Own Everything. Blame Nothing. Lead Everyone.
5 extreme ownership principles that separate great leaders from failures.
Today’s Overview:
You just stepped into a new leadership role (or want to level up this year), but you’re unsure how to build trust, earn respect, and actually lead effectively.
Most new leaders fail because they try to assert authority instead of building relationships. They wait for problems to happen instead of preventing them. They blame others instead of taking ownership. The result? Teams that don’t trust them, projects that fail, and careers that stall.
This newsletter gives you a set of proven strategies and tactics you can use starting today to lead effectively and avoid the mistakes that derail most new leaders.
Happy New Year!
If you’re new here, welcome to The Influential Project Manager. I’m Kyle, and I’ve had an influx of new subscribers over the last few weeks.
If you missed my last newsletter, I published my 2025 Annual Review where I shared the wins, losses, and lessons from the year. Worth a read if you want to get acquainted.
Also, if you’re looking for a community of project managers who are serious about getting better, join the free The Atomic Building Group Community. We’re building something special there.
Now, let’s talk about leadership.
How To Succeed As A New Leader
Maybe you got promoted over the holidays.
Maybe your New Year’s resolution is to become a better leader.
Maybe you’ve been thrust into an unfamiliar leadership role and you’re trying to figure out how the hell to do this without screwing it up.
Whatever brought you here, you’re in the right place.
Because leadership is one of my core topics. And I want to kick off 2026 by giving you a set of strategies and tactics that actually work.
Not theory. Not corporate buzzwords.
Real leadership principles from the field that I’ve applied on jobsites managing hundreds of millions of dollars in construction projects.
Here’s what we’re covering:
Extreme Ownership
Preemptive Ownership
Taking Blame
The 10 Tips To Succeed As A New Leader
Trust, Relationships, Influence, and Respect (You Have To Give Them To Get Them)
Let’s go.
1. Extreme Ownership: You Own Everything
This is the foundation.
As a leader, when something goes wrong, it’s your fault. Not your team’s. Not the circumstances. Not the weather.
Yours.
“Taking Extreme Ownership means that leaders are responsible for every action the people on their team make. It is as simple as that.” - Jocko Willink, Author of Extreme Ownership
You can’t control the weather? Wrong.
You can’t control what your project engineer does? Wrong.
You can’t control if your subcontractor shows up late? Wrong.
You CAN control your contingency plans. You CAN control your training. You CAN control your communication.
Extreme Ownership means you eliminate excuses before they happen.
On the jobsite, I see this all the time. A superintendent blames the electrician for missing the deadline. The PM blames the owner for changing the scope. The project executive blames the market.
If your electrician missed the deadline, why didn’t you have a backup plan? Why didn’t you check in earlier? Why didn’t you flag the risk two weeks ago?
This means there are no “buts” to taking extreme ownership. It applies to everything. And the moment a leader decides he is going to allow excuses, it opens the door to shift blame onto others. That leads to failures.
2. Preemptive Ownership: Prevent Problems Before They Happen
Extreme Ownership isn’t just about taking responsibility after things go wrong.
It’s also about taking ownership BEFORE they go wrong.
This is called preemptive ownership.
When a leader knows they cannot blame anyone or anything else, they will implement preemptive ownership—they will take ownership of things to prevent problems from unfolding in the first place.
This is the highest form of leadership.
You’re not reactive. You’re proactive.
You’re not firefighting. You’re preventing fires.
On a construction project, this looks like:
Running constraint analysis six weeks out (not three days out)
Walking the site daily to catch issues before they become problems
Over-communicating with subcontractors so they never say “I didn’t know”
Building contingency into your schedule and budget
Preemptive ownership is the difference between good leaders and great leaders.
Good leaders react well. Great leaders prevent the need to react.
3. Taking Blame: The Fastest Way To Build Trust
Here’s a truth most new leaders don’t understand:
Taking blame builds trust faster than anything else.
When something goes wrong and you immediately say “That’s on me,” your team sees it. They respect it. They trust you.
Even if the failure wasn’t directly your fault, as the leader, you own it.
