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Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters
In Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters, Admiral Sandy Stosz draws upon 40 years of extensive leadership experience and wisdom to provide tools that will help leaders navigate complexity to reach their goals and succeed at every level.
Leaders eager to make a difference by helping people and organizations be at their best will find Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters their go-to resource. Today, our nation is like a ship being tossed in tumultuous seas. The winds and waves of change have divided and distanced our society, threatening to wash away the very principles upon which our nation was founded. Decency and civility have been thrown overboard in favor of outrage and intolerance. The forces of change are driving us into uncharted waters.
Leading in uncharted waters requires character-centered leadership. Now more than ever, our nation needs leaders of character—those anchored with the moral courage to stand strong and steady against the battering waves that threaten to erode our core values. Such leaders would unite people in support of a shared purpose by building the trust and respect necessary for organizations and their people to thrive.
Leaders eager to make a difference by helping people and organizations be at their best will find Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters their go-to resource. Today, our nation is like a ship being tossed in tumultuous seas. The winds and waves of change have divided and distanced our society, threatening to wash away the very principles upon which our nation was founded. Decency and civility have been thrown overboard in favor of outrage and intolerance. The forces of change are driving us into uncharted waters.
Leading in uncharted waters requires character-centered leadership. Now more than ever, our nation needs leaders of character—those anchored with the moral courage to stand strong and steady against the battering waves that threaten to erode our core values. Such leaders would unite people in support of a shared purpose by building the trust and respect necessary for organizations and their people to thrive.
- GenresLeadershipNonfiction
293 pages, Hardcover
Published June 1, 2021
34 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 17, 2021
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Leading in Uncharted Waters is a book about leadership from Admiral Sandy Stosz. She shares a leadership philosophy built over an illustrious 40-year career in the US Navy: a framework for a character-led and highly engaged style of leadership. She provides a framework for leaders to reach their goals at every level, peppered with stories about how she's applied this philosophy in her work in the US Navy.
It's a fascinating read - Admiral Sandy Stosz has worked her way up to the top at a time when women were generally not accepted in the US Navy and other Military institutions in the US. She candidly shares her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated organisation and details how she has adapted throughout different assignments, roles and working for different leaders in her career. She's incredibly introspective and does not shy away from the hard hitting topics of navigating cultural change, her views on Diversity and Inclusion, and having to discern the children vs. career conundrum many career-driven women have at some point in their lives.
Although I don't agree 100% with all the ideas in the book, I like how she is able to graciously and firmly stand for her beliefs and values. From her conviction coming through her writing, I can see how she's managed to earn the respect of the harshest and most skeptical colleagues throughout her career.
One thing I didn't like about this book is that she goes into almost mundane details about her executive projects in the navy - most of these examples are hard to relate to, although I can see how describing these in detail tries to communicate how she went about the execution of her leadership philosophy.
A highly recommended read for leaders - her framework for developing an engaged leadership philosophy is applicable to anyone wanting to progress their careers in high performance organisations. Even if you end up not identifying with her leadership style, the book is packed with practical tips and advice for leaders of all levels which is sure to be useful in your day to day.
Leading in Uncharted Waters is a book about leadership from Admiral Sandy Stosz. She shares a leadership philosophy built over an illustrious 40-year career in the US Navy: a framework for a character-led and highly engaged style of leadership. She provides a framework for leaders to reach their goals at every level, peppered with stories about how she's applied this philosophy in her work in the US Navy.
It's a fascinating read - Admiral Sandy Stosz has worked her way up to the top at a time when women were generally not accepted in the US Navy and other Military institutions in the US. She candidly shares her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated organisation and details how she has adapted throughout different assignments, roles and working for different leaders in her career. She's incredibly introspective and does not shy away from the hard hitting topics of navigating cultural change, her views on Diversity and Inclusion, and having to discern the children vs. career conundrum many career-driven women have at some point in their lives.
