Bob's Books

Why this book:  A couple of good friends said they had read it and really liked it.  Since I have always eanjoyed and learned from books about people struggling to survive in unforgiving environments, I figured I would enjoy this one – it certainly fits that genre!

My Impressions:  I liked the book, though I would not recommend it as “literature.”  It is written by an engineer,  and problem solvers with an engineer’s mind set will enjoy it most. It is not for those looking for emotional content or reading about someone’s inner life and development.

Our protagonist is  Mark Whatney, assigned as botanist and mechanical engineer to NASA’s Ares 3 mission to Mars.  Whatney is left on Mars after disappearing and being presumed dead, as a sudden and very violent storm forced the crew to leave immediately, or they would all die.  Obviously, Whatney regains consciousness,  and realizes that his crewmates had been forced to leave him for dead. And realizing that he is now alone and on his own, the problem solving begins.

The expedition had left an extensive amount of equipment at their station, to include a habitat and equipment to support the crew of six in what was planned to be a stay of a month or so for exploration and experimentation.  Whatney was able to live in the habitat, evaluate his situation and options, and figure out how he might be able to survive with  enough oxygen, water, heat, air pressure, and food for the several years until  another expedition might be able to rescue him. Initially he has no communications.  This is one of the problems he has to solve.  He faces mishap after mishap, one major challenge after another, and with each, he regroups, looks at his options and immediately commences problem-solving.  The book is a testament to the ingenuity of an engineer with a positive attitude

After we become acquainted with Mark Whatney and his situation, we are taken back to NASA  headquarters where we learn what is happening on planet earth after NASA realizes that Whatney is still alive.  An important part of the book is the contrast in perspectives between NASA headquarters and Whatney, and eventually the crew of Ares 3 which had left Whatney behind. The book takes us inside those three worlds – Whatney’s on Mars, NASA headquarters, and the Ares 3 space station.

The book is an amazing tutorial on the physics and practical issues associated with living in space – and Weir tells it well. I  am NOT an engineer nor a scientist, and yet I found his descriptions and practical problem solving compelling.  Weir also gave us a glimpse at crisis decision making that would make for a good leadership discussion: How the expedition leader decided to leave Whatney, NASA’s dealing with their options and priorities when discussing a rescue attempt, and the internal dynamics and decision making within the Ares 3 crew who were still in space, when they learned of Whatney’s survival.   The leadership model portrayed in this book is traditional – that of the heroic leader as expert and chess master – and to whom all look for wisdom and decision making.

What the book didn’t have was much “emotional content.”   I was over 200 pages into the book before I learned whether Whatney was gay or straight, and I never learned of any romantic interest. His connection to his parents was only briefly touched upon – and after months alone on Mars, no glimpses of an inner life.  It was as if his whole life was simply detached problem solving, with glimpses of frustration and his snarky sense of humor (which I liked.)

A couple of things Weir did that I liked – a real 21st century switching of gender roles. The Ares expedition commander was a woman and an impressive leader; the most profane and un-pc character in the book was the female Public Affairs Officer for NASA; Whatney himself was profane and un-pc, making goofy, almost immature off-hand comments that one might imagine coming from one of the techno-nerds in The Big Bang Theory.  He keeps his sense of humor throughout, even when his world is turning to kaka – but then he rapidly re-assumes his positive attitude and gets to work addressing, and solving the problem at hand, and finding a way to move forward.

Another interesting piece that Weir threw in:  The United States needed China to help them ultimately find a way to rescue Whatney, and China volunteered their help. While Whatney was stranded, the whole world was watching and rooting for him and rooting for America and her scientist-astronauts to rescue him.  The role that space exploration can play in helping us earthlings to see ourselves as one-world, was one of Weir’s not-so-subtle subthemes. But it was subtle enough -not overdone.

The day I finished the book, I went to see the movie.  It represents the book well, though the producers couldn’t help but overly-jazz up the ending, Hollywood style, and different (and less effective) than the book.   But, by and large it was faithful to the story, was well done and I recommend it.  I enjoyed both the book and the movie.

