Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy

I needed this book for school and it was great because I got it a lot cheaper on here than I could've in the book store. The delivery was fast and the book in great condition. I recommend this seller to anyone.

Best leadership book written - period. Simple, straightforward, inspiring. I read with my team of 100 employees and I have seen tremendous talent emerge in previoulsy overlooked places. Significant best practives have been shared, applied and stuck for 6 months now. Career changing.

Former Captain Abrashoff is a positive example for us all and discusses the many aspects of the leadership techniques he utilized while he was a naval officer on the USS Benfold. I have read 3 of his books and they were all great.

This book is about a leadership style lots of people admire but few practice. I really liked the clear cut examples and just the pragmatic approach to problem solving. This is must read if you are in management or leadership. But read it with an open mind and allow yourself time to absord to contemplate how you can apply. This style of leadership is not for everyone it requires risk and focus on people and results. I really liked this book and learned a lot. Kudos to the writer for writing it up in such an engaging way.

This book is one destroyer captains command and how he describes how he did things right. Somewhat biased and self serving but has some interesting leadership tips and examples. Little or no history of ship operations.

This book is about a leadership style lots of people admire but few practice. I really liked the clear cut examples and just the pragmatic approach to problem solving. This is must read if you are in management or leadership. But read it with an open mind and allow yourself time to absord to contemplate how you can apply. This style of leadership is not for everyone it requires risk and focus on people and results. I really liked this book and learned a lot. Kudos to the writer for writing it up in such an engaging way.

This book is one destroyer captains command and how he describes how he did things right. Somewhat biased and self serving but has some interesting leadership tips and examples. Little or no history of ship operations.

This book puts into practice many of the simplest elements of Leadership Development / Effective Leadership styles. What the writer manages to do is prove that application or implementation of these simple principles does help to create change, increase motivation, and essentially improve the effectiveness and efficiency of a team.

I gave this only 3 stars because, in my opinion, there are elements of self-aggrandizement throughout the book that
distract from the pluses.

Recommend it.

This is a great book to read with a view towards incorporating the themes into any workplace productivity improvement effort. Having said that, the author is not shy with self promotion and aggrandizement. Parts are hard to stomach!

This book provides practical and effective approaches for handling the problems that occur is every business. Key take-away is to treat all employees as individuals who want to perform at a high level. Provide the training and let the cream rise to the top.

While I understood the principles expressed in this book and got the main "jist" of it, I found the delivery style and the author's writing style extremely pompous and arrogant. As I read the book, I found myself becoming more and more turned off by the author's "check out how great I am" style of presentation and less and less interested in the subject matter. Good book / Horrible presentation.

I was on the verge of getting written up when I downloaded to this book. Sixty days from being out the door after a 10 year stint at my company. Once a top performer in the company, I’d been transferred to another division rife with problems: ambiguity in responsibilities, poorly defined goals, lack of feedback, and no accountability. It had taken its toll on me and I had checked out, was arguing with teammates, and became confrontational with my supervisor. And the bottom line was suffering. In short, I was failing at everything.

Abrashoff’s book taught me how to take responsibility for my actions, the importance of teamwork and a positive attitude especially during tough times, and the dangers of open defiance not only in terms of remaining employed, but why it sets a poor example as a leader.

Thanks to this book, I have been able to make amends with my team and my supervisors and “turn this ship around” in just three months. It wasn’t easy. I am well on my way to becoming a top performer again—but more importantly, a better team player and better leader. Thank you, Captain Abrashoff. I doubt you will read this, but if you do, I want you to know how much this book meant to me. I hope it helps others like me.

I read twice in the last 15 years and decided to listen on Audible. It’s as relevant today as it was in 2002. I have to say that the leadership concepts in the book are timeless.

Captain Abrashoff was the former commander of the USS Benfold back in 1997 to 1999. His crew turned the Benfold into the “best damn ship in the Navy.” When he came aboard, the ship had a retention rate of 28% - the changes the crew made increased the retention rate from 28% to 100% in two critical categories. Additionally, by focusing on performance, the crew increased the advancement rate from below the Navy average to double the Navy average; Abrashoff promoted 86 sailors in 1998.

What I love about this book is that it’s a common sense approach to leadership and performance – with a little humor and humility sprinkled in.

I am energized and share this book with my classes filled with service members and spouses transitioning from active duty to the civilian workforce. They will be part of the leadership in their new companies. It’s a great reminder to stay true to who you are and to focus on building your people up.

Own your job, put your people first,share in owning the company you work for, and lastly, own your choices and your life.

A few years ago, my former company decided to "shake things up" a bit and really look at *leadership* opportunities for improvement vs. opportunities among the ranks. This was the book they decided to use to help the leaders through this process. From beginning to end, Captain Mike illustrated the difference between being a "leader" and a "commander". I was fortunate enough to get certified to train a class that was based on Captain Mike's book and it truly made a strong, positive impact in our organization - at least among those leaders willing to change themselves first! As an added bonus after our certification, we had the pleasure of having Captain Mike speak at one of our team meetings. He's as kind and genuine in person as he came across in his book. I look forward to buying and reading the newest edition of It's Your Ship.

I once had an after-school homework help class where the kids were eating candy and soda constantly. Finally I got fed up and said "why don't you drink water?" The answer; the water fountain was filthy, and the school's vending machines only sold candy and soda. My solution; I provided a bottle of water, lots of cups, and some dates for them to eat. I never saw any candy or soda in there again. I had showed the kids that I, the authority, cared about their health.

Parents, teachers, bosses, police, army officers, they often get themselves into a trap; they want defference, not results. The minute they step into the threshhold of the office, the home, the school, the first thing they want is to be obeyed. Worse, once they get obedience from their subordinates, they become blind to how things are doing. They don't care about what's going on, and the employees (or the students, or their children) become angry. We all know what happened when Queen Marie Antoinette said "let them eat cake"; her people let her eat the blade!

Captain Abrashoff stresses that you must alway make time for your subordinate's complaints. They're doing the tasks, so they know what's going on. If they say they need new supplies, food, space, money, you need to take it into account. He gives examples; sailors had to paint the walls every year because of rust, and one suggested using stainless-steel bolts! He agreed, and they never had to paint them again. The sailors complained that the food stunk; he sent the cooks to cullinary school. The cooks said the ingredients were no good; he let them buy fresh ingredients on shore (and saved money too.) When it was time for the senior officers to make their inspection, they were in for a shock; the enlisted men and officers ate together on deck, and the enlisted were served first! But the food was surprisingly good.

Now think of your teacher back in grade school; how would she react if she caught you eating candy in the class? What if you told her you couldn't help it, you were very hungry. You hadn't eaten since 12, and now it was 3:30pm. What if you told her the water fountain was filthy? Would she say "too bad?" Would she tell you to "tough it out?" I bet she said "I didn't have it anywhere near this good when I was your age!"

When you're the boss, your subs can be under extreme duress. Don't step on them, because they may sabotage the operation in order to get back at you. We used to deliberately mess the classroom in order to get back at the teacher we hated. The principal would rebuke us, but it was always the teacher who got stick in the end.

"The Benfold playbook: lead by example; listen aggressively; communicate purpose and meaning; create a climate of trust; look for results, not salutes; take calculated risks; go beyond standard procedure; build up your people; generate unity; and improve your people's quality of life."

I enjoyed this book, it was uplifting and inspirational. The first hundred pages or so has lots of good ideas and pointers. The rest is mostly patting himself and his ship on the back, which can get a little tedious.

All in all a good book to inspire or remind you of important management principals.

