Michael Abrashoff's "It's Your Ship": leadership and management transformation

Management Book Review

Author Profile

Abrashoff, Michael D. it's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy. New York: Warner Books. 2002.

Michael Abrashoff is the a Navy captain who took over as the commander of a ship (the U.S.S. Benfold) that had a poor reputation for the delivery of critical military tasks in the dangerous Persian Gulf region and famously turned it into a cutting edge ship with outstanding personnel. Abrashoff graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He became a military assistant to then Secretary of Defense, William J. Perry (in the Bill Clinton Administration). Later he took command of the U.S.S. Benfold and transformed it into a model for other Navy ships.

Executive Summary

Captain Abrashoff (now retired from the Navy) has become a highly paid motivational speaker and consultant due to the tremendous success he had in taking a poorly managed Navy ship and turning it into a model of how to run not just a ship, but a model of how to run an organization. His best-selling book has also helped catapult his post-Navy career. Among other things Abrashoff emphasized in his book are the listening skills that every good manager needs to have to fully connect with his employees and underlings. Listening is only one part of the act of communicating of course, but Abrashoff learned that particular skill from his own superior officer, Dr. William Perry, former secretary of defense for the U.S. "Perry became my role model," Abrashoff writes (p. 43). Every person who spoke to Perry "…had his complete, undivided attention" and in fact every person "blossomed" in the presence of Perry because "he was so respectful" (p. 43).

The respectfulness and attentiveness of Secretary Perry became the exact strategy that Abrashoff embraced with his officers and enlisted men. Men who had been failures elsewhere became successes on Abrashoff's ship. The captain built a strong sense of rapport with his men by being flexible. He was to be willing to change rules, regulations, procedures and policies if his crew came up with a better idea. Any manager worth his salt should do the same. No leader or executive or manager has a patent on all the good ideas. Abrashoff showed the crew that the old pecking order could be changed; he went to the back of the food line for the cookout on Sundays, and without having to tell his senior officers to do the same, they followed his lead (pp. 83-84). Leading by example was more than a cliche for Abrashoff. And when the commodore of the Navy came for an inspection of Abrashoff's ship, he and Abrashoff waited in line and ate with the sailors; later the commodore took questions from the crew. It was a revelation for the commodore.

Synopsis

The book is about leadership, but it is also about taking a tough situation and turning it completely around. The book is a metaphor for how managers who have brains, good listening skills, strategic competencies and flexibility -- and willing underlings -- can take a non-producing organization make it successful. The key points in this book:

Take Aways

One of the most impressive things that managers should take away from this book is what Abrashoff did in handling a racially charged conflict. When Abrashoff, as commander of a Navy ship, was obliged to punish two black sailors and one white sailor following a fight with racial overtones, he handled the situation with authority but with compassion too. The participants in the fisticuffs were busted, but the commander to help them become better people and more effective servicemen also mentored them. The two lessons his crew learned from Abrashoff's mix of punishment and mentoring: a) take people's "background and circumstances" into consideration prior to doling out judgment; and b) help "wrongdoers" to become "better citizens rather than discarding them…" (pp. 178-79).

It is easy for a manager to fire an employee when he or she makes a stupid mistake or gets into a serious conflict. But if anything can be learned from Abrashoff's example, giving a person a second chance and actually going out of your way to mentor the person sends a powerful message. When someone got into trouble, he brought them in and personally counseled them. Moreover, managers should read this book and learn; to wit, Abrashoff made it a point to interview every sailor on his ship, 15 minutes at a time, until he had met and gotten to know everyone on board. "Show me a manager who ignores the power of praise," Abrashoff wrote (p. 141), "and I'll show you a lousy manager." In fact on his ship the commander was authorized to give 15 medals a year for excellence in carrying out duties. "I wanted to err on the side of excess, so in my first year I passed out 115" (p. 146). I recommend this book very highly.