Why this book:  The All American Leadership team I work with designated Disrupt You! as a book to read and discuss as part of its on-going learning.  Also Rob Nielsen, AAL’s CEO, told me that if I liked The Innovator’s DNA, I would love Disrupt You!  I did like The Innovator’s DNA, as noted in my review of it , so I looked forward to reading Disrupt You!

My impressions: Disrupt You! reinforces many of the same points and insights as The Innovator’s DNA, but in a more personal style and with even more stories and examples. It is something of an autobiography of the author Jay Samit’s life and experience as a very successful  disruptive innovator from the early 80s to the present day.  Jay was one of the founders of Linkedin and was connected in some way to many of the technological innovations of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s that have changed the way we live.  His book is his story, and reflects insights and anecdotes from one of the most dynamic change windows our economy has ever seen. Disrupt You! includes stories of many other successful entrepreneurs who either found, or created niches in the market for new and “disruptive” products or ideas, and thereby created great value for themselves, their investors and their customers.

The first 4 chapters in the book focus on personal growth and transformation.  He describes the disruptive mindset – thinking laterally outside of conventional patterns – and how to anticipate and become part of creative disruption. The next section of the book is how to succeed as a disruptor – within a larger corporation, or within the larger market.  He provides many examples of entrepreneurs building  businesses by solving problems that others didn’t see as opportunities. One of his key messages throughout the book is that successful disruptors don’t complain about problems; what others see as a problem or annoyance, disruptors perceive as opportunities to find a better way – a solution – and in the process, create or possibly disrupt a whole market.  He offers many fascinating examples.

The last several chapters of the book take a bigger-picture look, with titles such as: “Capital Revisited,” “Disruption in the era of the Crowd,” and “Disrupt the World.”  His chapter “Disrupt the World” looks at education, human capital, energy and transportation among other fields, and shows how all these areas continue to be disrupted by creative entrepreneurs who envision new possibilities. Each section of the book offers something different – and all parts offer a multitude of examples that help make his points.

One of my favorite chapters was “Disruptors at Work and the Value of Intrapreneurship,” in which he offers examples and insights for how disruptive entrepreneurs can change an organization from within. He does note however that disruptive change agents must have ‘top cover’  to be effective, and must be willing to swim up stream, since most organizations are focused on efficiency rather than innovation, and mid-level managers hate disruption.    “An intrapreneur disrupts from within the corporation rather than waiting for the company to be attacked by external forces.”

Another one of my favorite chapters is “Design: Disruption through Aesthetics.”  When he was a young man Samit boldly emailed Bill Gates, who he had never met, asking for an introduction to David Geffen, one of the most powerful men in the music industry, so that he could pitch an idea to him.  Remarkably, Gates provided this young stranger with the introduction he requested.  When he finally met Geffen, Samit offered him  50% ownership of his company, for no money and at no risk in order to simply get his endorsing support and connections.  Geffen accepted the offer and delivered on making the connections,  which led to enormous success and profits for both of them.  Samit’s point:  Fortune favors the bold, never underestimate good luck,  and “100% of nothing is nothing, but 50% of something can be worth millions.”

A constant drumbeat within Disrupt You! is that every market, every industry, the most well-established pillars of the economy are vulnerable to disruption, and WILL be disrupted. His message – better to be a disruptor than a disruptee. And Disrupt You!  provides guidance and insight to help, if not to become a disruptor yourself, to at least better understand and appreciate the creative value of disruption.

Samit highlighted his key points throughout each chapter, making it easy for the reader to quickly gather nuggets.  Some of my favorites:

“The trouble with most entrepreneurs is that they would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

“Insight and drive are all the skills you need. Everything else can be hired.”

“Problems are just businesses waiting for the right entrepreneur to unlock the value.”

“‘Speed to fail’ should be every entreprenuer’s motto. When you finally find the one idea that can’t be killed, go with it.”