Some quotes I liked:

"My organizing principle was simple: The key to being a successful skipper is to see the ship through the eyes of the crew. Only then can you find out what's really wrong, and, in so doing, help the sailors empower themselves to fix it."

"As a manager, the one signal you need to steadily send to your people is how important they are to you. In fact, nothing is more important to you. Realize your influence, and use it wisely. Be there for your people. Find out who they are. Recognize the effects you have on them and how you can make them grow taller."

"It is well-known that every leader sets the tone for his or her organization. Show me an enthusiastic leader, and I will show you an enthusiastic workforce. And vice versa: If the leader has a bad day, the whole organization has a bad day."

I'm a seminar leader in management principles and have done some corporate training. I have also written articles on participative management and empowerment which have been published in industry management association journals, plus I have a fairly extensive amount of training and practice in business management and leadership.

With this background, I found the audio book to be interesting to listen to. The author has a lot of anecdotes that illustrate a few principles of management. If I was to synthesize them all (he doesn't, you have to unearth them yourself), I would say he tends to espouse the following:

1. A style of management that assumes people want to do a good job and will step up to the plate if you give them ownership of a problem. I find this is good advice, depending on the person and depending on the job -- not as an overarching principle applicable everywhere.

2. That removing unecessary drudgery from people's jobs can have a positive impact on productivity and motivation.

3. That regular communication and training is important for leading a motivated workforce that is strong on implementation.

4. That managers should go to bat for their employees, even if this means challenging the people you report to; however, this needs to be done carefully as a calculated risk, and not so much that you destroy your relationship capital with the people above you.

5. That vision needs to be communicated clearly and simply, such as "We are the Best *!@! Ship in the Navy!".

6. That part of the leader's role is to build up people.

7. He also seems to imply many times that issues of status and rank in an organization need to be broken down, so employees are willing to share their ideas, and even challenge the ideas of senior managers.

8. That there needs to be trust in the relationship with subordinates -- the traditional relationship bank account must be in a positive. One can make withdrawals when necessary, but a good leader strives to keep the relationship in a positive balance.

9. The need to get the right people in the right positions -- putting "round people in round holes" as he says.

I didn't see much new here, but found the audiobook a good example of leadership principles in practice.

I did find his constant iteration of all his ship's achievements a bit unsettling; it sounded like egotism at times. I think the self-adulation might have been better handled with a preface given by a third party to remove that bit of intereference from his message. Also, items he heralded as innovations seemed to be application of well-known principles (such as project management and database development) that apparently, were new to him.

But he has significant achievements, and his book provides a good example of leadership in practice.

"If all you give are orders," writes U.S. Navy Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, "then all you will get are order-takers." And so begins this new captain's voyage to change a ship's morale and create a polished crew of 310 self-starters. Trust me--this is a must-read!

This risk-taking leader's dominant core value, "It's your ship, take responsibility for it. Don't ask permission; do it." Captain Abrashoff begins with his personal goal, "I was determined to be the captain these sailors deserved." Wow. He cites a Gallup study that said 65 percent of those who leave their companies are actually leaving their managers. So Abrashoff gives fascinating and fun stories demonstrating how he injected risk-taking leadership on his ship. He developed partners, not peons or parrots.

He covers almost all of my 20 management buckets from my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit. Look at this list: lead by example, listen aggressively, communicate purpose and meaning, create a climate of trust, look for results--not salutes, take calculated risks, go beyond standard procedure and build up your people.

Some estimate that the cost of losing a trained employee is one and a half times the annual salary of the outgoing team member ("as measured by lost productivity and recruiting and training costs for the replacement"). As you "supervise" team members (and volunteers, perhaps) are you creating order-takers or self-starters? What could you do to enhance your culture so being a self-starter is honored?

Captain Abrashoff writes, "If a rule doesn't make sense, break it." Do you have that kind of "It's your ship" mentality onboard your company? Quick--order the book and pass it around to every manager.

I am a cynic on business books. There is a lot of drivel out there penned by half-wits. This book is not one of them.

This book presents practical, common-sense leadership ideas that have been field tested in one of the most rigid organizations going- and yielded extraordinary results. I particularly like the author's emphasis on encouraging feedback from lower level team members, common sense solutions, quick action on new and promising ideas, and concern for all members of the team. The fact that his ideas on leadership are the distilled results of what he did to turn a troubled ship into a Navy-leading example give the author credibility. It's an inspiring read, and I found myself unable to put the book down.

This is definitely a book I'll put front and center of my bookshelf, and come back to again and again. I've already passed it to another member of my team.

This book came to me awash in a sea of management guides and pamphlets in an internal training program for managers. My boss is transforming the culture of an organization, and this book fit right in. What made it the best handout from the training program?

- It's written by a line manager with first-hand experience at running something. Most of the other material, by contrast, came from narrow specialists whose background was either consulting or, at best, serving on the staff of a line organization -- not running it.

- The anecdotes illustrating the turnaround in performance that the author helped create are all in a peace-time military where attrition was high and morale low. This corresponds more readily to application to a civilian environment. After all, if someone's shooting at you, it's not hard to get your subordinates to duck on your command. But the, at times, subtle challenges of a peace-time military map more closely to the ones the private and public sectors face every day.

- Credibility carries through the crowing. Admittedly, the author likes to toot his own horn a bit. Nevertheless, he couldn't get away with it unless results backed his story. There can't be any official designation of "best damn ship in the Navy." The only way to make and defend such a claim is by outperforming everyone else in enough, objectively rated areas to end up being uncontested. This, he did, namely:

-- best Tomahawk cruise missile shots

-- best performance in battle drills

-- best performance of ship inspections in Persian Gulf (reduced the time by creating own database and sharing with fleet)

-- most weapons certifications of crews

-- best record of not getting into trouble at ports when crew on liberty.

The list goes on.

This book is easy to read and destined to be a classic, along the lines of Robert Townsend's, "Up the Organization." It may also be a one-hit wonder, too, as the author's sum total of career experience and achievement are embedded in it.

Definitely worth reading. Refreshingly interesting and credible.

I liked this book. It provides good advice and sound principles. There are a number of examples from the author's experiences as well.

I’d recommend this book to anyone in a leadership position regardless of their experience.

This was my vacation read this year. I am not the kind of person who reads work related books, required or not, while on holiday. In fact, I am no longer in a position in which I am supervising others, but my wife brought the book home as it had become suggested reading in her company. The book is well thought out, enjoyable to read, full of real life stories, thoughtful analysis and practical conclusions.

Abrashoff was motivated to consider new approaches to ongoing problems plaguing the poorly motivated crew of the Benfold when during the change of command ceremony the crew exhibited an overt sense of relief as the former Commanding Officer was departing the ship. It is likely that most managers would have construed that the crew was unprofessional then proceed with micromanagement policies and procedures that continued to make their life seamlessly miserable. Instead Abrashoff decided that if anything he would see the ship through the eyes of the sailors and try to deal with the gripes of his crew.

The book is written as a series of captivating anecdotes rather than a simple autobiographical record of his experiences as the commanding officer. The book details his personal accounts illustrating his innovative interventions used to rectify the deficiencies of his ship and crew. Abrashoff also discusses the manner in which he navigated the relationship with his superiors as his ideas were often at odds with existing guidance, established doctrine and the way things had always been done.

Unlike most authors espousing management theories, Abrashoff had the benefit of the results oriented, metric driven Navy to document the improved performance and readiness of the individual crew members as well as the Benfold herself. It is clear to the reader that the bulk of the progress resulted from the progressive leadership of Abrashoff and not the established policies.

