Friday, June 15, 2012

Reading Captain L. David Marquet's book "Turn This Ship Around"

I only made it to page 23 and had to capture this for you.  I have been discussing this very topic for about 8 months with a Navy Information Operations Command Commanding Officer.

Paraphrasing here:
In every command and detachment, dozens of commanding officers and officers in charge are making hundreds of decisions to optimize the performance of their commands for their tours alone.  If they are doing anything for the long run, it is because of an enlightened sense of duty, not because there was anything in the system that rewarded them for it.  There is no evaluation of how well those commanding officers interacted with their peers or how well those commands interacted as part of the task force.  Nor do we associate an officer's leadership effectiveness with how well his command performed after he's left.  We don't associate an officer's leadership effectiveness with how often his people got promoted 2, 3, or 4 years hence.  We don't track that information.  All that matters is performance in the moment. 
 We can do better that that as a community.  We must do better.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting idea. Practical only in history books. Feel differently? Give an example anywhere or propose a reasonable solution.

Al Kinney said...

Great points! This inability to fully understand the effect of leadership performance is rooted in our culture of embracing "leaders" and eschewing "managers". The truth is, the effect of leadership without management is very temporal and almost hollow outside of the most tactical situations. I sincerely hope our Navy can develop the management acumen to measure and assess performance as CAPT Marquet envisions.

Mike Lambert said...

Anon @ 7:28 am

Send me a note and I will send you plenty of examples.

Therealnavy@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Mike: Why not share a couple examples here?

Mike Lambert said...

Anon @ june 18' 2012 1:42 PM


Please send me a note.

Anonymous said...

The quality of your leadership will never be measured on a FITREP, but it can be seen in the forged relationships that will pay dividends through the rest of your career.

At least I hope so, as I have a ways yet to go.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 18 June 2012 11:32 PM

Leadership isn't measured by fitreps but you can be certain that is where it is reported. And from where the board draws its assessment.

Junior Smith said...

@ Anonymous said...
Interesting idea. Practical only in history books. Feel differently? Give an example anywhere or propose a reasonable solution.
June 15, 2012 7:28 AM

What kind of examples are you seeking?

Ben from Leadershiptype said...

After a very entertaining and informative hour of speaking, Commander Abrashoff opened the floor to questions from the audience.

Not one to miss out on an opportunity, I asked him about one of the regrets he had mentioned earlier in his speech about not doing more to help other captains in his carrier group. I asked him what specifically he would have done to accomplish with the hope that it might help my own company better communicate between “competing” business units.

Captain Abrashoff (or “Mike” as he asked us to call him) said there was only so much he could do as a commander on one vessel. His idea would have been to speak with the commanding officer of the carrier group and schedule periodic meetings between the captains of each vessel sharing what was working, what wasn’t working, and what could be done to make each ship better.

Anonymous said...

de Anon 0728 ... My comment was an expletive on the thoughts of the blog owner, the NIOC CO he was talking to and CAPT Marquet. I concur wholeheartedly with the state they lament. Moreover, I was making a retort to this statement ”We can do better that that as a community.". Quite honestly, no we can't. I cannot think of a practical method to achieve the stated objective. Disagree? I'd like to hear/see an example.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon June 25, 2012 2:11 PM

You can not begin to achieve what you will not attempt.

Anonymous said...

Glad too. Attempt how?

Mike Lambert said...

@ Anonymous June 26, 2012

If I knew what you were after, I'd do my best to answer you. I don't know what you are looking for in terms of a response. Help me understand.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate the offer but there is no need. Thankx

Mike Lambert said...

Roger Norfolk. I didn't think you had a need.

Unknown said...

Hard for me to accept many of his leadership comments after watching his personal conduct while in command during his tour in Hawaii.

He treated his x-wife like shit. He didn't listen to his crew. Non-nukes, specifically those in A gang might as well have not even been on board.

I thought this guy was a total asshole and still think his a pompous asshole.

Unknown said...

Hard for me to accept many of his leadership comments after watching his personal conduct while in command during his tour in Hawaii.

He treated his x-wife like shit. He didn't listen to his crew. Non-nukes, specifically those in A gang might as well have not even been on board.

I thought this guy was a total asshole and still think his a pompous asshole.

Anonymous said...

Marquet was a complete self-promoting ass. Still is.