On Intrapreneurship: “…the problem I faced back then wasn’t senior management’s not getting it, but rather my inability to communicate my vision in a context that they could comprehend.  For all disruptors, this is the most important lesson anyone can learn”

“An average idea enthusiastically embraced will go further than a genius idea no one gets.”

“What I discovered was that the trick to disrupting from within an organization is you get what you want by giving the company what it thinks it wants.”

“The adage that the master appears when the student is ready to learn is only true if you make the effort to seek out advice.”

“If your idea is truly disruptive to a market, get used to hearing the word no.”

“The right passionate team is far more important to a start-up’s success, than the right idea.”

A couple of Downsides to the book: (1)  In the structuring of the book, sometimes the chapters seem a bit artificial.  There are so many stories and vignettes I sometimes had the feeling that many of them could have gone into any chapter. The content of the book doesn’t neatly fit into the chapters he created to structure it.   (2) I don’t believe Samit gives adequate credit to the non-disruptors who are essential to run businesses, who make the economy function.  Robert Solomon in his book A Better Way to Think About Business laments that American culture glorifies the entrepreneur often at the expense of, and certainly without giving adquate credit to the hard working people in the trenches who make a business run every day.  I would have liked to have seen Samit give more acknowledgement to the support that disruptive entrepreneurs need to carry out their ingenious and creative ideas, from the many of us  who may be less bold or creative.

Why this book: Selected by my reading group for our meeting in late November 2015. I nominated it after hearing it referred to at a memorial service. The pastor  noted Wilber Larch’s imperative to “Be of Use” in one’s life, and in how one lives in a community.  I looked into it and found that The Cider House Rules is very highly regarded and considered almost a modern American classic.

My Impressions:  I looked forward to sitting down to immerse myself in the story of this book – mostly because of the interesting characters and the choices they made in their lives – not because it was a cliff-hanger or so-called page- turner.  The setting is rural Maine in the 1930’s through 1950s.  There is  section early on which takes us back to the slums of Boston in the 1880s to provide background on one of the main characters – Dr Wilbur Larch, obstetrician and director of a small orphanage in a remote part of Maine.  Going back to his earlier period is key to understanding how Dr Larch became who he was – not only an obstetrician and orphanage director, but also an underground abortionist, performing abortions whenever requested – not for money, but on principle.  He delivers children of women who come to the orphanage, pregnant with a child they can’t or don’t want to raise, and then his orphanage would raise and nurture the child, while Dr Larch sought a family to adopt it.   He performs abortions for women who come to him pregnant within the first trimester, who don’t want to bring their child to term.  In The Cider House Rules, Dr Larch is always in the background as the conscience of the book – an imperfect, but a very rational, selfless, and principled conscience.

THE main character of the book is Homer Wells, one of Dr Larch’s orphans who is truly exceptional from early on in his childhood.  Dr Larch essentially adopts him, and  given his unusual precociousness, trains him to be his assistant, and he becomes very good as an obstetrician. As an unlicensed doctor and obstetrician, Homer is uniquely talented – Dr Larch calls him his work of art.  But Homer has a philosophical position against abortion and refuses to participate in or support Dr Larch in these operations. When as a young man, Homer leaves the orphanage with a wealthy young couple, the story takes on and challenges conventional wisdom on:  Love, work, marriage, principle, duty, honesty, compromise, WW2, loyalty, and the racism and prejudice of the day.  It is truly a multi-dimensional and great story.

One of the sub-themes in The Cider House Rules is the tension between fatalism and free will, and John Irving definitely takes a stand. One also sees the subtle interplay between life and death, birth and dying. Religion, moral theory, spirituality are not directly addressed but are clear sub-themes in the book.  Much to discuss in these areas, where principle and theory bump up against practicality.   Following one’s heart is a key message in this book, that only by doing so can one find one’s proper destiny.  Throughout this story, we see how the good life, and the good in life come from feeding and nurturing the heart.   Much more so than following the “rules” of society.