Abrashoff is the very best of leaders, willing to take chances, break from policy, do the right thing for the his people, sometimes exposing himself to unwanted scrutiny in the process, and I am grateful that he captured all of it in his outstanding book.

I recommend the audio CD version of this book, as the speaker's fatherly voice provides context to the book. The arrogance is impossible to overlook, on the other hand the lessons presented by the author and his true-life experiences are highly valuable case studies worthy of the time to listen and learn (or re-learn, as this is a good annual reference book). The audio version is best. I bought the book, get the audio CD instead.

This book will prove them wrong and give ideas on how to make that change happen.

I have to applaud a lot of what the Commander of the Benfold was able to do within the framework of the Navy. There is so much precedence and just the way things have always been done that you have to overcome. Anyone who has come in to an organization and found that the culture needs to be changed, knows how difficult that is.

There is a tendency of anyone outside of the military, or perhaps I can just say for myself, to think that it is easier to get people under you in the military to do something for you because they have to follow orders. But in reality that is not the case. There are a number of good examples in this book about how to lead by getting people involved, gain input from those doing the job and from getting down and working directly with them. Leading by example, giving suggestions for what needs to be changed and making them responsible for what they want to have happen or what they want to do goes a long way to motivating people.

In the end though one area where I feel there will always be a difference between the military and the commercial world. A captain of a ship in the US navy does not have to worry about the top line, he/she does not have to worry about possibly not getting that new client this month and as a result not being able to make payroll. A ship in the US navy is not going to lose its client the US Navy and the US Navy is not going to lose its client the US government. Therefore there may be a something missing when carrying over leadership from the military to being the CEO of a company, i.e. leadership of a company while worrying about the top line. But overall there is a lot to learn about motivation from this book.

This book is a worthy addition to the "common sense list of management principles backed by personal anecdotes" genre. If you are a new manager or, like most managers, need to be ocassionally reminded of basics like "Keep your priorities in focus" or "Don't work harder, work smarter" this is an entertaining book and fairly fast read. But it is also self-centered. The best authors of these books (and best managers, I think) are able to write about what they did without talking about themselves. Harvey Mackay, for instance, has this down to a science. Abrashoff can't help himself. The words, 'me', 'myself', and 'I' appear 48 times on page 27 alone. The title may be, "It's Your Ship", but the book screams "It's MY Ship."

I can't say much about management techniques, but I can say this: this is also one of the best service comedies since "Mr. Roberts". You could make a great movie about it, starting with the Captain's Secret Cargo through the Cigars and Jazz nights, the coming of cable TV access to Naval ships, the Movie Nights on the anti-radar screens, and of course, the deployment of said cargo (enough beer for 302, on a raft).

Laffs from a war that needed a few. God Bless Abrashoff! God bless the Benfolds!

On my bookshelf sit a wide variety and number of tomes on leadership and management, some of them provided to me as a result of my current job as a junior executive, while I purchased others myself based upon either recommendations from fellow executives or informal leaders within federal government whom I know and respect.

Mike Abrashoff's book kind of "snuck up" on me, for while I had heard others mention it in passing, and noticed the cover on forays to the bookstore, I had believed - incorrectly - it was not in the league of "Good to Great," "First Break All the Rules," or other perhaps better known efforts.

What I found was a leadership book that was not only a legitimate page turner, but something that I actually enjoyed well enough to read twice, which is almost unheard of for me given my schedule.

Although I served in the U.S. military for almost a decade (sorry Captain, I was in the Army!), the bulk of my leadership training and experience has come from my work in the federal government, where targeted leadership texts are hard to come by and largely unfocused; that is, until now.

I found Captain Abrashoff's writing to be succinct and to the point, his stories spot-on examples of problems with non-military applicability and his insights keen and consistently self-deprecating. The world in which I work (law enforcement) has a paramilitary structure, and contains many highly educated and intelligent "type-A" folks with matching assertive personalities. These in turn are mixed with a smaller number of people ranging from the unmotivated and unenthusiastic, to self-starting and virtually brilliant folks who are un-empowered and who therefore are not contributing as they could. Worse still, since law enforcement is hierarchical, the impact of a bad leader at the helm is even more damaging than you might imagine.

When I found myself in a position of suddenly having control over a segment of our agency, one of the very first things I did was to provide all of my dozen or so subordinate supervisors and other key people with a gift of Captain Abrashoff's book at a staff meeting, along with the simple suggestion that they enjoy the gift and see what lessons they found within.

Although this book is, in my opinion, best suited to organizations which are more structured or hierarchical, I think Captain Abrashoff's efforts have broad applicability if you are interested in trying some non-traditional, but surprisingly simple techniques, chief among them empowering your subordinates to excel by trusting and challenging them, sadly a rarity in a world where leaders are often ego-centric and/or authoritarian. I have rarely encountered such a readable and even inspiring book when it comes to pondering "what would I do if I were in charge?

This book and its author have received a lot of media exposure, so I decided to check it out. While Abrashoff espouses proven leadership techniques, the only really new learning is how one man applied the principles on a Navy ship with a complement of 311 sailors. This is more a story of one man's awakening to how leadership is considerably more effective than management; how getting out of people's way is wiser than micromanaging them.
Leadership is emphasized in the book, and in every endorsement quote on the back cover. Yet, the subtitle says "management techniques," not "leadership techniques." Leadership did not come easy to Abrashoff; he had a lot of learning to do...and undo. As he moves through the chapters, this retired Navy Captain talks about his experiences in leading by example, listening, communicating purpose and meaning, creating a climate of trust, focusing on results, taking calculated risks, building people and unity, and strengthening quality of life.
Good leaders can tell you all about these concepts and how they are applied in their organization. Aspiring leaders and those who have not yet seen the light will be awe-struck by what Abrashoff accomplished. Solid, experienced leaders will see this book as more of a case study and a reinforcement of what they're already doing. As I have observed today's military leaders-as a citizen and as a consultant who has had the privilege of working with military leaders, the "system" is not as counterproductive as the author would lead us to believe. Bureaucracy is still bureaucracy, but Abrashoff is not alone in his practice of leadership skills.
Abrashoff applied leadership skills on his ship to achieve significant measurable results. I'm glad he documented his achievements so others might be inspired. I noted that he compared and linked his military experiences and perspectives to civilian applications. Through relationships with Fast Company magazine and other organizations, this author is now giving speeches and probably consulting. This book and the attendant publicity could be viewed as effective tools to position him as a sought-after speaker.
In all fairness, while the leadership principles and anecdotes from the USS Benfold are certainly present, this book struck me as more of an autobiography of the growth of a leader. For a treatise about leadership and considering the title, I was surprised to see such heavy use of first person pronouns in the writing.
Company owners and senior executives will find the book valuable as a case study of one man's experience. Managers will learn principles and techniques that can substantially improve their performance. Some readers will feel reinforced; others will feel discomforted by the heavy sense of ego and rationalization. It's a shame that Abrashoff did not choose to stay in the Navy to effect those changes he says are so needed; instead he left the service to write a book focused on two years of his work and hit the lecture circuit.

So many people complain that they read leadership books and their is "nothing new" about them. Stop reading so many books and go lead! The basics of leadership don't drastically change. I've been teaching college classes on leadership for three years now and I've read dozens of books on leadership. The basic principles are often the same. It is a matter of finding someone whose examples and style make you relate to them and understand how to act them out.

As a former enlisted Marine who spent lots of time on ships and around the Navy, I found I could really relate to this book and so have many of my military students. Many non-military students have found it interesting as well. Others got too caught up in trying to learn about the Navy and not about leadership. You don't have to know a lot about the Navy to understand the leadership lessons in this book but it does help you understand what Abrashoff accomplished as a leader.