Although I don't agree 100% with all the ideas in the book, I like how she is able to graciously and firmly stand for her beliefs and values. From her conviction coming through her writing, I can see how she's managed to earn the respect of the harshest and most skeptical colleagues throughout her career.
One thing I didn't like about this book is that she goes into almost mundane details about her executive projects in the navy - most of these examples are hard to relate to, although I can see how describing these in detail tries to communicate how she went about the execution of her leadership philosophy.
A highly recommended read for leaders - her framework for developing an engaged leadership philosophy is applicable to anyone wanting to progress their careers in high performance organisations. Even if you end up not identifying with her leadership style, the book is packed with practical tips and advice for leaders of all levels which is sure to be useful in your day to day.
April 7, 2023
I read this book for the Naval Academy’s Women’s Book Club and even had the chance to hear the author to speak. While I didn’t agree with all of her points, I really enjoyed her sea stories and her insights on leadership.
November 11, 2021
My rating is probably higher than it would have been because I was able to meet the author, and she is so impressive! I am amazed by her accomplishments and her commitment to the USCG. The book improves as it goes on. So many good lessons for work and life in this book.
February 1, 2022
The book Breaking Ice & Breaking Glass was written by retired Vice Admiral Sandra Stosz of the United States Coast Guard. This book is about her thoughts on what it takes to become a great leader. And she does this by taking experiences in her life from her teenage years, but mostly from her service years in the Coast Guard to illustrate what she has learned about leadership throughout her life. My thoughts on the book were that it was very informative on getting a glimpse of what the Coast Guard does and their mission as a U.S. armed forces branch. What I liked about this book is that it mentions how to become a leader and connect people with one united goal even in the very diverse world we live in. An example is she mentions how to use that diversity to help create novel solutions to problems and not limiting mindsets, which can cause problems in the future. I also loved the fact that she went chronologically in sharing experiences in her life, since that allowed the reader to grow with the author. The other thing that I enjoyed about this book was that it teaches about being patient and working hard in adversity. Like when Stosza was stationed on a ship, the commander of the ship did not treat her with respect because she was a woman, but, overtime, as she worked hard the crew stood up for her and the commanding officer became more respectful to her. I also like how she mentioned how to take initiative instead of waiting for others to do something. She explained this as an experience of sometimes being the only woman in an environment. She mentioned how she had to seek out to be in conversations and get her ideas heard. As a book for a chill read, I would recommend this book. As a book for people wanting to improve in leadership, I would recommend this book since it has some unique important leadership principles that other leadership books don’t cover like diversity. But I would not recommend it as a first go to for leadership. The ending of the book seemed a bit rushed in teaching principles and storyline; it made the reader feel like the end of the book was a separate book.
August 23, 2021
In Breaking Ice & Breaking Glass, Vice Admiral Sandra Stosz offers her insights into leadership development based on her experience as a member of the US Coast Guard. I loved this book for two reasons:
1. I learned a lot about the Coast Guard and its mission. Quite frankly, I hadn't given the Coast Guard a lot of thought before reading this book and I came away with a better understanding of what it does. The breadth of work the Coast Guard is involved in really astounded me: from breaking through ice in the Arctic and Antarctic to protecting US harbors from terrorist attack. I now have a lot more respect and appreciation for the men and women that serve in the Coast Guard.
2. Vice Admiral Stosz's experience as a woman coming up in a mostly male environment in the 80s gave her some valuable insights how to make people who are in the minority feel like they belong. One might not agree with all of her conclusions, but I found her ideas about inclusion to have a lot of merit. She speaks plainly and directly about the challenges she faced often being the only woman on a mission--including feelings of isolation and barriers to her voice being heard. And I appreciated her experience grappling with those challenges over the course of her career.