Let’s say your project engineer didn’t follow the plan and now you’re behind schedule.
Most leaders throw the PE under the bus: “He didn’t do what I told him.”
The right move? Take the blame: “I didn’t communicate the plan clearly enough. That’s on me.”
Does that mean the PE gets off the hook? No.
You address it with him privately. You coach him. You hold him accountable.
But publicly, to your boss, to the client, to the team—you take the blame.
This does two things:
It shows your team you have their back.
It forces you to implement preemptive ownership next time.
Taking blame isn’t weakness. It’s strength.
4. Becoming a Leader (Fundamental Rules)
Once you have been selected as a leader, it is time to lead.
What is the best way to do this?
Starting off on the right foot is simple, but not easy.
Here are some fundamental rules to keep in mind as you take command.
Be Humble. It is an honor to be in a leadership position. Your team is counting on you to make the right decisions.
Don’t act like you know everything, because you don’t. The team knows that. Your boss knows that. It’s okay to say “I don’t know.” Ask smart questions in effort to get the best information.
Listen. Ask for advice and implement it. You cannot communicate effectively if you are not listening to what your people are saying and what is actually going on around you.
Treat people with respect. Regardless of rank, everyone is a human and plays an important role in the team. Treat them that way. Take care of your people and they will take care of you.
Take ownership of failures, mistakes, AND the solutions. Many young leaders start to grasp the fact that everything all of sudden becomes their fault. This is good. New leaders cannot forget that along with taking ownership of the failures, you must also take ownership of the solution and drive it home.
Work hard. As the leader, you should be working harder than anyone else on the team. No job is beneath you. Taking out of the trash. Cleaning the office. Your job is anything related to supporting the team and the goal.
Have integrity. Do what you say; say what you do. Don’t lie. Always do the right thing.
Be decisive. When it is time to make a decision, make one.
Build relationships. That is your main goal as a leader. A team is a group of people who have relationships and trust one another. Otherwise, it is just a disconnected, incoherent cluster of people.
Get the job done. That is the purpose of a leader – to lead a team in accomplishing a mission. If you don’t accomplish the mission, you fail as a leader. Performance counts.
These aren’t complicated. But they’re hard to remember and implement consistently.
Review them daily. Look at them in the morning, before meetings, and when you are about to make things happen.
Soon they will become second nature.
5. Trust, Relationships, Influence, and Respect: Give Them To Get Them
Here’s the secret most new leaders miss:
If you want trust, you have to give trust first.
If you want respect, you have to give respect first.
If you want influence, you have to let others influence you first.
To build trust and relationships down the chain of command, you have to give trust. If you want your team to trust you, you need to give them trust.
This means:
Let your team run the mission (even if you could do it better)
Let them make decisions (even if there’s risk)
Let them solve problems (even if it takes longer)
Start small. Give them low-stakes tasks. When they succeed, increase the stakes.
The same goes for respect and influence.
Treat people with respect. Allow them to give their opinion. Listen to them. Don’t interrupt them. Don’t disparage the importance of their job.
If you want to have influence over others, you need to allow them to have influence over you. Consider their recommendations and, whenever possible, incorporate their thoughts and ideas.
The more you give, the more you get.
It’s counterintuitive. But it works.
It’s Time to Lead
Leadership isn’t about authority. It’s about ownership, trust, and relationships.
If you’re stepping into a new leadership role this year, start here:
Take extreme ownership. Everything that happens on your team is your responsibility.
Prevent problems before they happen. Preemptive ownership is the highest form of leadership.
Take the blame publicly. Build trust by owning failures.
Follow the 10 tips. Be decisive. Build relationships. Get the job done.
Give trust, respect, and influence to get them. Leadership is a two-way street.
This is how you succeed as a new leader.
Not by asserting authority. But by building a team that trusts you, respects you, and wants to follow you.
Let’s make 2026 your best year of leadership yet.
Until next week,
– Kyle
Here is a related letter if you want to continue reading:
The 6 Styles of Leadership
6 leadership styles × 3 simple questions = unlimited influence. Here's how to lead any situation with confidence.
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