Turn The Ship Around!: How to Create Leadership at Every Level

From the vantage point of the commander of the USS Santa Fe, read how the crew completely turned the ship around, going from worst to first by questioning many of our basic leadership assumptions and shifting from take-control authority to give-control empowerment.

Share the author's insights as the crew gains unprecedented decision making authority, the risks of doing so, and the reward of an exponentially more effective and more resilient organization.

Learn how to achieve astounding results by applying the author’s practical steps, such as
- Release proactivity and initiative with 'I intend to...'
- Build teamwork and minimize errors with “deliberate action”
- Enhance responsibility and ownership by eliminating top-down monitoring
- Improving morale by focusing on excellence rather than errors.

See what it’s really like to operate a nuclear submarine -- from navigation to missile launching -- and learn the mechanisms used to propel Santa Fe not only to the top but to achieve a lasting transformation, one that resulted in the ship's continued operational excellence and the highly disproportionate promotion rate among Santa Fe’s crew long after Marquet had left command.

A top graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, L. David Marquet led a distinguished career in the U.S. submarine force. He commanded the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Santa Fe, stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Captain Marquet completely turned around Santa Fe, where the crew went from being “worst to first.” Santa Fe earned numerous awards for being the most improved ship in the Pacific and the most combat-effective ship in the squadron. Santa Fe continued to win awards after his departure and promoted a disproportionate number of officers and enlisted men to positions of increased responsibility. After riding USS Santa Fe, noted author Stephen R. Covey said it was the most empowering organization he’d ever seen and wrote about Captain Marquet’s leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit.

His bold and highly effective leadership can be summarized as “give control, create leaders.” He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and lives in Florida with his wife, Jane.