This book was recommended to me by a professor who has never been around the military but had read it and really liked it. I give it to my graduate students as they leave and take on their first leadership roles as education administrators.

I am both a Pastor, as well as a Critical Care Paramedic for a hospital in a nearby city where I live. This book, "It's Your Ship", contains a MUCH NEEDED MESSAGE that should be REQUIRED READING for ALL managers, CEOs, Presidents, Pastors, Administrators, Leaders, etc. in any and all organizations no matter their size. Too many of those, who are listed above, are still trying to "micro-manage" their employees, ignore the vast resources and ideas of their employees and personnel, as well as operate out of a system that is no longer relevant for today's generations, etc. The sad part is that they are doing it either out of ignorance, stubbornness, pride, refusal to change / adapt, or just plain stupidity which is 'destroying' organizations, companies, churches, by ignoring THE BEST RESOURCES they have available. Those who they are to lead and manage.

I would HIGHLY recommend this book coupled alongside another book by Graeme Codrintgton entitled, "Mind The Gap". This book discusses the reality of generational differences (how they differ, why, etc.) in an easy to understand, well-researched manner that is both much needed and well-written book that would give anyone in leadership the foundation and principles that they need in understanding the 'WHY' they NEED to CHANGE and to APPLY those same principles that are mentioned in the book "It's Your Ship".

Sadly, those in 'leadership' who "fail to do so", will, if not already finding themselves on a 'sinking ship' in their organization, and it is only a matter of time before they destroy the very company they want to succeed; by failing to change and adapt, by failing to make the necessary changes, by failing to 'grow themselves' "outside the box" they have placed themselves in, and by ignoring the awesome resources at their disposal which is found in the very employees they are supposed to "lead" instead of "drive and walk over".

Again, this book is a very practical MUST READING for ANYONE who is in a leadership position, wants to improve their organization, grow themselves, etc. AND it could be a resource to bring about the very change needed in your organization. We could only PRAY & HOPE that in your or my situations we could have a leader who would become and embrace those principles and examples found in "It's Your Ship".

However, be warned, IF you work for a boss who 'refuses to change', listen to others, and is determined to operate in a system that is no longer relevant from 20+ years ago, you WILL become frustrated. Even so, it may open your eyes, and the eyes of those around you how things "should be" as well as perhaps "ideas" on how things need to change, perhaps can change, motivating you to be the catalyst in brining about the change, or to seeing the hopelessness of the situation you are in until a new "admiral / captain" heads up 'your ship'.

(Here is my suggestion: Leave a copy of this book for your boss. You might want to do it annonymously though. For in an abusive situation, "those that aren't the problem, who point out the problem, sadly, become the scapegoat or the problem they will focus on ignoring what the actual problem really is)

Get this book and read it today!! :o)

Considering that I read at least 30 books a year alone on Leadership, it is nice to read one that is not only packed full of great ideas but also a pleasure to read. The author lived this story, unlike some who write from their ivory towers, and makes you feel you too can accomplish great things when you apply these simple, yet effective, tactics to your organization or team. Along with "Execution" by Bossidy, this is one of the better Leadership books out there. Also check out "Lincoln on Leadership" by Phillips for history and more great ideas.

Maybe publishers dictate how many pages a book must be to sell copies. This 207 page book could be condensed to about 50 pages and be just as informative. It should also be mandatory reading for middle-managers.

It could expand on specific techniques but would probably be lost on the masses because most situations are different. This book is best used as self-reflection of personal relationship techniques. Definitely not a textbook on how to get better at managing subordinates, but a good place to start looking internally.

This book is an excellent example of creating high standards and involving others in achieving better results than anybody thought possible. It also demonstrates and reminds us that people want to do great work and they are more capable than most think. Definitely worth reading for leaders of all experience levels.

This book was given to my son who has recently been promoted to his first management position. I read it while I was visiting him. Although it was written back in 2001-02 the principles discussed are timeless and effective. It is still a good read for anyone put into their first leadership role or even a brush up on the skills for old timers. It is interesting and encouraging that the good Captain had the nerve to kind of buck the traditional Navy system of command and control by actually seeking creative input from his subordinates. Allowing people at all levels of any type of organization to gain a sense of ownership of successes and failures is fundamental to achieving organizational excellence. It takes leaders with great patience with people and a clear vision of the anticipated outcomes to pull this off. The good captain had the faith to believe he could make a difference in his organization and according to his stories he did. It has been said that it is amazing what one can accomplish if he doesn't care who gets the credit! Good job Captain!

In my twenty-three years of active duty, I served under quite a few Commanding Officers. With one notable exception, they were all competent leaders, and several of them were excellent. Two were extraordinary. After reading his book, I can only conclude that Captain Abrashoff qualifies for the extraordinary category. This is the kind of leadership that real Sailors pray for. I sincerely wish I'd had the opportunity to serve under his command.

Jeff Edwards, Author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"

What is the essence of leadership? What is success? How do you inspire people to follow you? As Captain Mike Abrashoff points out, the Navy can award the command of a ship to somebody, and give that person the power to force obedience, but that will not make the crew eager, loyal followers who will do whatever it takes so that the team can succeed. So, how did Captain Abrashoff take a ship with certainly no better than average morale and turn them into the "Best Damn Ship in the Navy?"
Abrashoff calls his approach "Grassroots Leadership." It answers the age-old question that has plagued the military: Which is more important, the mission or the people? As Abrashoff shows, caring for the people is the only way to succeed in the mission. ITS YOUR SHIP organizes his Benfold tenure into ten lessons about Grassroots Leadership, which showcase the willingness to lead, listen, honor, and challenge as the keys to successful leadership.
An important point Abrashoff stresses throughout ITS YOUR SHIP is that he didn't go about breaking the rules or changing the system in order to achieve his success. Instead, he worked within the system, but was also very willing to exercise the discretion granted him as the commanding officer of a ship. In other words, just as he expected his subordinates to exercise all the power available to them to accomplish their jobs, he did the same, creating an incredible climate of trust and unity.
ITS YOUR SHIP will not tell you how to put these principles to work in your organization, but if a Navy Captain can work within a well-known hierarchical, top-down command structure and achieve these results, then with a bit of imagination and the courage to take a few risks, you should be able to use these principles to inspire you and your team to achieve better results.

Simply brilliant. Capt. Abrashoff illustrates every principle behind his highly successful leadership methods with a story - and wonderful stories they are. This is a moving, at times very funny, and always very, very practical guide to building a workplace that works, is fun, and motivates employees to stay on. I've worked for 38 years in an expansive organization where exactly the same principles are practiced. And I've seen Silicon Valley mega-million-dollar workplaces that floated right down the tubes as a direct result of their contractive, top-down, micromanaging, and bullying management styles. This is a hugely important book, and best of all, it's can't-put-it-down entertaining. Buy it!

This is one of the few non-fiction books I've really enjoyed.

The techniques he writes about can be used by parents as well as managers because Captain Abrashoff proves the old idiom: they don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. He showed his men that he walked the walk and if he did it imperfectly, he was willing to improve. The fact he went to bat for his men instead of polishing his medals shows the man's character.

I wish this were required reading in our public school system to prove you can make lemonade from lemons - starting with your own attitude.

Kudos, Huzzah, and Thanks to Captain Abrashoff!

This book offers excellent insight into the world of leadership. The theme is that "it is all about the people." That is true today more than ever as businesses lose their way and employees become more disenchanted and disengaged from their jobs.