There are also a lot of good leadership advice in this book. I don't think one could go wrong using it as a guide. Overall a really enjoyable read, mostly because it was based so squarely on Vice Admiral Stosz's own lived history.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
1. I learned a lot about the Coast Guard and its mission. Quite frankly, I hadn't given the Coast Guard a lot of thought before reading this book and I came away with a better understanding of what it does. The breadth of work the Coast Guard is involved in really astounded me: from breaking through ice in the Arctic and Antarctic to protecting US harbors from terrorist attack. I now have a lot more respect and appreciation for the men and women that serve in the Coast Guard.
2. Vice Admiral Stosz's experience as a woman coming up in a mostly male environment in the 80s gave her some valuable insights how to make people who are in the minority feel like they belong. One might not agree with all of her conclusions, but I found her ideas about inclusion to have a lot of merit. She speaks plainly and directly about the challenges she faced often being the only woman on a mission--including feelings of isolation and barriers to her voice being heard. And I appreciated her experience grappling with those challenges over the course of her career.
There are also a lot of good leadership advice in this book. I don't think one could go wrong using it as a guide. Overall a really enjoyable read, mostly because it was based so squarely on Vice Admiral Stosz's own lived history.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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July 29, 2021MWSA Review
VADM Sandra Stosz's Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters should be a leadership textbook in every leadership curriculum. Not only is it well written and authoritative on the perspective of breaking down barriers for minorities, but for those leaders NOT in a minority group it provides an excellent reminder of just why we need diversity in our workforce and armed services.
The author does an excellent job of relaying how as a junior female officer in a mostly male armed force, she had to challenge the establishment in order to be accepted on her merits. She does so with humor and professionalism in a way that each story is not an accusation but a learning opportunity for those at every level of leadership and supervision. She leaves her audience with several valuable insights and tools (I especially enjoyed the three P’s of power) that any leader at any level in any organization can use. This reviewer is a retired Naval officer and leadership instructor, and I still found many useful talking points to use with my students.
Also enjoyable was her use of very non-standard leadership texts like Mere Christianity and To Kill a Mockingbird to make her point.
Leaders military and otherwise will find a lot of value in this inspiring book from an author who was on the cutting edge of the Coast Guard, both literally and figuratively.
Review by Rob Ballister (July 2021)
VADM Sandra Stosz's Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters should be a leadership textbook in every leadership curriculum. Not only is it well written and authoritative on the perspective of breaking down barriers for minorities, but for those leaders NOT in a minority group it provides an excellent reminder of just why we need diversity in our workforce and armed services.
The author does an excellent job of relaying how as a junior female officer in a mostly male armed force, she had to challenge the establishment in order to be accepted on her merits. She does so with humor and professionalism in a way that each story is not an accusation but a learning opportunity for those at every level of leadership and supervision. She leaves her audience with several valuable insights and tools (I especially enjoyed the three P’s of power) that any leader at any level in any organization can use. This reviewer is a retired Naval officer and leadership instructor, and I still found many useful talking points to use with my students.
Also enjoyable was her use of very non-standard leadership texts like Mere Christianity and To Kill a Mockingbird to make her point.
Leaders military and otherwise will find a lot of value in this inspiring book from an author who was on the cutting edge of the Coast Guard, both literally and figuratively.
Review by Rob Ballister (July 2021)
July 5, 2021
Once in a great while in hunting for whatever is enduring and worthy, we are fortunate to find a rare gem. Such a gem is this new book on character and leadership development, Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass, by Vice Admiral Sandra Stosz, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired).
This superb find is rare not in its scarcity (there is no lack in the world of books on leadership). Rather, it is rare in its light, clarity, depth of color, and simple elegance. It shines in ways that others do not. Whatever slight imperfections it may have, as all gems do, the flaws add to its distinctive qualities, without diminishing its great value.
