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It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by D. Michael Abrashoff
mbynum's review against another edition
4.0
Solid stories about leadership. A little incoherent in the overall book, as stories do not necessarily build on each other.
hellolauradarling's review against another edition
5.0
This was great. I listened to the audio book. Time if relatable stories and inspiring advice.
tikitechie's review against another edition
5.0
A great guide to leadership by empowering your subordinates and encouraging disseminated decision making. I flew through this book
davidcalhoun's review against another edition
4.0
“I summarized the Benfold playbook, my recipe for running this phenomenal crew and ship. I tried not to sound like Moses, but my commandments were no less heartfelt. They were simply the chapter headings of this book: 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.”
andyreadsfantasy's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
I listened to the audiobook and followed along in the actual book to take notes.
I think there are two groups of leaders, those that have to work at it and try to improve and the lucky ones that are just natural leaders. And Abrashoff is a natural leader. Unfortunately, this means he doesn’t really know how talk about leadership with substance. (Similar to Richard Branson’s book, The Virgin Way).
What this equates to is a book that’s 10% good leadership philosophy, 30% obvious leadership advice, and 60% stories/bragging about how good of a leader he is. It would be a worse rating, but the stories were at least interesting, which makes an okay audiobook.
All in all, you can definitely find better books on leadership.
I listened to the audiobook and followed along in the actual book to take notes.
I think there are two groups of leaders, those that have to work at it and try to improve and the lucky ones that are just natural leaders. And Abrashoff is a natural leader. Unfortunately, this means he doesn’t really know how talk about leadership with substance. (Similar to Richard Branson’s book, The Virgin Way).
What this equates to is a book that’s 10% good leadership philosophy, 30% obvious leadership advice, and 60% stories/bragging about how good of a leader he is. It would be a worse rating, but the stories were at least interesting, which makes an okay audiobook.
All in all, you can definitely find better books on leadership.
wwatts1734's review against another edition
4.0
Published almost 20 years ago now, "It's Your Ship" is a modern management classic that is widely read and recommended not just in the military but in Corporate America as well. When CMDR Abrashoff took command of the USS Benfold, the ship was the worst in the US Navy Pacific Fleet, but when he ended his command tour 2 years later, the ship was the best in the Pacific Fleet. Abrashoff explains how he did it in this book. Care for his sailors, openness to new ideas, a willingness to take risks and an emphasis of effectiveness over tradition had completely transformed his ship and made their tour on the Benfold a great experience for his sailors. The lessons for all sorts of organizations are clear. Bad leadership begets bad performance, and unhappy employees will not lift an organization to success. Because of this, "It's Your Ship" is must reading for leaders, especially senior leaders, in all sorts of organization.
There are only two criticisms that I have of this book. The first is that many of the lessons learned in this book could have been summed with one word; humility. Leaders with humility listen to their subordinates, care for their wellbeing and do not abuse their authority. Interestingly, the word humility is hardly ever used in this book. This is one of my pet peeves with modern leadership books. In order to be socially acceptable, these books present ancient wisdom without referring to the source of this wisdom. It is almost as though modern leadership writers are afraid to admit that they adhere to value ethics, classical philosophy or (gasp), religious principles. Unfortunately this book falls into that category.
Another criticism that I have of the book is the naive vision of the military that it presents. Granted that this is a short book, and granted that its intended audience is non-military leaders, but it seems like Abrashoff panders to popular impressions of military leaders and unthinking, tradition-bound, ego driven tyrants who are only interested in advancing their careers. As a retired military officer myself, I can testify that these types of leaders exist in the military, and there are far too many of them. But I would estimate that most military leaders today, and especially senior leaders, are not in this mold. The principles advanced by Abrashoff are in wide application today, although not as wide as they should be. And perhaps it's a testimony to the effectiveness of "It's Your Ship" that this book may have transformed many otherwise narcissistic military leaders into collaborative and effective commanders.
Overall I highly recommend "It's Your Ship" to all leaders both in the military and in civilian life.
There are only two criticisms that I have of this book. The first is that many of the lessons learned in this book could have been summed with one word; humility. Leaders with humility listen to their subordinates, care for their wellbeing and do not abuse their authority. Interestingly, the word humility is hardly ever used in this book. This is one of my pet peeves with modern leadership books. In order to be socially acceptable, these books present ancient wisdom without referring to the source of this wisdom. It is almost as though modern leadership writers are afraid to admit that they adhere to value ethics, classical philosophy or (gasp), religious principles. Unfortunately this book falls into that category.
Another criticism that I have of the book is the naive vision of the military that it presents. Granted that this is a short book, and granted that its intended audience is non-military leaders, but it seems like Abrashoff panders to popular impressions of military leaders and unthinking, tradition-bound, ego driven tyrants who are only interested in advancing their careers. As a retired military officer myself, I can testify that these types of leaders exist in the military, and there are far too many of them. But I would estimate that most military leaders today, and especially senior leaders, are not in this mold. The principles advanced by Abrashoff are in wide application today, although not as wide as they should be. And perhaps it's a testimony to the effectiveness of "It's Your Ship" that this book may have transformed many otherwise narcissistic military leaders into collaborative and effective commanders.
Overall I highly recommend "It's Your Ship" to all leaders both in the military and in civilian life.
revennaras's review against another edition
3.0
The whole time reading this just made me think about how awful the Navy Leadership must be. Captain Abrashoff was certainly a good leader, but it sounds like he didn't have much competition in that regard