It's Your Ship

It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy is a 2002 nonfiction book by US Navy Captain D. Michael Abrashoff that is part autobiography and part leadership advice. The book focuses on the innovative leadership strategies Abrashoff brought to his two years as commander of the troubled and dysfunctional ship USS Benfold in 1997. During his tenure as captain, Abrashoff transformed the culture on the ship to such an extent that it became the best ship in the Navy’s Pacific Fleet. The book discuses themes of Organizational Change, The Value of Listening and Communication, and The Impact of Empowerment on Team Morale. It was a Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestseller and has been reprinted numerous times since its original publication. A former Pentagon official, Abrashoff is a public speaker and the CEO and founder of Grassroots Leadership, Inc.

The edition used for this guide is the 1st edition Kindle edition, published by Grand Central Publishing in 2007.

Content Warning: Some parts of this guide contain discussions of anti-Black racial slurs found in the source text, which the guide obscures.

Summary

Abrashoff’s aim for the book is to persuade readers into adopting leadership strategies that favor people-centered methods over traditional command-control, or top-down methods. When Abrashoff assumed command of the USS Benfold, the ship was in disarray. It was performing poorly on Navy assessment exercises, and all data on retention rates indicated that crew members could not wait until their tours on the ship expired. Rather than continue with the same kind of outdated leadership style that led to the miserable state of the ship, Abrashoff decided to try a new approach, one that embraced change, valued open communication, and sought to empower crew members rather than tear them down.

The book is divided into 13 chapters. The first 12 chapter titles offer a snapshot of what Abrashoff refers to as his “playbook” (214). These are: 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.

Abrashoff follows a similar structural model in each of the chapters. Generally, he introduces the main concept of the chapter, remarks on that concept and how he came to develop it, and then provides real-life application of the concept. For example, Chapter 4 is entitled “Listen Aggressively.” Abrashoff speaks in hypothetical terms about what that means and discusses where he learned the skill. In this case, he had been working as a military assistant to former US Secretary of Defense William Perry. On multiple occasions throughout the book, Abrashoff comments on how much he respects William Perry as a leader and how the secretary was a role model for him as he formed his own leadership style. In Chapter 4, Abrashoff describes Perry as the kind of person who could always make whoever it is he was speaking with feel comfortable and heard. Abrashoff remarks on what a valuable skill this is to have in general, but especially as a leader. He also recounts his own shortcomings with being an active listener, and as he assumes command of the ship, one of the first things he does is hold personal interviews with all 310 crew members of the ship. Although these interviews were not scripted, and he really was unable to articulate what he was seeking to accomplish, he instinctively understood that it was a monumental first step in changing the culture on the ship. The decision to actively listen to his crew, which began during these interviews, was paramount to the open communication the ship eventually celebrated. Abrashoff then describes the application of this concept thoroughly in the chapter, providing further anecdotes that illustrate his point.

Another example of Abrashoff’s rhetorical framing is in Chapter 9, entitled “Go Beyond Standard Procedure.” Abrashoff presents a brief description of what he refers to as SOP (standard operating procedure) and how relying on SOP can have unintended consequences. He then pivots from the hypothetical into a sequence of anecdotes that illustrate the point. He discusses a nearly disastrous incident during Operation Desert Storm when radar located 21 fighter jets flying directly toward the USS England, on which Abrashoff was a combat systems officer. As the jest approached, Abrashoff was just about to fire Tomahawk missiles at the jets when just in the nick of time, communication had finally arrived signaling that these were jets flown by Kuwait’s air force escaping from Saddam Hussein. Abrashoff learned from this experience that his ship was not combat ready, and he pledged that if he ever became a captain, this would not happen. The USS England had been complacent, and when real danger emerged, it was unable to make the right determinations regarding the imminent threat. Abrashoff attributes this complacency to an over-reliance on the SOP.

While the book is primarily instructional and autobiographical, from time to time, Abrashoff editorializes on larger issues in the culture. Much of this is in relation to what he sees taking place in the business world, and he is generally critical of companies and managerial teams who fail to recognize the changing dynamics of effective leadership. He is also critical of top-down command leadership styles, likening this to bullying. He criticizes secretive corporate leaders who withhold information as a means of wielding power over their employees.

As for larger cultural observations, Abrashoff discusses the trend away from in-person communication toward more electronically driven forms. He laments the impersonality of this, especially when it comes to providing praise and compliments. Abrashoff also takes what might be considered a controversial stance on the issue of diversity in the workplace. In fact, one of the first drastic changes that he made as captain was to cancel all diversity training seminars and conferences. He argues that these seminars generally focused his crew’s attention on the ways everyone was different, which Abrashoff felt negatively impacted the objective of achieving unity. He anticipates the reader’s objections, noting that his unity-first approach was not meant to homogenize the crew; rather, in his view, the primary focus on unity helped foster a more inclusive environment where differences were appreciated because of the way they could be harnessed to help elevate the collective mission.