At a recent Extreme Ownership Muster, our two-day leadership conference, a participant asked Jocko: “How often should I be thinking strategically, and how often should I be thinking tactically?”  

Tactical vs. Strategic 

In the military, the word “strategic” refers to long-term, overarching goals, while the word “tactical” means the near-term goals and immediate tasks at hand. The question was directed toward a common leadership dilemma—it’s easy to get sucked into the details and focus on the tactical goals and immediate tasks, and lose sight of the bigger, strategic goals that advance a team forward in the long-term.