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It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
The story of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff and his command of USS Benfold has become legendary inside and outside the Navy. Now Abrashoff offers this fascinating tale of top-down change for anyone trying to navigate today's uncertain business seas. When Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of USS Benfold, a ship armed with every cutting-edge system available, it was lik...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
May 22nd 2002
by Warner Business Books
(first published January 1st 2002)
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This summary is taken from http://managingleadership.com/blog/2008/...
The U.S. Navy is perhaps the most technically-oriented service in the American military. Officers work their way up by developing and demonstrating comprehensive and immediate skills in the numerous individual systems that make ships responsive in combat. The focus here tends to be on technical competence – not necessarily on the sort of personal leadership ability that is emphasized more during an officer‘s developm...more
The U.S. Navy is perhaps the most technically-oriented service in the American military. Officers work their way up by developing and demonstrating comprehensive and immediate skills in the numerous individual systems that make ships responsive in combat. The focus here tends to be on technical competence – not necessarily on the sort of personal leadership ability that is emphasized more during an officer‘s developm...more
Abrashoff proves that crushing bureaucracy is no excuse for refusing to try new management styles. Within the confines of the Navy, where he could theoretically order personal to perform their best, Abrashoff finds ways - without violating regulations - of motivating his crew to want to perform their best. This book is an excellent read for anyone who thinks their workplace could be better.
Jim
added it
This book traces Michael Abrahoff's growth from a command and control leader to a leader who empowers his crew. He was in command of the guided missile destroyer U.S.S. Benhoff for about 2 years. In that time, he turned around a dysfunctional ship and set records for re-enlistment rates, weapons proficiency, promotions, performance in battle exercises and a number of other measures of success. John Maxwell & other leadership authors cite his example.
While reading this book I wondered why he left...more
While reading this book I wondered why he left...more
This is an excellent business and management book for the post-Dot Com era, and a fun, light read packing a substantial heft in ideas.
While most of us don't lead anything like a guided missile destroyer, for any organization struggling with low morale, a jaded workforce, outdated command and control corporate culture, and operational problems, the parallels are vivid.
While most of us don't lead anything like a guided missile destroyer, for any organization struggling with low morale, a jaded workforce, outdated command and control corporate culture, and operational problems, the parallels are vivid.
My dad gave me this book to read...I think it was a book-study that management people in his company were reading...and he told me that the lessons in this narrative, which were used in the military, were also applicable to business, and were also TOTALLY applicable to teaching. I could not agree more...This is a story about leadership, about communicating, and about respect. A teacher could take these lessons and apply them in the classroom, and school leadership should really read this and tak...more
Find another management book. I think that the author is a little bit full of himself and his accomplishments. The leadership/management techniques that are identified in each chapter are good but not really new news.
Having spent some time in the Navy and seen how the surface warefare (the people that drive ships) community operates I have a feeling the techniques were new to him. There are a number of things that the author mentions that just sound a little fishy to me. He see...more
Having spent some time in the Navy and seen how the surface warefare (the people that drive ships) community operates I have a feeling the techniques were new to him. There are a number of things that the author mentions that just sound a little fishy to me. He see...more
Rookie captain Abrashoff came into command of the USS Benfold with the completely unheard-of idea that, if he ran his ship like he would run a business, he would have the best damn ship in the Navy. In that vein, he motivated his crew, found cheaper, better suppliers, broke the rules that didn't make sense, and turned his rusty old tub with its indifferent crew into a sleek machine.
This is an inspiring read even for those of us who don't consider ourselves to be leaders; it demonstra...more
This is an inspiring read even for those of us who don't consider ourselves to be leaders; it demonstra...more
Abrashoff describes leadership techniques he learned during his time commanding USS Benfold and he explains those principles with vignettes of his time at sea.
An extremely insightful as well as fun and interesting book. Abrashoff describes many options for improving morale and increasing team effectiveness that can be translated to any organization. He admits that many of the guiding principles came as common sense ideas that he solidly backed. This is a must-read for anyone interested...more
An extremely insightful as well as fun and interesting book. Abrashoff describes many options for improving morale and increasing team effectiveness that can be translated to any organization. He admits that many of the guiding principles came as common sense ideas that he solidly backed. This is a must-read for anyone interested...more
For a business book, it's very readable. Mr. Abrashoff seems like a pretty genuine guy, and the lessons he passes on are very applicable in the workplace.