This book is one woman's account of her ascent through the ranks of the U.S. Coast Guard, from Ensign to Vice Admiral, a remarkable accomplishment for anyone, male or female, made even more remarkable by the many firsts that she achieved by merit along the way. But it is more than that. It offers wisdom and understanding about what it means to develop leadership based on character -- wisdom derived from decades of preparation, performance, and perseverance, resulting in successes small and large, personal and professional, and recollected in thoughtful, cogent deliberation.
If you value exceptional books on developing the qualities of good leadership, as I do, add this one to your collection. Don't pass this one up.
This superb find is rare not in its scarcity (there is no lack in the world of books on leadership). Rather, it is rare in its light, clarity, depth of color, and simple elegance. It shines in ways that others do not. Whatever slight imperfections it may have, as all gems do, the flaws add to its distinctive qualities, without diminishing its great value.
This book is one woman's account of her ascent through the ranks of the U.S. Coast Guard, from Ensign to Vice Admiral, a remarkable accomplishment for anyone, male or female, made even more remarkable by the many firsts that she achieved by merit along the way. But it is more than that. It offers wisdom and understanding about what it means to develop leadership based on character -- wisdom derived from decades of preparation, performance, and perseverance, resulting in successes small and large, personal and professional, and recollected in thoughtful, cogent deliberation.
If you value exceptional books on developing the qualities of good leadership, as I do, add this one to your collection. Don't pass this one up.
May 11, 2021
This is a phenomenal book with life lessons and straightforward examples that will serve anyone from the board room to the living room who is looking to up their game.
The advice is drawn from the author's forty year career in the US Coast Guard to an incredible list of firsts, this leadership book is informative, and inspiring.
Do you have issues with difficult people at work or at home? Do you struggle with ways to conquer loneliness or have a hard time dealing with tough situations?
I cannot say enough about the lessons and wisdom inside this text that will empower and inspire you to live your best life. Not to mention the adventure stories that begin in Antarctica on a polar ice breaker.
Do yourself a favor and buy a copy for your bookshelf. Consider me a fan!
The advice is drawn from the author's forty year career in the US Coast Guard to an incredible list of firsts, this leadership book is informative, and inspiring.
Do you have issues with difficult people at work or at home? Do you struggle with ways to conquer loneliness or have a hard time dealing with tough situations?
I cannot say enough about the lessons and wisdom inside this text that will empower and inspire you to live your best life. Not to mention the adventure stories that begin in Antarctica on a polar ice breaker.
Do yourself a favor and buy a copy for your bookshelf. Consider me a fan!
July 31, 2021
May have been Better in Two Volumes
As a Coast Guard veteran, the lessons in this book are very relatable to me. However, even those without Coast Guard or other military experience will find value in this book.
I think the book would have been better if it had been split into two volumes, one for junior and mid-level leaders and a second volumes for executive leaders. A senior executive isn't going to get a lot of value from lessons targeted to emerging leaders. At the same time, young leaders who are just developing a leadership style, may not be ready for the lessons taken from the experiences of a vice admiral.
Even so, this is a book with time-tested lessons for leadership success. It will challenge a reader's current leadership style and forces them to examine how they approach leadership. I recommend it to anyone looking to improve their leadership abilities.
As a Coast Guard veteran, the lessons in this book are very relatable to me. However, even those without Coast Guard or other military experience will find value in this book.
I think the book would have been better if it had been split into two volumes, one for junior and mid-level leaders and a second volumes for executive leaders. A senior executive isn't going to get a lot of value from lessons targeted to emerging leaders. At the same time, young leaders who are just developing a leadership style, may not be ready for the lessons taken from the experiences of a vice admiral.
Even so, this is a book with time-tested lessons for leadership success. It will challenge a reader's current leadership style and forces them to examine how they approach leadership. I recommend it to anyone looking to improve their leadership abilities.
September 26, 2021
Must read! This book is a wonderful look into the life of a courageous leader who rose through the ranks to become a role model for me and many men and women in the US Coast Guard. Now, her stories and this book can be your guide to how to succeed, how to lead and how to persevere through challenges while also maintaining life balance. I encourage you to read this book, share it with others - you will not be disappointed!