The practical advice that Captain Abrashoff gives works on a Navy ship and works in a business. We have used this book as a training session to develop leaders throughout our organization. Further, I owe a debt to Captain Abrashoff as many of his ideas have found their way into my book on B2B Business Leadership. Build a Better B2B Business: Winning Leadership for Your Business - to - Business Company

In short, a great book for all business leaders that want to win by building a "Winning Team."

I just read Abrashoff's "It's Your Ship" and strongly recommend the book to managers at all levels and academics that teach Management, Organizational Behavior and Leadership. The author, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff - former commander of the USS Benfold, write in an engaging, easy to read style. The information he conveys is priceless. If you are concerned about productivity, profitability and opportunities for growth, the book is a handbook for success.
Having spent many years in the "old Corps (USMC)", heavy industry and higher education, I, too, have come to reject the old fashioned and dysfunctional command and control approach to leadership. There is a much better model and it is well described and richly illustrated in this book.

Great anedotes that demonstrate known and yet mostly unpracticed good managment principles. A fun read from a guy who had the guts to live out good while serving our country in naval leadership.

Would be great for mentoring new managers or to get yourself out fo a rut.

Whether your organization is on dry land or floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, if your performance levels rely on human beings, "It's Your Ship" is a must read.
In business, all too often the human element is overlooked. Human relations is generally reguarded as soft skills, which organizations do not value. However, it is my opinion and apparently Mike Abrashoff's also, that organizations have alot to gain by successfully implementing these so-called soft skills.
The author, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, teaches what he refers to as grassroots leadership. He uses behavior modification, empowerment, and team building techniques to transform a mediocre performing group into the best damn ship in the navy.
A billion dollar naval warship is not the typical organizational setting. However, the author uses his experience as commander of the U.S.S. Benfold (a nuclear powered naval destroyer) to teach effective management skills to all who lead organizations on dry land.
Abrashoff also teaches the importance of putting the needs of your subordinates before your own. Throughout the book Mike continually challenges the status quo for the good of his group.
The author describes a practical but all too uncommon leadership style that decentralizes authority and empowers people to make their own decisions.
D. Michael Abrashoff is the kind of leader that we all want to have and to be. However, a lack of courage, resistance to change, and status quo keep many of us from attaining Abrashoff's level of leadership greatness.
"It's Your Ship" offers the answers to the valuable managerial question of, how do you motivate employees to achieve high levels of performance.
"It's Your Ship" is a truly inspirational story of how effective leadership can transform any organization into a high powered and high performing team.

I can assure you we would not be in the mess we are in had the CEO's of our financial institutions and our U.S. auto makers read this puppy 10 years ago and acted accordingly. I know the book wasn't written yet but you get my point. Very thouht provoking and a great example of setting he vision and letting the "crew" take ownership of it! GREAT READ

John Gregory Vincent
President - Genesis Consulting Group LLC
[...]

I have been in management for a couple decades. I have heard & seen all the gurus come & go. Until now only one book about management has managed to stay on my shelf, The One Minute Manager. Well now it is not alone! This book is great! It is from the trenchs, not some "professor" who has really never worked in management. If you are a manager who works with your people, this is a must read! Finally, a book written by someone who understands the importance of the people you work with! By walking you through his tour on the Benfold Captain Abrashoff lets you in on his thoughts & his concerns so that you understand his solutions. The fact that it all takes place on a Navy ship only adds to the message. Whether it is an Admiral or a CEO, the Navy or major corporation, a boss is a boss & bureaucracy is bureaucracy. I have never served in the military. But I have shared his concerns. His thoughts parallel mine regarding productivity, retention, morale. His solutions are earthshatteringly basic. He took the time to find out what drives his people. It was time well spent. Time you will be inspired to spend after you read this book.

A few years ago, my former company decided to "shake things up" a bit and really look at *leadership* opportunities for improvement vs. opportunities among the ranks. This was the book they decided to use to help the leaders through this process. From beginning to end, Captain Mike illustrated the difference between being a "leader" and a "commander". I was fortunate enough to get certified to train a class that was based on Captain Mike's book and it truly made a strong, positive impact in our organization - at least among those leaders willing to change themselves first! As an added bonus after our certification, we had the pleasure of having Captain Mike speak at one of our team meetings. He's as kind and genuine in person as he came across in his book. I look forward to buying and reading the newest edition of It's Your Ship.

If I were to summarize the whole book in one sentence than it would be "Michael has proved that extracting natural human instincts out of any person will drive positive results". Natural human instincts include Respect, Trust, Empowerment, Ownership, Belonging, Purpose, Team player and more: once fostered will motivate majority of people to give their best. While the book is filled with many personal stories and heroic actions, the theme circles around "Natural Human Instincts". I had the pleasure of listening to Michael before reading the book and his natural speaking style and down to earth sharing of his accomplishments are reflected in his book as well. Overall a very interesting read.

Captures the true essence of leadership -- getting in touch with the people who do the work and make things happen!

This is one of the best, most concise books I've read on the subject of leadership! Gives many practical tips on how to do battle with the bureaucracy while maintaining your credibility effectiveness with bosses.

I was so impressed that I purchased extra copies to give to up-and-coming leaders in my organization.

This book not only grabbed but held my attention. I read it in 2 quick days, and couldn't put it down. The author comes across in a very genuine manner and doesn't write like many other authors who come at you from a sense of mastery and "follow my easy 3 steps and you'll be a millionaire" genre of leadership/business books. The author has great examples and ideas, and how even something you would assume as rigid and unwavering as a Navy Ship can be shaken up and increase "productivity" and "performance" and provides an example of how we all have a customer base and are all trying to provide some type of service. AN overall great read to help question many things leaders are doing in their own professional life.

I found this story very inspiring. Captain Abrashoff gives solid advice on how to lead by example. He encourages leaders to care about people, give credit where it is due, and take calculated risks. Promote good people and ideas in your organization, don't fear them.

Overall, he provides insightful, motivational, intelligent advice on how to lead an organization while cultivating respect throughout the ranks. His advice supports the concepts of Lean (employee involvement, eliminate waste), and Six Sigma (while he starts the book by saying he was not focused on metrics, he goes on to clearly quantify the results, and give data supporting his assertion that his was the best ship in the Navy).

Captain Abrashoff exhibits many of the ideal attributes of a process champion. This is a must read for anyone at the executive level considering the deployment of continuous improvement within their organization.

This is a quick read that you'll want to get through in a day. Abrashoff offers his experiences and guidelines for working with and managing a large team.

As a young leader, this is a great entry into the mind of a great leader, who focuses more in introspection and soft skills than traditional command and control leadership models.

Adds interesting perspective and some points of advice for applies his success stories to your own lives. Great to see this book being handed out in corporate settings.

Michael Abrashoff deftly weaves the fabric of an engaging leadership book through the use of examples based on his experiences as captain of USS Benfold. It moves quickly enough to hold your interest and is sound enough to provide even the experienced leader with refreshing insights. This book is now required reading by the managers of all of my business units.

I read the book and the author was honest about his failure to defend some of his officers when he started out in the Navy and how he was insecure and had no self-confidence until he became an aide to Secretary William Perry. It is amazing that officers like him never got a chance to develop their leadership skills or never had a mentor to help develop those skills despite their years of experience. What bothers me is that he never talks about the lack of leadership by the Chief Petty Officers (CPOs) who are the NCOs of the Navy. I bet that many enlisted men and women left the Navy because the CPOs did not care about them. These CPOs were no different from the officers.