Unfortunately, they're also fairly obvious. Maybe it's just because of my perspecitve on things, but his rules of actually treating his employees like people seems like the kind of no-duh lesson that every manager should already know. So for all of you soulless, evil managers out there: read this book. Everyone else: just follow your ...more
Unfortunately, they're also fairly obvious. Maybe it's just because of my perspecitve on things, but his rules of actually treating his employees like people seems like the kind of no-duh lesson that every manager should already know. So for all of you soulless, evil managers out there: read this book. Everyone else: just follow your ...more
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If Abrashoff was able to achieve half of what he professes, this may be one of the most inspiring management books ever written. The most rigid, top-down hierarchy in the world is the military. Abrashoff’s bottom-up approach (i.e. actually listening and encouraging his crew to come up with better ways of working, empowering them to take ownership – and heaven forbid, actually have a little fun along the way) clearly cuts against the grain of naval history where barking orders down the chain-of...more
Good book if you are a civilian. If you are a Surface Warfare Officer in the Navy, you must refrain from throwing the book across the room.
I put off reading this book for 10 years and I finally decided to get around to it on this deployment. As Executive Officer of a cruiser and growing up in the Navy post CDR Abrashoff's command tour, I am astonished at the level of self horn blowing. I heard this guy speak at the Naval Academy about 10 years ago when he got out. Now, mind you, ...more
I put off reading this book for 10 years and I finally decided to get around to it on this deployment. As Executive Officer of a cruiser and growing up in the Navy post CDR Abrashoff's command tour, I am astonished at the level of self horn blowing. I heard this guy speak at the Naval Academy about 10 years ago when he got out. Now, mind you, ...more
This is a very practical management book by a former Navy Captain. All the lessons in this book should be easily translatable to civilian and non-nautical situations. Michael Abrashoff has a talent for exploiting quirks and peculiarities in the system to achieve his goals. Love the anecdote about how he wanted to let his sailors drink beer at a party, but Navy regulations forbade dispensing alcohol aboard ship- so he hired a barge to tow behind the ship, and had the party on the barge! That is j...more
How do you effectively lead a crew of more than 300 men and women? The former commander of a U.S. guided missle destroyer offers an engaging and actionable battle plan.
When people leave companies, two out of three workers are actually leaving their managers. At what cost? The cost to the company. The toll on the remaining workers. Ineffective managers cost companies billions in lost revenues. Yet, management training is virtually nonexistent in many companies, especially during...more
When people leave companies, two out of three workers are actually leaving their managers. At what cost? The cost to the company. The toll on the remaining workers. Ineffective managers cost companies billions in lost revenues. Yet, management training is virtually nonexistent in many companies, especially during...more
Captain Abrashoff has written a phenomenal book about the journey he made with his ship the USS Benfold, a guided missile destroyer, from a vessel that was failing on all counts, into the best ship in the US Navy at a time of active conflict in the Persian Gulf.
You could be forgiven for assuming that this was another book about a Gung Ho great guy who dragged his crew kicking and screaming up to standard through his sheer force of will and amazing personality.
Nothing ...more
You could be forgiven for assuming that this was another book about a Gung Ho great guy who dragged his crew kicking and screaming up to standard through his sheer force of will and amazing personality.
Nothing ...more
If you are complaining that you are having diffculty motivating people and are limited by the limits your company is placing on you, think about this - how much more controlling an environment could you work within than the United States Government or the US Navy?
Michael Abrashoff worked within adn around the limits he was given and created a wor environment that nurtured and propelled people to their potential while placing them in an environment of motivation ... all while staying well w...more
Michael Abrashoff worked within adn around the limits he was given and created a wor environment that nurtured and propelled people to their potential while placing them in an environment of motivation ... all while staying well w...more
Yes the ideas are common sense - once you have heard a distinguished leader describe them and their application. It was anything but common when he began to apply them nor were the results that he achieved common in the least.
This is a great story, and it illustrates a number of very excellent leadership traits and strategies - putting them into practice is a skill that will need to be discovered elsewhere however.
All in all a very interesting and worthwhile book.
