Turn The Ship Around!

This is an excellent book, packed full of thought provoking detail, anecdotes you can identify with and practical tips to take away. I was surprised at how much I liked the fact it was based on an unfamiliar setting - a submarine. The way he describes things makes this totally relatable.

On the theme of leadership and psychology safety, this book came highly recommended. The core takeaway of the book is that anyone can be a leader, which is documented through the crew’s transformation from the worst performing to best within the fleet. Marquet’s honest appraisal of his strengths and weaknesses as a leader make this a very easy read. The chapters are short, insightful and pack takeaways that draw clear lessons for any industry to adopt- driving a structure from leader-follower to leader-leader. The change from continually seeking permission for actions to stating “I intend to”, to communicate intentions and verbalising thought process, promoted a culture of trust and empowerment amongst staff. Whilst also improving communications with the team. A subtle semantics change, but pivotal none the less. Encouraging and fostering a culture of curiosity was especially pertinent as a mechanism for clarity and continual improvement- highlighted in the team’s engagement with CPD and inspections that led to improvements in academic and professional performance. “Don’t Brief, Certify” was relevant to pre shift briefings and toolbox talks I have witnessed, with staff encouraged to present their area of expertise and brief the team. To promote ownership and engagement. This is in contrast to the traditional briefings from a senior member of staff that staff dutifully attend, rather than actively engage with. This provides efficiencies and benefit from the meetings- tying into the pragmatic approach Marquet also took with ammending antiquated business processes that didn’t serve a contemporary process for his team.

If you can change the leadership culture on a navy submarine then you can do it anywhere. That is the inspiring thought that David Marquet gives us in this entertaining and very readable account. With commendable honesty, Mr Marquet details the trials and tribulations that he, and his colleagues, went through on the way to a high performing culture. He didn’t start out with a grand plan or theory – they tried stuff out along the way and gradually found out what worked. At the high level, what works is that the “leader-leader” model involves giving employees control over what they work on and how they work. This means letting them make meaningful decisions and it requires competence and role clarity. Control, competence and clarity make up the framework that Mr Marquet structures his book on. Within these three pillars Marquet identifies key lessons and actions. These lessons and structures are not particularly new – I remember studying similar concepts in leadership 25 years ago, and Mr Marquet’s ideas are similar to Servant Leadership and related approaches. What makes this book different – and valuable – is that the author focuses on practicality. He never references theories or research, he simply gets on with the job of trying to change things, pretty much by trial and error. It is this practical approach which will be of most interest to business readers. I do have some criticisms of the book, notably that Mr Marquet is rather vague in his explanations of how some of his ideas work, or whether they might work outside of the military context. For example, the “I intend to” approach works in a military environment where the leader affirms every action in a control room setting, but I don’t see how it works in a distributed business. Similarly, I am unclear what “deliberate action” actually means in practice. Vocalising your actions out aloud (if that is what it is) might not be appropriate in a civilian situation and, it seems to me, has as much scope for error as the “old” way – colleagues will soon subconsciously tune-out. Nevertheless the book remains a useful pointer to a better way than that many of us are accustomed to. It contains some nice ideas for workshops with managers and, above all, its focus on practicality and taking a step-by-step approach make it most useful. There are things here that managers at all levels can start to try out to get the ball rolling. The key lesson from the book, for me is – to quote - “Don’t move information to authority. Move authority to the information”.

Amazing leadership insight with great reasoning and tangible examples behind . Definitely recommend it to all leaders open to continuous improvement.

And extremely valuable insight into leadership and how to enable the best from your team. The book contains many valuable questions to ask yourself and demonstrates the value of perseverance. This is a highly recommended read and a book I will likely continue to reference.

The structure of the book (short chapters, clear progression, list of learning and actionable points) makes for an excellent read and allows one's mind to free itself from the classic leadership approach. As much as it could be challenging to directly translate the leadership method from a nuclear submarine to one's specific organisation, the applied nature of the narrative and numerous concrete examples in this book makes for a great first step in the world of leader-leader structure. I will keep pondering about this book for some times after having read it (several times).

I would recommend this book for its clarity and immediately actionable insights. Whether you’ve been on your leadership journey for a while or just starting, this book will be an excellent trigger for reflection and action. I recommend a first read through followed by a detailed and reflective second read. Short, highly readable and actionable. Highly recommended.

Book arrived on time in good condition. I'm happy with the order.

Inspiring and helpful short book on how the worst ship became the best ship. Each chapter on problems and solutions ends with management tips. You can always ignore the latter if not interested but the first are excellent. Well worth reading.

Aan de hand van leuke anekdotes neemt de auteur je mee in de transitie van een gedemotiveerde groep naar een goed functionerend team. Hoe laat je je team zelfstandig werken zonder 'de controle' te verliezen? Elke hoofdstuk wordt afgesloten met praktische tips of beschouwingen die je zelf kan doen. De situaties zijn herkenbaar voor elke corporate/enterprise (werk)omgeving. Dus ondanks de self-help component, is het ook gewoon een leuk boek om te lezen.

certainement le meilleur livre de leadership que j’ai lu sur ces 5 dernières années (sur une 30aine de bouquins sur le sujet). David Marquet nous partage son expérience en tant que commandant du pire sous-marin nucléaire de la force du Pacifique et comment il a transformé l’équipage de ce dernier en groupe extrêmement efficace au point de devenir l’un des meilleurs sous-marins de l’armée américaine en un an. Pleins d’exemples applicables dans le monde du business. bref ... à lire

Excellent read for those organizations aiming to transform themselves in today's World. For me complements very well others authors e. g. Humanocracy and Reinventing Organizations.

This book is necessary For those who consider themselves very experienced, this book provides important to hints and structure to improve your idea or vision You help me a lot, and I thank David Marqet for sharing all his experience and knowledge.