The “cider house rules,” from which the book gets its name, are rules that are posted in a dormitory where migrant workers lived during apple picking season. No one reads nor follows these rules.  In the cider house, the workers follow their own rules, driven by their own imperatives, and the posted rules have little impact.  Lots of rules are broken in the cider house, and life goes on.  In fact people break the rules sometimes in order that life can go on. There are internal and external imperatives that drive people to act and live as they do – and people choose to live by rules that work for them in their specific circumstances.  The importance of listening to and living by the rules of one’s heart is an important message of this book.  Follow your heart, he tells us.

The story rolled along very well, unique and idiosyncratic without becoming too bizarre.   But Irving didn’t develop his cast of fascinating characters as well as I would have liked. The reader can’t help but like and admire Homer Wells, but we don’t learn much about his emotional life.  We learn a bit more about Dr Larch – but sense that he almost doesn’t have an emotional life, except in his devotion to Homer, his duty,  and his work.  There are several interesting women in the book, but I felt  I never really got to know them.  Compared to how Tolstoy developed his characters in Anna Karenina, the characters in The Cider House Rules were two dimensional.  Great story, great characters, I loved reading the book – but I wanted to know these fascinating characters better.

That said, the book deserves its outstanding reputation. A few lines from the book that caught my attention:

“You think an engine is so special? I could teach you how the heart works, thought Wilbur Larch- his own heart teaching him about itself, and much more than its function as a muscle.”

“Wasn’t life in nice places shallow?” (particularly meaningful to me, living in San Diego.)

Dr Larch: “What is this fascination the world has with death?”

A quote from Jane Eyre which was read and re-read to the girls in the orphanage: “…it is madness in all women to let a secret love kindle within them, which if unreturned and unknown, must devour the life that feeds it….”

Another quote from their reading of Jane Eyre: “It is vain to say that human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility; they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.”

“….never underestimate the darker necessities of the world…”

“You can’t protect people, kiddo. All you can do is love them.”

“’History,’ wrote Dr. Larch, is composed of the smallest, almost undetected mistakes.’”

“He knew what Larch would have told him: His happiness was not the point, or that it wasn’t as important as his usefulness.”

Why this book: It was recommended to me by Michael, with whom I shared a combination great bike ride and great discussion a couple of months ago. I noticed that the book got great reviews, won a number of awards, and it’s short length (238 pages in paperback) was not too daunting to take on between novels in my reading group.

My impressions: Out Stealing Horses was originally written in Norwegian – we are reading the English translation.  It is written in first person, and told by a 67 year old man who has retired and withdrawn to live out his remaining years in a rural Norwegian village.  The story focuses on a series of events he recalls from when he was  15 years old, growing up in a mountain village in Norway in 1948.  He tells of learning of mysterious and heroic roles that adults in his life had played in the Norwegian resistance to Nazi occupation in WW2.  One of those adults was his father,  who he loved and admired, and yet struggled to understand as he was coming to terms with his own budding adult-hood. His first romantic/sexual desires create a subtle but fascinating sub-theme in the confusing series of events he recounts.   Ultimately there is an unexplained violation of trust that has a powerful impact on the narrator.

He is telling us his story late in middle age, but we only learn bits and pieces of what happened in his life after the events he describes from over 50 years earlier.   It became clear to me that these boyhood events were somehow key to understanding the rest of his life and who he became.  I sensed also, that our narrator was still trying to sort it all out – and in the end, so was I – which is an important part of why this book intrigued me.

The book leaves a lot of questions unanswered and loose ends unresolved.  Though I wanted to know more, my sense is that there is a reason the author left me guessing.   Whatever happened to…?  or, Why did this happen…..?  or How/why did this person do that?  The answers to these questions may not have mattered.  At the conclusion, we are left with a story of powerful and poignant events from his boyhood in the mountains of Norway, which gave clues as to why he ultimately chose to withdraw from society and become a semi-recluse.

I believe the unanswered and unresolved questions are key to what makes this book so compelling, and why it won so many awards.