...more
This is a great story, and it illustrates a number of very excellent leadership traits and strategies - putting them into practice is a skill that will need to be discovered elsewhere however.
All in all a very interesting and worthwhile book.
...more
This book was an interesting view into the business side of the military. My good friend is a ranking officer in a military branch. This book helped me to understand the management challenges he faces and how one can apply effective solutions within the corporate world. Processes and culture are quite different. Yet improving morale, being consistent and caring about your crew can improve desired behavior and results
The lesson isn't so much as a comparison between enterprise and the ship, rather it is that with the right vision, drive, attitude, transparency, and a focus on the customer (here, the sailors), an organization can punch way above its weight class. You walk away with not just a sense of what Abrashoff did in the Navy, but a sense that this guy could lead just about any organization with excellence.
Excellent discussion of core leadership principles. A colleague recommended this to me several years ago and I am just now getting around to reading it. The principles are sound and the presentation concise. A background in public safety may have helped to make the leadership lessons particularly applicable. This one made my "must read" list for leadership. This is not profound scholarship. If you want that, read Collins. If you want clear, concise and immensely practical points...more
Great book about how the author, a Navy commander, took one of the "worse" ships in the Navy (in material and readiness) and transformed it and the crew into one of the best in the fleet. Not only is this an interesting book about the challenges of being the captain of a modern naval ship, but on management techniques and leadership that may be applicable in business.
This book is the best damn leadership book I have read. It is interesting to read what he did to make his ship so awesome and how he took care of his men. The difficult thing is some of his lessons are hard to apply to my life.
If you want to read a book on leadership I couldn't recommend this one high enough
If you want to read a book on leadership I couldn't recommend this one high enough
Kay
added it
An excellent book for anyone who's thinking of hiring someone with military service. For the most part, they know how to lead, are willing to take a risk and, when given an assignment - - will git 'er done. Abrashoff brings humor, chutzpah, and results to a ship sorely in need of saving.
A few notes:
When results are not what you wanted, ask yourself "Did I clearly communicate the goals?"
Change frightens people and their fears thrive in silence, so keep talking and communicating the change
Improve your employees quality of life. Remove or reduce the mind numbing tasks
When results are not what you wanted, ask yourself "Did I clearly communicate the goals?"
Change frightens people and their fears thrive in silence, so keep talking and communicating the change
Improve your employees quality of life. Remove or reduce the mind numbing tasks
Abrashoff does a very nice job of taking the unconventional ideas he brought to the Navy and translating them into leadership and management techniques any leader can use. Nothing revolutionary here, but definitely a validation that putting people first through trust, empathy and a playful sense of leadership works regardless of organization.
Some good stuff here, however by the end I was finding some of it hard to believe. Being prior military I thought it started to read much like many of the other performance documents I've read. A good author can make a bad troop look good.
This was a quick and interesting book on Leadership. Some things were common sense and others were clever. The bottom line is to lead by example, take care of your people, be willing to do what you have your people do, among others.
as far as crappy business leadership books go, this is one of the best. I had to read this when I was working for Verizon, and of all the garbage texts they threw at us over the years, this was the only practical, inspiring, and useful leadership book I read. (Too bad VZ management was too corrupt to ever even begin to entertain the ideas herein.)
Anyway, the book operates on the simple idea that if you empower your workforce to challenge the status quo, everyone will become more invo...more
Anyway, the book operates on the simple idea that if you empower your workforce to challenge the status quo, everyone will become more invo...more
I love the authors ability to question authority, but not in an arrogant way. He questions his superiors while still showing respect and explaining his reasoning in a way that makes them want to work with him. Just because things have always been done a certain way does not mean that there isn't a better way moving forward. I also admire his respect for all of those who worked for him. He really listened to people and lead by example and inspiring them rather than demanding they follow his c...more
By far one of the best management/leadership books I've ever read. It's become a permanent fixture at my fingertips on my desk. If you lead people, you should read this book.
I think that the author makes a number of good points but is a bit caught up in his own ego relative to others. Not quite sure how to translate to other settings.
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D. Michael Abrashoff served for almost twenty years in the U.S. Navy, culminating in a tour of duty as captain of the $1 billion warship USS Benfold. After leaving the navy, he wrote a bestseller about progressive leadership called It’s Your Ship. He now lectures to business audiences around the country.
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