June 12, 2021
Vice Admiral Stocz’s has deftly woven her personal experiences in the Coast Guard into leadership lessons. How to handle uncharted waters, ie setbacks, is so valuable! A great read!
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July 25, 2021Read and scored as part of MWSA 2021 award season. See www.mwsadispatches.com
September 8, 2021
A very interesting and pragmatic book on leadership...
March 2, 2024
Great book about leadership
June 23, 2024
I enjoyed the book and learning about her service but at times the stories dragged and it took a little while to get to the point of the chapter/section.
June 4, 2022
Breaking Ice & Breaking Glass is an exceptional book on leadership. Authored by a woman who broke glass ceilings while breaking ice for the Coast Guard at the poles, this book is a recipe for leading others. Vice Admiral Sandra Stosz uses common sense and her set of values to describe setting examples, gaining trust, and leading units, whether military or business, to successful outcomes.
Her premise is simple: it all starts with character. However, it is not just words. Stosz not only defines character, but also ties in the need to establish organizational core values, to create and utilize mentorial relationships both above and below you, and that an effective person of character must lead; ie, be “in the action.” She ties this latter requirement to Teddy Roosevelt’s philosophy of being “in the arena.”
Using effective examples from her career, the Vice Admiral shows how respect for all teammates matters, and that influence, not authority, carries the day. While hard work and perseverance are critical for success, this book shows that a more concerted, but logical, effort is required. It is a must read for all aspiring (and current) leaders.
Her premise is simple: it all starts with character. However, it is not just words. Stosz not only defines character, but also ties in the need to establish organizational core values, to create and utilize mentorial relationships both above and below you, and that an effective person of character must lead; ie, be “in the action.” She ties this latter requirement to Teddy Roosevelt’s philosophy of being “in the arena.”
Using effective examples from her career, the Vice Admiral shows how respect for all teammates matters, and that influence, not authority, carries the day. While hard work and perseverance are critical for success, this book shows that a more concerted, but logical, effort is required. It is a must read for all aspiring (and current) leaders.
May 14, 2025
This book is amazing, I initially started reading it because I am perusing a appointment to the USCGA but the knowledge it provides goes way beyond that application. I will be taking this book with me throughout the rest of my life to reflect on as needed. My favorite thing about this book is that everything it recommends or states is evidenced by a descriptive personal experience by the author. This book also sets itself apart because it doesn't just tell you what to do once you are a leader, it describes how to become a leader, mentor and peer relationships, and how to navigate life. If the secret of life could be found in a book this would be the second book I looked in (after the Holy bible).
December 1, 2023
i really liked how the book was logically laid out and guides you along her career path with easy to understand sea stories. i also liked the emphasis on it’s what worked for her. there’s no pressure to do things exactly the same—take what you want and leave what you don’t.
a must read for cg leaders & anyone working their way up in an organization.
a must read for cg leaders & anyone working their way up in an organization.
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February 24, 2025I was fascinated by her sea stories and truly learned a lot about what the USCG does and how the DHS came about. Like, I knew, but I didn't KNOW.
I will say that the last 1/3 dragged a bit for me-discussing leading at an executive level. But as a young professional, I'm just not at that stage yet so I couldn't really relate to an extent.
Also, wild that the USCG only started integrating women [officially] 51 years ago. My parents were 20. That happened in their lifetime. It's easy to forget how not that long ago that really was.
I will say that the last 1/3 dragged a bit for me-discussing leading at an executive level. But as a young professional, I'm just not at that stage yet so I couldn't really relate to an extent.
Also, wild that the USCG only started integrating women [officially] 51 years ago. My parents were 20. That happened in their lifetime. It's easy to forget how not that long ago that really was.
August 18, 2024
A compelling book filled with lots of practical wisdom. I don't usually finish books in the leadership category but I finished this book.
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