On July 4, 2026, Michael J. Penney published DOMINATE: The Special Operations Way To Win In Business. The paperback runs 250 pages in an 8.5 by 11 inch format (ISBN 979-8234101273). Amazon lists it as book 1 of 3 in the 5 Paragraph series, with Michael J. Penney as both author and publisher.
The problem it takes on
The book description starts with a problem many leaders will recognize:
At some point, every leader realizes the problem isn’t effort. The team is working. The meetings are happening. The plans are written.
DOMINATE book description
From the outside it looks like progress, the description goes on, but inside, execution is inconsistent, priorities drift and decisions slow down. “The organization is moving—but it is not aligned.”
What is inside
The foundation is the framework Michael first published in 2017: the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. The description lists the questions it makes a team answer before it acts:
- What is happening?
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- How will we do it?
- What resources are required?
- Who is responsible, and how do we communicate?
According to the description, readers learn how to:
- Build executable plans
- Align people and priorities
- Eliminate friction
- Lead under pressure
- Scale with discipline
From there, DOMINATE builds a full operating cycle: Plan. Act. Debrief. After Action Report. After Action Review. Repeat. The book also includes business formulas, a glossary of terms, lessons learned, leadership wisdom and a list of recommended books.
This is not a book you read once and set aside. It is a system to apply.
DOMINATE book description
Why it matters
The five questions are the five paragraphs of a military operations order: situation, mission, execution, administration and logistics, and command and signal. Michael learned that format as a Marine infantryman across three combat tours: Ramadi, Iraq, in 2005-06 and 2007, and Kajaki and Sangin, Afghanistan, in 2011. He has been teaching it to business leaders ever since.
The 2017 book gave owners a way to write a plan. DOMINATE adds the debrief and the after action review, the part of the military cycle that turns each mission into lessons for the next one.
The release date, Independence Day, fits a book by a Marine veteran about winning.
This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.
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