It's Your Ship

Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy

By: D. Michael Abrashoff

Narrated by: D. Michael Abrashoff

Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The story of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff and his command of USS Benfold has become legendary inside and outside the Navy. Now Abrashoff offers this fascinating tale of top-down change for anyone trying to navigate today's uncertain business seas. When Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of the Benfold, a ship armed with every cutting-edge system available, it was like a business that had all the latest technology but only some of the productivity.

Knowing that responsibility for improving performance rested with him, he realized he had to improve his own leadership skills before he could improve his ship. Within months he created a crew of confident and inspired problem-solvers eager to take the initiative and take responsibility for their actions. The slogan on board became "It's your ship," and Benfold was soon recognized far and wide as a model of naval efficiency. How did Abrashoff do it?

Against the backdrop of today's United States Navy - Benfold was a key player in our Persian Gulf fleet - Abrashoff shares his secrets of successful management including:

• See the ship through the eyes of the crew: By soliciting a sailor's suggestions, Abrashoff drastically reduced tedious chores that provided little additional value.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate: The more Abrashoff communicated the plan, the better the crew's performance. His crew would eventually call him "Megaphone Mike", since they heard from him so often.
• Create discipline by focusing on purpose: Discipline skyrocketed when Abrashoff's crew believed that what they were doing was important.
• Listen aggressively: After learning that many sailors wanted to use the GI Bill, Abrashoff brought a test official aboard the ship-and held the SATs forty miles off the Iraqi coast.

From achieving amazing cost savings to winning the highest gunnery score in the Pacific Fleet, Captain Abrashoff's extraordinary campaign sent shock waves through the U.S. Navy. It can help you change the course of your ship, no matter where your business battles are fought.

©2006 D. Michael Abrashoff; 2012 Hachette Audio

Trust your crew to do their best

Whether commanding a ship or leading a company, the reasons that sailors or employees leave an organization are similar:
1. Not being treated with respect or dignity
2. Being prevented in making an impact
3. Not being listened to
4. Not being rewarded with more responsibilities
5. Low pay

The top four reasons are controllable by the leaders of the organization, which is what Captain Abrashoff set off to do. The book isn't the result of years of research and studying business operations. Captain Abrashoff worked with his crew to come up with ideas to make it the best damn ship in the Navy. Particularly admirable was that Captain Abrashoff gave his crew the responsibilities they were willing to take on and trusted they would do it well. Many leaders would be unwilling to give up what they perceive as their source of power - the ability to tell people how to do their jobs.

Empowering and Full of Good Advice

I really enjoyed listening to this, and I have started incorporating what I learned into where I work. And it is working, much to my boss's surprise. You might be surprised if you try it too. I may not work on the best damn ship in the Navy, but I definitely now work at the best damn store in the chain.

Very Inspirational

I was very surprised, I really thought this book was going to very Millitary and corporate. Totally the opposite. What a great and inspiration story.

Exceptional

I have enjoyed this book so much. Great stories and leadership lessons that I forget about with time and career growth. Take notes, observe what you do and make changes. This book is not only change some of my approaches, it's going to help make a difference in other people lives. Definitely worth reading.

a must read leadership book

If you are a leader you need to read this book. It is one of the best books I've read on leadership , and I would recommend it to anyone.

A good read for leaders who haven't lead in awhile

Well written and captured your attention. For leaders with modern degrees or leadership training, the author does well to reinforce what you've learned recently. For leaders with old training or haven't lead in awhile, it provides insight into modern leadership philosophies more aligned to today's workforce.

Ego Unchecked

I feel sorry for the other leaders in the military who had to deal with this guys brazen and narrow approach to leadership. Spoiler alert - he quits the navy early and his reasons are not convincing, even if he attempts to make them sound noble. My guess is that he had to quit the navy because his leadership style is unsustainable and he was starting to see the cracks in the armor. With a classic "fixed minded" approach to life, he jumped ship sooner than anyone expected so that nobody would discover that his methods would not stand the test of time. It is the type of leadership that succeeds for a few years and fizzles out. He's the kind of leader that initially wins people over with a cult of personality and charisma, but good leadership needs to be built on a more stable substance of character and humility. Anyone can look good for a time, but the ego he displayed and the manipulative methods he employed guaranteed it was going to be a short stint. Those methods are good for short-term successes only, but it is not sustainable over the long-haul. The constant burning of bridges, the massive ego and his willingness to throw people under the bus was truly startling.

All that being said, he did stumble on to some solid solutions and he accomplished some good things, but that was the illusion, He employed good tactics which had some nice ends, but his means of getting to those ends was motivated by power, position, money, superiority, and selfishness. The problem with defining success the way he does, is that fame, prestige, and win at all costs philosophies can never bring true peace and joy to your life. You can use some decent tactics to make things look good for awhile, but if your motivations are off, then things eventually crumble. Those false motives take time to reveal and so good tactics can disguise a "fake" for just about as long as he stayed in the Navy.

Now he can jump from sucker to sucker and give a few motivational speeches and not get discovered. It really is the perfect profession for someone like him because he doesn't have to maintain any long-term relationships.

Good lessons but not much substance

I enjoyed listening to the experiences of Captain Abrashoff, but was left with something to desire from a substance perspective. It was mostly a play-by-play if his time as a captain, segmented by themes that define the chapters. Would have been better if he had talked about who had influenced or inspired him. Compared to books like “Team of Teams”, which drew from many cases of military and business history, this left something to be desired. Silver lining is it is short enough and easy to consume. The accessibility and efficiency compared to some other books will certainly do any reader well.

Leadership

This book is full of leadership ideas. All great leaders should read this book.

Arrogant

Truly incredible that Abrashoff was able to have a full career without making a mistake. We should all feel very lucky to be able to read about Benfold.

one of the most fantastic books about leadership

I really love this book. very inspiring and loads of to learn. it has change a lit in my life and work. Thank you Captain!!!

Great book and an amazing Leader to learn from!

I struggled to get into the book in first 10 minutes but I'm so glad I persisted a really good book showing how management should be done 👌🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Outstanding

Best book I have read in recent times. Impossible not to learn from it. Plus, it’s short !!

interesting stories reinforcing clear themes

This book presents and interesting set of reflections on a navy captain's time commanding and improving a destroyer. it's grouped into themes which probably dont need as long as they're given but the act of storytelling reinforces them and frankly even as a memoir rather than a leadership book theyre genuinely interesting.

Best leadership book

This is the best and most practical leadership book I’ve come across. Highly recommend this audiobook

A rollercoaster of emotions.

It’s funny how when something truly lands and the penny drops, that your emotions run havoc. One minute I was laughing, and the next wiping tears. I’ve made a promise to myself, that the last five years in law enforcement will be fundamentally different to the last 25.
Irrespective of the result of the upcoming promotion process, I plan to transform the lives of as many colleagues as possible, and get back to the feeling that coming to work is thrilling and a privilege.
My sincere thanks to Mr Abrashoff for passing the legacy and taking some pretty big chances.

A must read!!!

I have listened to this book at least 5 times. Amazing story with extremely useful, practical implementable chapter titles. Miss out at your peril!

Very informative

As a leader within my organisation this book presented a new insight into how I can manage to get the most from my staff, not just for the organisation, but more importantly for them, whilst maximising return to the organisation.

An excellent insight into Leadership skills!

This was a recommended read, which I want to listen to again! A must read!

VG!

great insights easy to follow and listen to. useful comparisons to corporate world as it is navy based