Turn the Ship Around!
L. David Marquet · 2012
Turn the Ship Around! (2012) is a book by L. David Marquet on Empowerment and decentralized command. A nuclear submarine captain takes the Navy's worst-performing ship and turns it into its best by refusing to give orders, handing control to his crew, and teaching everyone to lead from wherever they stand.
A gripping case study of turning followers into leaders by pushing authority downward.
Three of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of Turn the Ship Around! pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.
- Stop giving orders. When people just wait for instructions, they switch off their judgment, so push decision-making authority down to the people closest to the information instead of pulling information up to you.
- Replace 'permission to...' with 'I intend to...'. Have your team state their intended action plus their reasoning ('I intend to do X because Y'); your only job becomes saying 'very well,' which forces them to think a level up.
- Decentralized control only works on top of competence and clarity. Before you hand someone authority, make sure they have the technical skill to use it well and a crystal-clear understanding of what the organization is trying to achieve.
The other 4 — and the full 10-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 8 chapters
The whole summary runs about 10 minutes, read or listened to.
- The Worst Ship in the Fleet
- The Order That Couldn't Be Followed
- Leader-Leader: A New Operating System
- Control: 'I Intend To...'
- Control: Let Go of the Steering Wheel
- Competence: Deliberate Action and Certification
- Clarity: Purpose, Principles, and Trust
- Results, and Leadership That Outlives the Leader
Finish Turn the Ship Around! tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 10 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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