Book Review: It’s Your Ship
Leadership. For some, it is something that comes naturally. For others, they look to examples or books to help them understand and begin to implement the principles of leadership. Regardless of what category you fall into, “It’s Your Ship,” by Capt. D. Michael Abrashoff, will give you a glimpse of an effective leadership style, which Abrashoff used to build the most effective and accomplished ship in the Navy.
crew to ask them. He encouraged his sailors to take ownership of the ship and to invest themselves in it. Before Abrashoff could expect his crew to perform to his expectations, he first had to build an atmosphere where confidence and competence was the order of the day. When the captain took command of the USS Benfold, it had the reputation of being one of the worst-performing ships. There was an air of mistrust, with a dysfunctional crew just killing time until their enlistment was up. Abrashoff had the challenge to turn this crew into a team that would later become an example to the rest of the Navy. He wanted each and every member of the crew to believe that the USS Benfold was the best ship in the Navy, but before that could happen, Abrashoff would need to slowly but surely build up his crew, repair relationships, and create an atmosphere of trust and confidence. Each of the book’s chapters is titled for one of the steps that the captain took in transforming the Benfold, and each outlines a leadership challenge that Abrashoff needed to overcome. Though some of these challenges were greater than others, they all required a decision that would ultimately lead to the success of the team.
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Many leaders will go into a new situation with an idea of how they want things done. They might concentrate on metrics and let those numbers chart their course. However, Abrashoff went a different direction altogether. The ratings of the ship (readiness evaluation numbers) were the only numbers that the captain used. More important to Abrashoff
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brashoff’s leadership style is not one you would immediately imagine coming from the military, where orders are typically given and followed, no questions asked. Instead, Abrashoff welcomed questions on his ship and even challenged his