The book is very well done and enjoyable to read.  It is short,  but not fast moving.   I recommend reading it with another thoughtful reader, and after finishing the book, grab a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses and meet to discuss what Per Petterson may have been trying to say, and how this story affected you.  It’ll be an interesting discussion.

Why this book: This book was selected by the team I work with – All American Leadership – to be read and discussed as a group. I am familiar with Marshall Goldsmith’s approach – have seen him speak several times, met him, read some of his other writings. And I like his approach.

My Impressions: Marshall Goldsmith offers us the practical advice he gives to his coaching clients on how to become better leaders and people.   To use his words: “One of this book’s central arguments is that our environment affects us in powerful, insidious, and mysterious ways.” Triggers discusses the interaction between who we are, and the environment in which we act, and offers simple and practical advice on how to be proactive in changing how we react to our environment. His point is that much of our behavior is driven by our responses to “triggers”- those situations and people in our environment that push our buttons, and drive us to behave the way we do.  He points out that we are often unaware of these triggers. The result is that we often impact others and our environment in ways that we either don’t intend, or are unaware of.

Triggers is a “self-help” book offering a very practical guide for changing our behavior, and in the process, improving our character.  He gives many examples of how his clients have used his approach to change their behavior and how those changes positively affected the way they think and see the world.  When his clients changed undesired or dysfunctional behavior, their improved behavior positively affected the worlds in which they lived and worked.

“My main goal in writing this book has been relatively modest: to help you achieve lasting positive change in the behavior that is most important to you.”    He says most of us need accountability measures – help from others, or from a coach – to keep us on track, and to help us determine whether we REALLY want to get better, or simply say we do.

What I like most about Triggers is that it does not allow the reader to be a victim and accepts no self-pity.   He states throughout the book that we must own our responses to whatever our environment throws at us. He effectively invokes simple Buddhist precepts in recommending acceptance of things we can’t control, while working hard to control what we can.  One is reminded of the Serenity Prayer. And of Stoicism.

A few ideas from the book, to perhaps wet your appetite:

He claims that there are two immutable “Truths” in changing our behavior:

1.  Meaningful behavior change is hard to do.
2.  No one can make us change unless we truly want to change.

He offers up 15 beliefs or misconceptions that get in the way of real behavioral change, to include one of my favorites: “An epiphany will suddenly change my life.”

He has a great chapter on “engagement” noting that he believes much of the data indicates that American workers are disengaged because of the way the questions upon which the data are based, are asked.  He puts a large part of the responsibility on the workers themselves. They are not “choosing” to be engaged.

Goldsmith strongly advocates “active” questions.   Rather than ask an employee “Were you engaged in your work today?” he recommends that we ask “Did you do your best to be engaged in your work today?” He notes that the second question puts much of the responsibility for engagement on the employee, not simply the management team.

He offers up six fundamental “active” questions – the cover of the book calls these “6 Questions to Kick-Start Change” – but suggests that each individual craft the questions that best fit their personal needs for growth in their own lives and work: He suggests:

Did I do my best to:

1. Set goals today?
2. Make progress toward my goals today?
3. Find meaning today?
4. Be happy today?
5. Build positive relationships today?
6. Be fully engaged today?

He points to the secret power of daily check-ins and self-questioning on whether we’re “doing our best” to be as good as we want to be.  He points out that if we keep falling short on a particular goal, eventually we realize that that goal is clearly not that important to us, and we will either  stop asking ourselves how we’re doing, or we will push ourselves to more effective action.

In answering these questions, he strongly recommends grading or quantifying our effort in each endeavor.  This allows us to better “structure” our effort, which he insists is essential for most of us to progress.

I enjoyed his discussion of the insidious effects of emotional and motivational “depletion” that come from the stress of managing our emotions and responses, in environments where certain behaviors are expected or demanded for us to be effective.  From my own experience running a large organization, I know that my decisions at the end of the day, or the end of the week were not as confident, compassionate, insightful, or wise as at the beginning.  “Depletion” as he describes it, is more than just being tired.