Almost of the American officers of the 19th and 20 centuaries came from the upper-middle class, rich families and/or prominent military families. The US Navy was the last American military institution to establish a program in 1962 where enlisted men could become officers. Admiral Boorada who shot himself in 1996 was a product of that program and was the only Chief of Naval Operations who was not a product of the Naval Academy. America was not a meritocratic system despite what one believes. The American Officer Corps was more like the European Officer Corps. If you saw the 1942 movie Stand by for Action, Robert Taylor's character came from a rich prominent family. His commanding officer play by Brian Donlevy was an officer who came from the ranks which was very rare in that time period.

I wonder how the author got away with issuing new civilians jackets to his men without his men being courtmartial for being out of uniform since the Navy has to approved new uniforms before sending out to its people.

The author was surprise that most of his crew came from broken poor minorities families. If he was an officer in the late 19th and early 20th centuary US Navy, he would have found that all his enlisted men were white guys who were poor and came from broken homes and join the Navy to make something of themselves, have a roof over their head, a place to sleep, food in their stomach, getting pay regulary, and having some kind of belonging. The problem is that our schools do not tell our students (elementary, high school, and college) about how life was really like for the vast majority of the American population before World War II in terms of trying to make a better life. Until the GI Bill and better union laws came into being, there was no way most Americans could have a decent middle class life with a bright future.

What is also is amazing that what kind of assignments you might get depending upon what your standing is at the Academy. If you graduate at the top, the world is your oyster. It is kind of like graduating from law school.

Napoleon stated that every soldier is a potential field marshal. It seems that the people in the upper middle class and rich class in America believe that the poor people are nothing but peasants, so why should the author be surprise. The problem is that American managers do not come from the working class and therefore; do not have the technical skills to understand their products unlike Japanese CEOs. They also isolate themselves from the American workers on duty and off duty. Furthermore, the Japanese despite their class/caste system still manage to achieve technological breakthroughs with the help of their workers.

Great book, just like Ross Perot's book "Principal of Success." However, I agree with some of the reviewers who stated that reading the book will not make you a leader. This is a must read for both civilian and military leaders. Even the Sergeants and Chief Petty Officers should be forced to read this book. You have to roll up your sleeves and continously work at it until you died or retire. Don't talk about it, just do it!!!!

Wow... what a great audio book ill start off with the sound I needed no adjustment on my EQ and the narration was by the author and it was great it kept me intrigued and made me laugh. The book had a lot of great management techniques mostly designed around boosting employee moral and would be helpful to anyone that is in a leadership position.
The audio book was quite short but it got out the information it needed and didn't drag or repeat it's message this was a cool change in the books I've been listening to and it was like a breath of fresh air id recommend this book to anyone as a great quick read or listen.

I am a plankowner of the Benfold and admired Capt. Abrashoff's leadership. His superior leadership brought the moral of our ship from just ordinary shipboard life to a ship that many in the fleet wanted to become a part of. Our ship was a show-piece and we were proud to carry out his orders. What could have been a horribly desolate six months on deployment, including the holidays spent in the Gulf in 97-98, turned into a memorable experience for all, thanks to Capt. Abrashoff who even made UnRep a grand event! We learned from him that although we had a VERY important job to conduct, we were rewarded with pride in our accomplishments. Capt. Abrashoff was a very approachable Commanding Officer, an experience I had never encountered in the military and has been rare while employed with state government. He made an effort to see that his crew not only did their jobs exceptionally well, but that we enjoyed the festivities he provided for the ship while in port. I have read his fantastic book, reliving all the memories of my Benfold life and have used his leadership knowledge to become a successful professional in the "civilian" world. To the readers who feel Capt. Abrashoff is "arrogant" in his leadership style--I think if you had as awesome a ship as the Benfold to be a part of, you would be extremely proud of it and the leadership that made it such a fine place to spend a few years of your life.

This easy-to-read, well written book illustrates, with clear examples, the mistakes most leaders make, as well as the methods by which they can resolve them. It is a pathway to gaining trust and team cohesiveness, as well as buy-in both up and down the corporate ladder. It is a quick read, and should be re-read immediately after finishing it the first time.

I heard Mike Abrashoff speak last fall and found him truly inspirational. I bought his book for all the managers in our company and then had "book club" with them to discuss how we could apply the lessons of this book to our organization. The book is not only an easy read, but applicable to a number of different situations. The primary lesson is how to get people to take ownership of their role in an organization and care about its success. I highly recommend the book to managers, Boy Scout leaders, heads of households, team captains, Sunday School teachers, and CEO's.

This Navy captain is a no-nonsense guy and his words could help any manager. He lays out his leadership ideas clearly and concisely, without jargon and self-promotion.
Learn how to bust bureaucracy, challenge conventional thinking (as well as your boss) and get to know your people.
The author, former captain of the "best danm ship in the Navy," has a style that's infectious -- read this and you'll believe you can turn your team into the best damn team in your organization.

As a new supervisor in a law enforcement organization, I can readily see the parallels between police work and the military. Theres the "old school" ways and the exact opposite. Theory X vs TheoryY. Capt. Abrashoff's book is most enlightning and is definetely vogue to the law enforcement community. The book has motivated me to employ many, if not all of his time proven philosophies of good leadership. I supervise civilian personnel, in addition to sworn officers. The inherent challenges in manging both groups is obvious. If we had more leaders like Capt. Abrashoff, the results would be of such magnitude that each and every agency would be competing to have the "Best Damn Agency" in the business. Thanks to Capt. Abrashoff for strengthening what I always thought was the WAY TO GO.....

This book is straight to the point....and having met its author I am not surprised. The book is topical, fresh and very valuable for those "captains" of industry who really care about steering with accuracy. My gut and experience tell me that the navy-born concepts detailed in "It's Your Ship" will fit civilian organizations like a glove.....Read it.

This book was a gift. It's a great book on leadership style written by the commander of a ship who achieved amazing cost savings and won the highest gunnery scores in the Pacific Fleet. It's an easy read and entertaining. Much common sense advice is found within its pages.

I first read Mike Abrashoff's story in a 10 page-or-so Fast Company magazine article approximately 3 years ago. Upon completion I immediately made it required reading for my leadership staff and have made a point of re-reading it once a month. His heavy push for - among other things - empowerment and taking care of your people first struck a chord with me, and those two objectives became the focus of my management philosophy. I can't tell you how quickly and powerfully my group became energized by my new style. The resulting increase in productivity and willingness to tackle projects outside their job responsibility has provided me with consecutive "outstanding" performance reviews. Great, great book with career changing results.

Unlike so many other Management books, "It's Your Ship" takes a different approach to Management. Instead of the normal book with boring business examples, this one chronicles the command of Abrashoff on a Navy PT ship. Insightful and Unique this book offers many great tips and different was of leadership and business decision making. You will not be dissappointed.

Basic human developmental principles will NEVER get stale! Fair, relational, supportive, encouraging growth, and trust bring out the best in humans...and reverse the spiral of tendency toward mediocracy and blame toward a spiral of mutual interdependence and excellence!

This an excellent book. Exceptionally written. Micheal Abrashoff provides real world examples that help define real leadership. Often times people try to line out what leadership is and fail. through his intriguing stories and comments we can get a better understanding of leadership through trials error in the real world.
captivating from the very first page. Being a person who is planning on joining the Navy,it has inspired to take pride in what I do and do my best to make the people around to the same. A MUST READ.

Eye-opening, well- written, in short, awesome. I've been in a leadership position for 15 years in my organization and haven't done a tenth of what is recommended. I plan on making personal changes to help make institutional changes as a result of reading this.

