{"id":1542,"date":"2024-06-17T21:09:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T21:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.championforest.org\/articles\/?p=1542"},"modified":"2024-06-18T14:18:43","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T14:18:43","slug":"turn-the-ship-around-by-l-david-marquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.championforest.org\/articles\/2024\/06\/17\/turn-the-ship-around-by-l-david-marquet\/","title":{"rendered":"Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2022, I set out to read 12 books on leadership. I read old favorites like 7 Habits of Highly Effective People<\/em> and modern reads like Leaders Eat Last<\/em>. \u201cWhat\u2019s your favorite leadership book?\u201d became my favorite question to ask people, and I quickly learned to write down the ones people really raved about. A book that jumped to the top of my list was Turn the Ship Around!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn the Ship Around!<\/em> is the story of Navy Captain David Marquet, who was assigned to the worst-scoring submarine in the Navy, Sante Fe<\/em>. How bad was the Sante Fe? A picture circulated throughout the Navy depicting its sloppy crewmen, and phrases like \u201cDon\u2019t be the Sante Fe\u201d were heard on decks across the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Marquet was assigned to captain the Sante Fe and had just six months to prepare the submarine for deployment. How did he do? Marquet defied expectations by not only deploying the Sante Fe on time, but eventually leading her to achieve the highest performance score in Navy history within just one year of assuming command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa Fe<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Captain Marquet knew very little about the Sante Fe when he was assigned to serve as its captain. He spent the previous two years studying and reviewing a submarine named Olympia. <\/em>He was familiar with Olympia\u2019s blueprints, HR reviews, turnover and promotions statistics, and even interviewed its crew. To his surprise, his assignment with Olympia was canceled five days before he was to take command. His new assignment? Turn around Santa Fe.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why was Santa Fe<\/em> the worst-scoring sub in the Navy? Marquet notes that there was a leadership vacuum. The sub\u2019s captain was scolded for poor performance, morale was low, junior officers were trained but underutilized, and the senior enlisted men, also known as “the chiefs”, were unempowered and uninspired. Real change was needed and thus began an incredible leadership experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa Fe <\/em>was desperate for quality leadership, but Captain Marquet had to choose what type of captain would serve the submarine best. On Olympia, <\/em>the crew was told exactly what to do and followed orders precisely. <\/strong>Marquet describes this as a \u201cleader-follower” model in which much, if not all, of the responsibility falls on the top leadership. This model works if the leader at the top is an expert in everything, always knows all information, and wields authority like a cattle prod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David, however, wasn\u2019t an expert on Santa Fe, <\/em>didn\u2019t know anything about its officers and their work, and saw a crew so demoralized that wielding authority brandishly would cause more harm than good. He jokingly retells a story where he was interviewing a crewman and asked what each button did on the crewman’s display. The crewman promptly explained each one, but Marquet noticed he had skipped one. When asked about the one he missed, the crewman wilted and admitted he had no idea what the button did. Commander Marquet laughed and said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what it does either. Let\u2019s push it and find out!\u201d The crewman smiled, and a bond of trust began to form between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Change<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cleader-follower\u201d model wouldn\u2019t work on Santa Fe<\/em>, <\/strong>so, over the next twelve months, Captain Marquet developed a new model of leadership that he later named \u201cleader-leader.\u201d <\/strong>In a \u201cleader-leader\u201d model, everyone at every level takes responsibility for their job, their improvement, and the needs of those around them. Marquet developed what he calls \u201cmechanisms\u201d to put into writing new laws of leadership. Mechanisms were based on three categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Clarity – \u201cWhat is the right thing to do?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Competence – \u201cHow do I do it right?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Control – \u201cHow can I take responsibility for seeing improvement?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Imagine a crew that isn\u2019t waiting around for an order to be given before they act:<\/p>\n\n\n\n