I loved his Buddhist parable of “the empty boat.” My wife and I now ask each other, when we start getting upset at something, whether we’re railing against an “empty boat.” There’s just no point in getting upset at an empty boat. Goldsmith the Buddhist, says, “It’s always an  empty boat.”

The bottom lines to Triggers:

1. “Change doesn’t happen overnight;
2. Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day-in and day-out;
3. If we make the effort we get better. If we don’t we won’t.”

AND: “In order to make meaningful change in our lives, we need: commitment, motivation, self-discipline, self control, patience.

There is a lot of wisdom, and great practical advice in Triggers.  I recently told a friend/mentor about Goldsmith’s recommendations for daily questions.  My friend responded, “So, what are your daily questions?”  Hmmm…Wake up call. Ok. Time to get started, especially if I’m serious about becoming  a better person.

Why this book: I read this book 50 years ago, when I was 13 years old, just a few years after it came out – and I remember that it made quite an impression on me.   My reading group selected Go Set a Watchman – Harper Lee’s “new” release for our next book, and I saw this as an opportunity to do what I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time – re-read To Kill a Mockingbird (which I’ll refer to as “TKM”) which I hope will help set up a greater appreciation of Go Set a Watchman.

My impressions: I loved re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird.  While I loved it for many of the same reasons as the first time I read it, the perspective of age and experience helped me to appreciate it more and in a different way.   Of course I knew the story – I remembered it from the first time I read it, and I’ve seen the excellent movie several times.   This time I focused on Harper Lee’s writing – how she tells the story, how she depicts and develops her characters, how she describes life in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. To me, her story and her writing are sincere and authentic. And how could you not like Scout – precocious, uninhibited, free-spirited, and trying so hard to understand grown-ups and to be more grown-up than she was.

As I read TKM, I was reminded of two other books I’ve recently read: Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt’s story told through his eyes as a child, of the crazy adult world he experienced in depression era Ireland. Angela’s Ashes and TKM are striking in how both evoke the innocence and practical perspective, as well as the idealism of childhood, and we see how ridiculous some of what adults accept as normal, appears to a child. Frank McCourt and Harper Lee were masters at helping us return to the innocence and honesty of that childhood perspective.

The other book was An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood by Jimmy Carter. In that book, Jimmy Carter tells of growing up in rural Georgia during the same period a TKM takes place. I recall how he experienced shock and anger upon realizing that his black playmates from out on the farm couldn’t join him in activities in town. It just didn’t make sense to him, and he struggled to understand this injustice, eventually being forced to accommodate himself to the reality of that place and time – as Scout and Jem had to do in  TKM.

What I didn’t recall from my first reading or the movie, was how so much of the book is about the maturing of Scout’s older brother Jem. Scout is young, precocious and outgoing; Jem is about six years older, moving into his teenage years and a thoughtful introvert. We see through Scout’s eyes how Jem is struggling to create his own identity, to live up to the values and example of Atticus, and to be respected as an adult.  Scout truly admires him for that, all the while fighting for respect and recognition from her older brother.  Jem is truly one of the more interesting characters in the book and in some sense, the book is as much a coming of age book about Jem as it is about Scout.

The other aspect of the book that I loved was how Harper Lee used Scout’s perspective on the colorful cast of characters who lived there to evoke an image of life in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama.   It reminded me of how Steinbeck painted the picture of depression era Monterey in Cannery Row by introducing us to one unusual and colorful character after another. In TKM, we get to know an amazing list of eccentric and interesting people who made up the mosaic of Maycomb:  Calpurnia, the wise and highly respected black housekeeper and surrogate mother to Scout and Jem; Dolphus Raymond who lived with a black woman down by the river, and feigned alcoholism so that people wouldn’t judge him too harshly for that other transgression; Dill, Jem’s and Scout’s creative and clever summer playmate, who Scout considered to be her fiance – whatever that meant; Mrs Dubose, the grouchy old woman down the street who seemed to have no good sides, until after she died, when Atticus explained how she died with amazing courage; Sheriff Heck Tate, who at the end of the book chose to lie and violate his professional duty for a greater good, but who was not so courageous when it came to possibly protecting a black man; Aunt Alexandra, who Harper Lee set up to represent the worst of Maycomb’s “High Society,” but who we came to respect by the end of the book; and Miss Maudie, one of the few adults who treated Scout and Jem with respect and seemed to share their fundamental values.  Like Atticus – Miss Maudie always tried to see the good side of people. And of course there were Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Bob and Mayella Ewell, each of whom has become an iconic and tragic figure in the landscape of modern American literature.  These are some of the characters who Harper Lee uses to paint her compelling picture of the seemingly idyllic and peaceful life in small-town Maycomb, Alabama, built upon an unjust social structure of class, bigotry and prejudice.

