Abrashoff - Its your ship: management techniques from the best damn ship in the Navy

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Copyright 2002, 2012 by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff

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Second e-book edition: October 2012

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ISBN 978-0-446-53553-3

To the memory of Petty Officer Edward C. Benfold
and to the officers and crew who sailed
on his ship with me.

And in memory of my father,
Donald Abrashoff, World War II veteran
and one heckuva dad and granddad.

This book changed my life. In fact, it has created the life Ive led since giving up command of my ship, USS Benfoldthe once-underperforming destroyer that my crew and I transformed into the best ship in the U.S. Navys Pacific Fleet.

Ill be forever grateful that Its Your Ship has touched so many others lives as well. It won a place on a couple business best-seller lists, but more important, it has been quietly jumping off bookstore shelves for nearly ten years. All told, it has sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

Leaving the Navy was a tough decision. When I had to give up Benfold after my two-year rotation in command, I could have had a safe, comfortable career, working to become an admiral. But I had already spent time in the Pentagon, as military aide to Defense Secretary William Perry, the finest leader Ive ever known. I knew no other Washington experience could top that, and I had to find something else to do with the rest of my life.

I had a modest ambition: to share my Benfold experience and to help others become better leaders. I found that I had a knack for public speaking, and that led to a career on the lecture circuit and then to the writing of Its Your Ship. The book and the speaking engagements reinforced each other. I thought the book and my speaking career might have a shelf life of two or three years, but leadership development is a crucial field these days, and it has become my life. Ive continued to speak and write, and Im also consulting with a variety of organizations on executive leadership.

Ive learned a lot since my years on Benfold. If I could do that job over again, I would take a more 360-degree view of the world. My biggest mistake was to focus down the chain of command, trying to improve my ship and my crew, instead of seeing myself as one captain in a battle group. I didnt do enough to collaborate with my fellow captains as a member of a larger team. Instead, Benfolds achievements stood on their own, and as a result the battle group wasnt as strong as it could and should have been.

Ive also learned that my message has become even more important as times have changed. What Im preaching is the leveraging of human capitaland thats what makes companies creative and innovativewhich is the only way to be safe in tough economic times. So my story continues to resonate.

Its my hope that this new edition, with an added chapter on my time with Secretary Perry (see chapter two) and a few new thoughts on the lessons Ive learned since the Navy, will reach even more people and be even more helpful to aspiring leaders. Im not unique; if I could learn to lead, so can you. Who knows? This book could change your life, too.

D. Michael Abrashoff
January 2012

My story might be called The Education of USS Benfold, which is a guided missile destroyer that I commanded for twenty months beginning in June 1997. Commissioned in 1996 for duty in the Pacific Fleet, the ship is a beautiful fighting machine: 8,300 tons of armor protecting the Navys most advanced arsenal of computerized missiles; a radar system that can track a bird-size object from fifty miles away; a highly skilled crew of 310 men and women; and four gas turbine engines capable of driving the ship to thirty-one knotsnearly thirty-five miles an houras it speeds into combat, shooting up a huge rooster-tail backwash.

To be given this spectacular vessel as my first sea command was thrilling, but also ironic. Opportunity had called, but in a troubled industry. Our military has spent a lot of time and money preparing for tomorrows battles with antiquated methods. We continue to invest in the latest technologies and systems, but, as we all know, technology is nothing but a facilitator. The people operating the equipment are who give us the fighting edge, and we seem to have lost our way when it comes to helping them grow.

The statistics are startling. In recent years, nearly 40 percent, or almost 80,000, of the 200,000 people who join the military annually, wont complete their enlistment contract. Although most will leave the service involuntarily, doing so is not a reflection of their character. Of those who do complete their first hitch, a very small percentage will reenlistnot nearly enough to keep our senior billets filled. Worse yet, the best talents are often the first to leave. Since it takes $35,000 to recruit a trainee and tens of thousands more in additional training costs to get new personnel to the basic level of proficiency, the cost of this attrition to the taxpayer is staggering. And that cost is only the beginning, since the dropouts go home and counter-recruit against us, making it even harder to convince others to join.