take it to organizations outside the military after their transition.
Both EF Legion and EF Overwatch are run by Mike Sarraille, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL officer and graduate of the University of Texas McCombs Business School. He served alongside Jocko Willink and Leif Babin as a part of Task Unit Bruiser in Ramadi, 2006.
Beyond just providing companies with a talent pool of proven leaders, EF Overwatch has services for executive searches, leadership development, talent management, and veteran hiring consulting. Companies who are seeking some of the nation’s elite warriors, those who have proven their leadership in some of the most trying environments, can look to EF Overwatch for candidates that can start adding value to their organization from the start.
Both EF Legion and EF Overwatch are still fairly new, but EF Legion already has 597 active jobs (as of this writing) and EF Overwatch has 97. The extreme ownership approach they take with veterans in the transition process makes both the value to the veteran and the value to the company that brings on that veteran immense.
Discipline can equal freedom in the job hunt and application process. Do the interview prep. Research the company or the school. Revise your resume based on who is seeing it. Stay disciplined in your approach and success will likely make a way of finding you.
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