You’ve got to love this book by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff when the subtitle reads, “Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy.” This book was a quick read with a bunch of very practical ways that Abrashoff led his folks as an empowering servant leader.
I love the concept of servant leadership and look forward to learning anything I can from examples set by others. However, I do struggle with how one gives responsibility to his people. What do you do if they fail? How much responsibility should you give? Which decisions do I need to be involved with?
Some of these the author discusses. Some, he doesn’t really get into detail with. But, his general philosophy for managing a crew of 300 people is excellent. I suggest that anyone in leadership read this book. If I could implement half of the things that Abrashoff was doing (proper training, having fun, carefully breaking the rules, focusing on the main thing and being excellent at it, recognizing the people who really get it done, cut out the monotonous unneccessary tasks the people do, cross train, always be prepared for action, be firm in discipline, know everyone) then the strength of our team and the success of our company would flourish.
Abrashoff had a broad set of simple rules about when he should be brought into a decision. We took a stab and came up with these. In short, consult me if the decision has the potential to…
- Change the benefits to, hire/fire, or endanger an employee;
- Violate government regulations;
- Waste the company’s money;
- Embarrass us if it shows up on the front page of the AJC.
My key take-away on this book by Henry Cloud and John Sims Townsend is… in order for people to grow, we need to begin moving back to the way God perfectly created man’s first environment in the Garden of Eden. Namely, Adam and Eve had perfect and intimate relationship with God and perfect and intimate relationship with each other. In other words, we need to be right in our relationship with God and right in our relationship with others. If either of these is not in order, then our lives will be out of order as well.
The book is tough to get into but provides valuable insight when it is taken as a whole. I believe the authors wrote it primarily for Christian counselors and that made the lay person in me struggle through the first half of the book.
Cloud and Townsend suggest that counselors take a balanced approach in counseling and helping people grow out of their issues. In their experience, a miraculous one-time instant healing of someone with deep issues rarely happens. However, a self-empowered healing rarely happens either. God works over time to help people heal their issues. But, God works through the body of Christ (other people) to liberate us from what entangles us. We have to work at it ourselves in the context of community, but it is God’s power that will make our efforts successful.
In addition to counseling, the general principles are true for anyone wishing to grow in any area. I have found it critical to bounce ideas off, to be challenged by, to be held accountable by, and to to encouraged by others.
One of the two gentlemen who bought our company in 1954, Chet Austin gave me this book for Christmas. With no other immediate title to read, I picked it up just before New Year’s and started into it not sure what to expect.
What I found was quite a gem with small examples scattered throughout that I believe help clarify some questions around leadership. Business has been full of challenges since the week of Christmas, causing me to dig deep and ask questions about our strategies, my leadership, and what needs to happen next. Quiet Strength arrived with impeccable timing.
The first key take-away for me began with these words: “Although all the issues were relatively minor, they contributed to the team’s second-class, defeatist, excuse-laden mentality. I began to sell the philosophy that we are responsible for what happens to us, not anyone or anything else. No excuses, no explanations.” In reality, ownership is not natural in our Freudian-saturated society. It takes real character, guts, and humility to step up and say it is our responsibility. We have to own it and the folks on our team need to own it also. If they don’t take that level of responsibility, we will live like Dungy described: second-class, defeatist, and excuse-laden. We will never succeed that way. Let’s take responsibility, own it, and get on with fixing those minor issues so we can succeed.
The second take-away is that consistent execution produces champions. He quotes Chuck Noll, “Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else.” The ninth chapter, Do What We Do, details the expectations Dungy set out for his 1996 Tampa Bay team: “Execute. Do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it. Not almost. All the way. Not most of the time. All of the time. Take ownership. Whatever it takes. No excuses, no explanations.” Over and over, whether the team faced an easy game or was mired in adversity, Coach Dungy reminded his team to “Do what we do.” Whether it was a regular season game or playoff game, “Do what we do.” In other words, the key to success is not flashy, but execution. Consistent execution.
Finally, Dungy is very clear about the source of the success (and his ability to make it through the tough times): Jesus Christ. His faith caused him to do more than talk about his faith; Coach Dungy taught his staff and teams that character is foundational to success. Who his players were in the community, how they treated other teams, and their work ethic must be consistent with their performance on the field. And more importantly, if character wasn’t developed off the field, real long-term (eternal?) success would never happen. What would it profit a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul?
Over all, I thought it was a solid but easy to read book with several great themes for life, leadership, and faith.
