Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders

by L. David Marquet

He felt if he required them to own the problem and the solution to it, they would begin to view themselves as a vitally important link in the chain of command.

We are in the middle of one of the most profound shifts in human history, where the primary work of mankind is moving from the Industrial Age of “control” to the Knowledge Worker Age of “release.” As Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” They certainly won’t be solved by one person; even, and especially, the one “at the top.”

Our world’s bright future will be built by people who have discovered that leadership is the enabling art.

It is the art of releasing human talent and potential. You may be able to “buy” a person’s back with a paycheck, position, power, or fear, but a human being’s genius, passion, loyal...

My definition of leadership is this: Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.

There’s a cost to the people, though, which only becomes evident over time. People who are treated as followers treat others as followers when it’s their turn to lead. A vast untapped human potential is lost as a result of treating people as followers. Only in the long run—three to ten years later—does it become obvious, but by that time people have moved on to new jobs.

Upon reflection, Commodore Kenny was providing great leadership. He presented me with a specific goal—have Santa Fe ready for deployment in every way—but did not tell me how to do it. The other thing he was telling me was that the people and resources available to the ship would be the same as they were before and the same as they were to any other submarine. Consequently, the only thing we could change was how we acted and interacted. This would be my focus.

GREAT POINT TO BEGIN HIS JOURNEY MAY 30th 202”

Maybe this was the chance to set the crew free from the top-down, “do what you’re told” approach to leadership. Maybe this was the opportunity of a lifetime.