As a young manager not in the military I found the book to be quite inciteful. He recounts several experiences where important leadership qualities allow for staff and himself to grow. The angle is from a captain dealing with inefficiencies and working with staff to better processes and foster loyalty, growth and respect among his crew.

I knew there were managers out there who thought like I did, but I didn't expect to find one in the Navy!

Employee empowerment is not a "nice to have", it is essential for any business to gain in the marketplace.

I have worked for too many businesses whose management stifled all employee input. One of them went bankrupt, another was sold.

This book has insightful meaning for other than just military leadership. Its principles are applicable, in particular, to school site administrators. Besides the military, what other group of leaders deals with such a massive beauracracy? It is a thoughtful book about leadership that everyone who holds or aspires to a management role should read.
Captain Abrashoff captures the ideals of a good leader and demonstrates how you can bring them to reality, even under difficult circumstances. It is most inspirational.

If you really want to learn leadership principles that you can apply on the job tomorrow morning -- not just some academic concepts -- read this. It's the Best Damn Book on Management you will find on the bookshelves today. Michael Abrashoff distills an entire management course into a concise, entertaining, 256 pages packed with case study examples that go behind the scenes of a warship in battle. Yet you will see the relevance to your company, whether it be large or small, or your vantage is from the water cooler or the boardroom.

Specially for those of us that had the privilege of serving in the US Navy, Captain's Abrashof's account of his journey of leadership is compelling and inspiring.

His stated leadership principles will transform any activity into a truly dynamic one.

Fantastic reading, engaging and quite riveting. A must read for any leader.

Captain Abrashoff does an excellent job breaking down leadership to its core, basic elements. If he can challenge an institution like the US Navy and prove that these principals can improve the quality of life and the effectiveness of an organization, then they can be applied anywhere in corporate America. Read this book and take a chance!

I picked this up as I had been part of the Navy and was interested to see what Captain Abrashoff offered in Management philosophy. The reading turned out to be a great pleasure and an informative one. The techniques and processes he used, translate to different industry managements, not just the military. I am a CIO and have provided this book to the Managers of the department. Management techniques are not one time events, but need to be developed as part of the company culture, Captain Abrashoff's offerings are what we are trying to instill in our culture.

Attention All Hands, If you are or are going to be a US Navy Officer, you need to read and learn from this fine Officer. This book will give you real world ideas of how to lead in the 21st Century. As we lead the next generation of young sailors, we need to know what it will take to be the best and show them how to be the best. This Officer walked the walk and gives great examples of what and how to lead by example, so the sailors under you will look inside and grow into well rounded sailors. Thus making you and your command look all the better.

I felt the book was put together real well. It's one of those that you can't stop reading because the information is just so logical. I've used some of the principles already and it works amazingly. It's a great book for anyone in management.

This book is a great example of how a management style focused on improvement can begin to change a large organization. The fact that the author was the Secretary of the Navy's administrative assistant certianly gives him a leg up on bringing change to the Navy. The author also has the ability to inspire his crew to produce ideas that work. It made me wonder how many good ideas are out there not being put to work. I recommend this book to anyone looking to improve an organization.

Michael Abrashoff tells an inspiring story loaded with credibility, loyalty, mutual respect between teams, commitment & professionalism. And my favourite - passion. A passion for doing things right, and doing the right things - by your people and your employer.
Throw in powerful high tech equipment and life & death decision-making in a context of urgency and impact which most of us will never experience, and you have the story of a real-life American hero.
Well done Michael Abrashoff. This book is your gift to the nation!

As an Army Corps of Engineers Senior Leader, this is the best management book I have read in my career. Maybe I am biased as this appears to be my management style, but I have also experienced similar results with the style implemented by Captain Abrashoff. I highly recommend this book for senior leaders and have referred it to numerous employees who were seeking management positions.

I read this book in a day and will be reading it again over the next few weeks at least. It is packed with useful information and touchstones that should apply to leadership positions in any organization.

I bought the CD version and listened to it on my way to the office and back. As a retired Army Captain it brought memories of my experiences in the military.

This is an excellent practical guide for the seasoned pro as well as for the novice. It gives you common sense advise on how to lead and how to follow.

Captain D. Michael Abrashoff changed the way the Navy does business. He proved that by making the crew the team, his ship could outperform all the others in the entire fleet. While that didn't start as his goal, his leadership insights quickly spread throughout the US Navy based on the Benfold's operational performance. It's also a book about treating the members of the team as important contributors, and well as people. The book is about leadership, from a practical, reproducible point of view.

Excellent read---simple, no nonsense. Reinforcement that the secret of leadership is treating those one leads as autonomous, capable, potentially successful individuals. Give them a goal, a reason, and watch them exceed it

This book is cool. Captain D. Abrashoff is an ideal leader and knows how to tell entertaining stories packed with powerful truths. I was so impressed with this book I included it as a must read in my book, Cracking the Networking CODE - 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships. Make It's Your Ship...your book.
Cracking the Networking CODE: Four Steps to Priceless Business Relationships

I thought this was a very well written book, considering that it was highlighting management techniques. Those types of books are ususally very boring, prop your eyelids open type of books. Michael Abrashoff explained his style of management in a manner which would make it interesting to a broad range of readers and it is told as a well written story should be.

There are lots of book out there that describe management theory, but few give you examples of how to put it to use in the real world. This book tells how Commander Abrashoff (the author) empowered his crew so that they could be the best that they could be. I work in law enforcement and the story was very relevant to para military management style of most law enforcement agencies. If you are about to take charge of a group of people, this is the book for you.

While Abrashoff tells a good story about his own experiences, ultimately much of the advice sounds very similar to many other business books. This is a very light read. The Captain tells some good stories about running a ship but it comes across as bragging at times. Experienced leaders will learn nothing new. Young managers will probably pick up a few good ideas. Since I didn't know much about the Navy it was interesting to learn more about it. While the book tells some good stories, don't expect to read about the Seven Habits of the Highly Effective Navy.

Check out the E-Myth Revisited for a solid business book for budding entrepreneurs. It's Your Ship has managed to retain its value well over the years.

Specially for those of us that had the privilege of serving in the US Navy, Captain's Abrashof's account of his journey of leadership is compelling and inspiring.

His stated leadership principles will transform any activity into a truly dynamic one.

Fantastic reading, engaging and quite riveting. A must read for any leader.

Captain Abrashoff does an excellent job breaking down leadership to its core, basic elements. If he can challenge an institution like the US Navy and prove that these principals can improve the quality of life and the effectiveness of an organization, then they can be applied anywhere in corporate America. Read this book and take a chance!

I picked this up as I had been part of the Navy and was interested to see what Captain Abrashoff offered in Management philosophy. The reading turned out to be a great pleasure and an informative one. The techniques and processes he used, translate to different industry managements, not just the military. I am a CIO and have provided this book to the Managers of the department. Management techniques are not one time events, but need to be developed as part of the company culture, Captain Abrashoff's offerings are what we are trying to instill in our culture.

Attention All Hands, If you are or are going to be a US Navy Officer, you need to read and learn from this fine Officer. This book will give you real world ideas of how to lead in the 21st Century. As we lead the next generation of young sailors, we need to know what it will take to be the best and show them how to be the best. This Officer walked the walk and gives great examples of what and how to lead by example, so the sailors under you will look inside and grow into well rounded sailors. Thus making you and your command look all the better.

I felt the book was put together real well. It's one of those that you can't stop reading because the information is just so logical. I've used some of the principles already and it works amazingly. It's a great book for anyone in management.

