Turn the Ship Around!
Ratings35
Average rating4.6
15
Ratings35
Average rating4.6
“One of the 12 best business books of all time…. Timeless principles of empowering leadership.” – USA Today "The best how-to manual anywhere for managers on delegating, training, and driving flawless execution.” —FORTUNE Since Turn the Ship Around! was published in 2013, hundreds of thousands of readers have been inspired by former Navy captain David Marquet’s true story. Many have applied his insights to their own organizations, creating workplaces where everyone takes responsibility for his or her actions, where followers grow to become leaders, and where happier teams drive dramatically better results. Marquet was a Naval Academy graduate and an experienced officer when selected for submarine command. Trained to give orders in the traditional model of “know all–tell all” leadership, he faced a new wrinkle when he was shifted to the Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine. Facing the high-stress environment of a sub where there’s little margin for error, he was determined to reverse the trends he found on the Santa Fe: poor morale, poor performance, and the worst retention rate in the fleet. Almost immediately, Marquet ran into trouble when he unknowingly gave an impossible order, and his crew tried to follow it anyway. When he asked why, the answer was: “Because you told me to.” Marquet realized that while he had been trained for a different submarine, his crew had been trained to do what they were told—a deadly combination. That’s when Marquet flipped the leadership model on its head and pushed for leadership at every level. Turn the Ship Around! reveals how the Santa Fe skyrocketed from worst to first in the fleet by challenging the U.S. Navy’s traditional leader-follower approach. Struggling against his own instincts to take control, he instead achieved the vastly more powerful model of giving control to his subordinates, and creating leaders. Before long, each member of Marquet’s crew became a leader and assumed responsibility for everything he did, from clerical tasks to crucial combat decisions. The crew became completely engaged, contributing their full intellectual capacity every day. The Santa Fe set records for performance, morale, and retention. And over the next decade, a highly disproportionate number of the officers of the Santa Fe were selected to become submarine commanders. Whether you need a major change of course or just a tweak of the rudder, you can apply Marquet’s methods to turn your own ship around.
Reviews with the most likes.
An insightful book about leadership. The author covers a leader-leader model that he used to move his submarine to the top of the list of well run ships in the Navy. Many models are discussed that are illustrated by his Naval experience. The author also suggests how the leader-leader model has applications that go beyond the Navy into other workplaces.
An amazing book! It took me quite some time to read it, even though it's short. The reason is there's a lot to think about.
Mainly from the manager's perspective, still worth reading regardless of your rank. I wish more managers read books like this one!
A lot of good points. Emphasizes creating a “leader-leader” dynamic between managers and managees, as opposed to the standard “leader-follower” dynamic.
Discusses some of the challenges in getting to a real “leader-leader” situation. Specifically: How to make people feel empowered to not have to ask permission all the time (allow them to make mistakes, don't jump in and correct them). How to make people think consciously before taking actions with severe consequences (say the action aloud to yourself). How to inspire people to connect the information they're receiving to the higher level objectives of the team, in order to make good decisions without needing to send everything up the chain of command (teach them concrete, applicable principles for how this team makes decisions). How long to expect this dynamic-shift to take (a few years).
