L. David Marquet - Turn the Ship Around! - A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders

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Copyright Louis David Marquet, 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights.

Purchase only authorized editions.

Originally published in the United States of America by Greenleaf Book Group Press

ISBN 978-1-101-62369-5

The views presented are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the United States Department of Defense or of the United States Navy or its components.

PRAISE FOR

Turn the Ship Around!

I dont know of a finer model of this kind of empowering leadership than Captain Marquet. And in the pages that follow you will find a model for your pathway.

Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

To say Im a fan of David Marquet would be an understatement. Im a fully fledged groupie. He is the kind of leader who comes around only once a generation. He is the kind of leader who doesnt just know how to lead, he knows how to build leaders. His ideas and lessons are invaluable to anyone who wants to build an organization that will outlive them.

Simon Sinek, optimist and author of Start with Why

How do we release the intellect and initiative of each member of the organization toward a common purpose? Heres the answer: with fascinating storytelling and a deep understanding of what motivates and inspires. David Marquet provides leaders in the military, business, and education a powerful vehicle that will delight, provoke, and encourage them to act.

Michael P. Peters, president, St. Johns College, Santa Fe

I owe a lot to Captain David Marquet, not only for turning the Santa Fe around during some REALLY bad times, but I learned many lessons on leadership from him that have been invaluable in my post-Navy life. I preach the three legs (control, competence, clarity) of Leader-Leader every day to empower my people and move the decisions to where the information lives. I used these principles to turn around the GE Dallas generator repair department that was in crisis when I arrived in 2010 and is now the best generator repair department in the GE network. Now I am tasked with turning around the Dallas steam turbine repair department.

Adam McAnally, steam turbine cell leader, GE Dallas Service Center, and former crew member, USS Santa Fe

This terrific read actually provides new and valuable insights into how to lead. And nothing important gets done without leadership. Captain Marquet takes you through his life of learning how to lead and presents you with a winning formula: Not leader-follower, but leader-leader. Its about leading by getting others to take responsibilityand like it. It works for business, politics, and life.

Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations, member of many business boards, and former columnist for The New York Times

Its The Hunt for Red October meets Harvard Business School. Turn the Ship Around! is the consummate book on leadership for the Information Agewhere unleashing knowledge-workers intellectual capital is pivotal in optimizing organizational performance, from maximizing market share and minimizing customer churn to improving margins. Captain Marquets thesis is a complete paradigm shift in leadership philosophy. This new approach to leadership is applicable in all industries and across all corporate functions. If youre an organizational behavior or leadership expert or enthusiast, this book can have a substantial impact on you and your organizations ability to meet its goals.

Joe DeBono, founder and president, MBA Corps, and Merrill Lynch wealth manager

David Marquets message in Turn the Ship Around! inspires the empowerment of engaged people and leadership at all levels. He encourages leaders to release energy, intellect, and passion in everyone around them. Turn the Ship Around! challenges the paradigm of the hierarchical organization by revealing the process to tear down pyramids, create a flat organization, and develop leaders, not followers.

Dale R. Wilson, Sr., business management professional and editor/blogger at Command Performance Leadership

This is the story of Captain David Marquets unprecedented experiment in the most rigid of environmentson the Santa Fe, a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine. He had the courage to operate counterculture, reengineering the very definition of leadership accepted by the U.S. Navy for as long as it has existed. He took huge risks to do this. The outcome was revolutionarywithin a few short months, the crew of the Santa Fe went from worst to first. In todays information age, human capital is our most precious resource. It is the twenty-first-century weapon of choice. Captain David Marquets experiment in leadership has far greater application to the entire business world. This is thought leadership.

Charlie Kim, founder and CEO, Next Jump, Inc.

Leaders and managers face an increasingly complex world where precise execution, teamwork, and enabling of talent are competitive advantages. David Marquet provides a blueprint, along with real-life examples and implementation mechanisms. Anyone who is charged with leading and making a difference needs to read this.

John Cooper, president and CEO, Invesco Distributors

David Marquets book discusses the successful motivation that provided his people with the energy to overcome difficult obstacles. The values that he imbued in his folks provided a burst of energy that positively energized them by satisfying their needs for achievementproviding appropriate recognition, providing a sense of belonging, developing self-esteem, permitting a feeling of control, and permitting an ability to live up to appropriate standards. This type of leadership energizes the workforce and allows senior management to paint the future and light a path that takes the entire team to it. This is a must-read for all who desire good moral influence on the workforce!

Vice Admiral Al Konetzni (USN, ret.), former Pacific Fleet submarine commander

The legacy of a commanding officer, or the leader of any organization, is how well the organization performs after he/she departs and the subsequent motivation, success, and institutional contribution of those next-generation leaders who are trained and developed. Read Turn the Ship Around! and you will learn how to build enduring high performers who cant wait to get to work.

Admiral Thomas B. Fargo (USN, ret.), former commander, U.S. Pacific Command, chairman, Huntington Ingalls Industries

Captain Marquets compelling leadership journey inspires each of us to imagine a world where every human being is intellectually engaged and fully committed to solving our toughest challenges. If it can be done on a nuclear submarine, it can be done everywhere.