This book is a great example of how a management style focused on improvement can begin to change a large organization. The fact that the author was the Secretary of the Navy's administrative assistant certianly gives him a leg up on bringing change to the Navy. The author also has the ability to inspire his crew to produce ideas that work. It made me wonder how many good ideas are out there not being put to work. I recommend this book to anyone looking to improve an organization.

Michael Abrashoff tells an inspiring story loaded with credibility, loyalty, mutual respect between teams, commitment & professionalism. And my favourite - passion. A passion for doing things right, and doing the right things - by your people and your employer.
Throw in powerful high tech equipment and life & death decision-making in a context of urgency and impact which most of us will never experience, and you have the story of a real-life American hero.
Well done Michael Abrashoff. This book is your gift to the nation!

As an Army Corps of Engineers Senior Leader, this is the best management book I have read in my career. Maybe I am biased as this appears to be my management style, but I have also experienced similar results with the style implemented by Captain Abrashoff. I highly recommend this book for senior leaders and have referred it to numerous employees who were seeking management positions.

I read this book in a day and will be reading it again over the next few weeks at least. It is packed with useful information and touchstones that should apply to leadership positions in any organization.

I bought the CD version and listened to it on my way to the office and back. As a retired Army Captain it brought memories of my experiences in the military.

This is an excellent practical guide for the seasoned pro as well as for the novice. It gives you common sense advise on how to lead and how to follow.

Captain D. Michael Abrashoff changed the way the Navy does business. He proved that by making the crew the team, his ship could outperform all the others in the entire fleet. While that didn't start as his goal, his leadership insights quickly spread throughout the US Navy based on the Benfold's operational performance. It's also a book about treating the members of the team as important contributors, and well as people. The book is about leadership, from a practical, reproducible point of view.

Excellent read---simple, no nonsense. Reinforcement that the secret of leadership is treating those one leads as autonomous, capable, potentially successful individuals. Give them a goal, a reason, and watch them exceed it

This book is cool. Captain D. Abrashoff is an ideal leader and knows how to tell entertaining stories packed with powerful truths. I was so impressed with this book I included it as a must read in my book, Cracking the Networking CODE - 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships. Make It's Your Ship...your book.
Cracking the Networking CODE: Four Steps to Priceless Business Relationships

I thought this was a very well written book, considering that it was highlighting management techniques. Those types of books are ususally very boring, prop your eyelids open type of books. Michael Abrashoff explained his style of management in a manner which would make it interesting to a broad range of readers and it is told as a well written story should be.

There are lots of book out there that describe management theory, but few give you examples of how to put it to use in the real world. This book tells how Commander Abrashoff (the author) empowered his crew so that they could be the best that they could be. I work in law enforcement and the story was very relevant to para military management style of most law enforcement agencies. If you are about to take charge of a group of people, this is the book for you.

While Abrashoff tells a good story about his own experiences, ultimately much of the advice sounds very similar to many other business books. This is a very light read. The Captain tells some good stories about running a ship but it comes across as bragging at times. Experienced leaders will learn nothing new. Young managers will probably pick up a few good ideas. Since I didn't know much about the Navy it was interesting to learn more about it. While the book tells some good stories, don't expect to read about the Seven Habits of the Highly Effective Navy.

Check out the E-Myth Revisited for a solid business book for budding entrepreneurs. It's Your Ship has managed to retain its value well over the years.

It was a privilege to get an insider's view of our Navy and how it functions. If only more ships (and Army... and Marine... and AirForce... and Government...) units could be run with the same sense of humility and care for people. The Captain brings everything back to mission, without forgetting that without people, mission can not be achieved. This book is a quick read. The Captain remembers what many leaders have forgotten, common sense.

This book absolutely changed my life! From running a family to running IBM, this book can transform the vision and expectations of both yourself, and those under your leadership. I highly recommend anthing this man has to say about motivation, communication and unifying leadership.

This book is easy to read and hits key points on staying focused on getting the most from your people. I both enjoyed and learned from this book. It reminded me of "From Worst to First : Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback" although Abrashoff's book is less repetitive.

I received the book as a gift and found it to be entertaining and insightful. Abrashoff took risks and thought outside the box--not to promote himself, but to create the best working environment for his subordinates. I bought additional copies for the people I directly supervise and have already received positive comments about how it is changing the way they do business.

Yet another book on management-this time a naval perspective! Despite the criticism of such books in the research article by Dr Peter Teiman,"The many varieties of management",I have to admit that this book has a lot of practical value.
Dr Peter Teiman
Switzerland

I am always trying to find books on people management, leadership and mentoring. I am the COO of a small size bank. I saw Captain Abrashoff on the Fox News Channel and decided to buy the book. Boy! am I glad I did. I loved it. I have passed it on to my boss to read and I will probably buy addtional copies for my staff to read.
Reading this book made me wish I had been on the USS Benfold with these guys!

I really liked this book. Quick read. A true guide to practical leadership and what really motivates people to do a great job. Leadership outside the military box, that will work everywhere and in different situations.

With the world struggling to find effective leaders and managers, this book could revolutionize leadership and management techniques. The examples that Mike uses throughout the book essentially make this a "how to" book...a much needed asset in any managers briefcase. This easy reading book should be a must read by any and all managers...I'm buying several copies for my managers. Thanks, Mike!!

Good no nonsense advice. If you want the basics of a chapter then read the first story in every section. Rarely do follow-on stories make new points. I have used the information in this book at my job and at home.

I read Mikes book from cover to cover and ENJOYED it so much.
His book is full of living case studies of how how motivated, encouraged and challenged his crew and gives commentary on how to be a better leader.

I am a lieutenant in one of the largest police departments in the state of South Carolina within the great city of North Charleston. I have applied what I have gotten from this book to my own personal style of leadership. I recommend this book to those that have recently been promoted as well as those who have been supervising for years. I have really enjoyed the book and have read it several times to remind myself of certain aspects of leadership and to pick up those other details that I have missed. Thanks again.     Sincerely Brian Adams

Well told, well layed out. Has great stories and anecdotal points to drive home the ideas in the book. Worth a look by anybody interested in developing as a leader or learning about one of the best in the military.

I anticipated an insightful book on leadership and was surprised to find only simple platitudes. More surprising were the number of personal pronouns throughout the book - I've never before read a management technique & leadership book that focused so much on the individual. In contrast, Jim Collins' book "Good to Great" describes level 1 through 5 leaders. Let the reader decide for himself/herself what level is CAPT Abrashoff.

Michael Abrashoff is an excellent storyteller. You are amazed at what he was able to accomplish in the Navy, of all places. Michael shows that you CAN make a difference in your organization. There is power in one....I highly recommend this book to any manager. It is an inspiring story.

As the title states. I ordered and paid for a new book, however when it arrived it was worn with a store added bar-code that stated "Used very good". Too bad they didn't send the back extra money with my order. I'm sure the book will be great. Go Navy!

The more I read the more I'm glad I never had to report to this man. I find it difficult to believe that the US Navy is still afloat without him. My company has suggested that the senior staff read this book. I'm all for improving and streamlining and more importantly increasing the morale and trust within the team. This book is nothing more than common sense. Treat people as you wish to be treated.

I found this to be a well-written guide to working with troops and getting the best organizational performance.

The concept and practices aren't necessarily always unique military in nature so they can be applied to civilian organizations.

I read this book specifically to be prepared for the job I'm doing now as a section chief in a military unit.
Good stuff.

This is a great read, full of a lot of useful information. I first read it in 2009 and put what I learned to use immediately. I gave my old copy away a year ago, so I bought this so I could read and refresh all the good stuff this book has to offer.