It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy

“It’s Your Ship” takes the everyday successful practices of great managers and shows that no matter where they are applied, even on a $1 Billion warship, you can deliver exceptional results. It's connection to the US military allowed me to picture Mark and Mike in their military roles and learning their management practices.

Written by US Navy Commander D. Michael Abrashoff, of the USS Benfold, “It’s Your Ship” takes you on a cruise around the world of how good management delivers spectacular results. Commander Abrashoff tells a wonderful story of how he changed the behavior of every officer and sailor on the USS Benfold, even when it faced the political and military challenges of preparing for ‘combat readiness’, where lives are on the line.

He does this in a relaxing manner that allows the reader to absorb these concepts as if you were listening to good friend telling you about a day in his office. “It’s Your Ship” is simple to read and understand since it comes to you from an milieu you are totally unfamiliar with.

“It’s Your Ship” gets you out of the office or factory of management, and drops you in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Many of the practices that Commander Abrashoff used were the same principles and ideas written in other management books. His story is unique for it showed that these concept work regardless of the environment. He allowed his crew to reach their fullest potential in an organization of rules and policies, where mistakes could cost lives and waste taxpayers money.

As I read through “It’s Your Ship”, I could see similarities of such books as ‘Fish’ and ‘Speed of Trust’. He allowed the crew to have fun even during the most dangerous assignments. He ‘Listened First’ to his crew, ‘Talked Straight’ when it came to tough calls, and then ‘Delivered Results’ that made his bosses satisfied customers.

Commander Abrashoff is truly a ‘Level 5 Leader’ as defined in ‘Good to Great’. He has a ‘Culture of Discipline’ and once he got the flywheel moving he never let up. It went faster and faster. Throughout “It’s Your Ship” he tells real world stories that most of us never hear about from within our ‘secret’ military.

This book is a refreshing read that allows you to reconnect with some of the most common and effective management skills you have learned, while motivating you to apply them to your situation, no matter what you do or where you do it. It makes me want to have been on that ship!