Atticus Finch is the moral centerpiece of the book – and the way Harper Lee describes his generosity of spirit, his wisdom, and even his innocence in the face of evil, makes him an idealized and well known figure to all of us – perhaps in part because Gregory Peck plays him so well in the movie. He not only represents an ideal of fatherhood, but also of courage, justice and integrity in America.

I was inspired AGAIN by this simple but beautifully told story, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who thinks they don’t need to read it again, because they know the story. The story is tragic and wonderful at the same time.  This time, I was able to savor and better appreciate how she told it.

Why this book. This is one of the keystone books used by All American Leadership, a company I do work with. Intereseting that a number of the leaders of AAL, including its CEO Rob Nielsen, are West Point graduates and have little experience of the Navy, but are embracing the leadership model that this book offers in their consulting in the corporate world. I read it as part of the catechism of being part of AAL. I realized that an important part of why I choose to work with them is because they embrace the principles in this book.

My Impressions: I wish I had read this book before I had command in the Navy, and before I led my team at University of San Diego.  I sent a copy to my son, who is going into his own “command” in a few months, and I think he will get some good ideas from it.   Though I believe I followed many of his principles in my own command style both in and outside the Navy, I learned a lot from this book. Marquet lays out in a simple and very readable form  a great philosophy and outline of how to transform a culture from a traditional, top-down, leader-follower organization, to a less traditional, leader-leader and much more engaged culture.  He backs up his philosophy with engaging anecdotes from his experience leading a fast-attack submarine.   His approach requires that the leader be willing to give up control, to delegate much more authority and responsibility than most leaders are used to, in order to get greater engagement, and greater response from the team s/he is leading.  Yeah – I know – you can delegate authority but not responsibility, but his point is that if only the leader feels responsible,  the leader is not getting full engagement from the team.  He talks about how the leader can make those on the team BE and FEEL responsible for the mission and performance of the whole team.

I enjoyed that Marquet challenged the traditional military model of Leader-centric leadership that I grew up with. He challenges the concept of the leader as the center of attention and the fount of all wisdom, experience, and authority in an organization. Such a model is not only not optimally effective, it does not optimally develop future leaders.    Success in the leader-centric model depends on the leader being right all, or nearly all the time and has fewer mechanisms for the wisdom of the team to contribute to success. Most of us grew up with this leadership model in books and movies – the charismatic leader who everyone looked up to, who gave orders, leads with an iron fist,  and saves the day.  All of us wanted to be that leader – the hero, the father-figure, the great one who everyone admired and aspired to be. But it is an old model that may work in some limited circumstances, but not in most environments in today’s complex and well-developed society, and doesn’t adequately respect the competence, energy, and insights of others on the team.

Marquet explicitly says that he chose to overturn much of what he had learned about leadership at the Naval Academy and in the Navy to create his own model. I think he overstates that case somewhat – though I think he has some original and creative ideas, his model is not unique or new; I have seen other leaders who have succeeded with similar styles and methods. But this book offers an excellent approach, and when I talk to junior (and senior) military people about leadership, I often refer them to this book. I also think the book has much to teach non-miltary organizations, and All American Leadership uses it extensively in their corporate consulting. I have suggested to rising CPOs to read this book with their new division or platoon officers; to new XOs and COs to read this book together.    I suggest that leaders in any organization read this book with their teams and discuss how and to what degree they can implement the tenets Marquet proposes within their organizations.

So what does he recommend? In short, pushing authority and responsibility down as far as they can go. But this must be done incrementally and carefully, as the leader and his/her team must ensure that adequate technical competence and organizational clarity on objectives are in place to ensure the team is ready to succeed when given increased authority and responsibility. Marquet inherited a ship that was used to traditional top-down leadership, and in his book, he shares his deliberate, and often frustrating process of getting people to assume more responsibility than they were used to, and to take initiative in their jobs, rather than waiting to simply be told what they’re supposed to do.  When everyone on the team knows and “owns” their job, owns the consequences of their performance, feels a sense of ownership of and responsibility for the mission and the team, well trained and good people don’t have to be told to what to do or to work hard.   Leaders are then freed up to do more work on quality, give more attention to developing people as leaders, and less on giving direction and providing oversight

A few specific lessons from the book:  Below are a few takeaways from Turn the Ship Around.

Use language of empowerment:

• Have people say “I intend to….” instead of “Request permission to….”
• Have people say “I plan to…” instead of “”I would like to…”
• Have people say “I will look at alternatives and come back with my recommendation…” instead of “What should I do now?”

Don’t Brief. Certify. Leaders shouldn’t brief their people on what needs to be done.  They should provide intent with constraints and restraints and then let their subordinates brief them on how they will fulfill the mission, the leader’s intent.  Briefings by leaders allow people to passively sit and be told what the plan is and what they are supposed to do.  For the leader to “Certify” demands that people know the plan and what they’re to do. They brief the leadership on what they plan to do, and the leader(s) ask them questions to “certify” that they know the plan and their responsibilities, thus allowing the leaders to determine that their team is ready.

Resist the urge to provide solutions. This is hard.  Leaders must be teachers, and the best learning is done when people struggle with a problem, have to think, to be creative, and then ultimately attain the satisfaction of finding a solution. Then leaders provide input and positive feedback, and if appropriate, suggest other considerations. Learning takes place – and people begin to learn how to think.

Reward initiative. Seek to build a culture focused on achieveing excellence rather than avoiding making mistakes. To achieve excellence, mistakes are necessary.   Tolerate and even embrace well intentioned mistakes.

Decion making.  Making decisions is the most important job the leader has.  HOW s/he makes them  is perhaps more important.

• If a decision needs to be made now, make it. Then debrief and critique it afterward with your team. YOU ARE FALLIBLE – and can learn.  And in understanding how and why you decided as you did, involves teaching AND learning.
• If a decision needs to be made soon – get input – then make the decision.  You are fallible.  You’ll get surprisingly good input – if you are open to it.
• If a decision can wait (and most can) – force the team to give inputs. Give them boundaries and general guidance. Encourage and cherish disagreement and dissension. To whatever degree possible, embrace THEIR decision. And give them credit for it.

Understand the objectives of  process. Change processes when they don’t make sense.. Marquet offers many examples of people simply and blindly following process without consideration for the objectives the processes are in place to achieve. Leaders keep objectives in mind and see processes as means to achieving objectives, not as ends unto themselves. Leaders look to modify processes that are ineffective, or if there is a better way, to achieve objectives.

Specify goals, not methods. This goes with resisting the urge to provide solutions. Encourage thinking and creativity to achieve goals.  People will develop methods that the old-hands never thought of. Ask for in-progress reviews to keep “methods” on track.

Repeat the message, continuously, consistently. A constantly repeated message – key values, principles, guidance –  will stick. Constant repetition reinforces the importance of the message.  Pick the most important values, principles, guidance, and repeat them continuously and consistently.

Think outloud. Marquet dismisses the idea of closed and “professional” communications that are typical in military culture. He encourages leaders to share their thought processes, so that team members understand and feel included in the process of making decisions. He says that “thinking outloud is essential for making the leap from leader-follower to leader-leader.”

He concludes his book with this simple line:  “Give Control. Create Leaders.”