A tight, concise lesson in leadership from a CO who challenged the Navy beautacracy and built the best command culture in the Pacific Fleet. His lessons can be applied to any business. ( )

Dustin Denton recommended reading this as an audiobook so I read it on one of my trip out to Little Rock MEPS. Awesome book on leadership from a navy captain's perspective. Lesson that stuck the most with me was how he went against the typical military pattern on spending all your money so you get that much again in the future. Instead, he encouraged ways to save money through conservation, hard work, and innovation. Highly recommended.

This was the best leadership book I have read. The takeaways, which is what I look for from a book of this sort, were clear, easy to understand, and in many cases, attended with relevant supporting stories and anecdotes. I listened to the audio book read by the author and found this enjoyable. I was motivated to share it with others, which is another indicator of what I thought. The self-congratulatory tone was a bit grating at times; the fact that he changed the world he controlled but largely ignored the bigger world around him that he could have potentially affected through his peers was disappointing. But I ultimately got a lot that I valued from the book, which is what I am looking for in these situations. ( )

I'm sorry and guilty for giving it 2 stars when everyone else seems to have rated it so highly. But I'm really sorry it doesn't work out for me. In my eyes, I see this book in the following way:

Theory.
Theory.
Theory.
Some incident that happened (it can connect to whatever theory you want).
More Theory.
More Theory.
Some lecture.
Hard work is good bla bla.
Some other incident.

Repeat.

This is not what I was looking for. I was hoping for some kind of internal struggle maybe (in situations where we're not sure and then what decision do we take). One employee does well and he rewards him with a medal immediately. That's great! Except the only problem is in our day to day industry almost everyday someone or the other does something noteworthy. I can't just keep handing out medals or bonuses. My budget is limited.

No. What I want is what to do when someone is misbehaving. Or I'm hearing some bad rumors. Or my boss just doesn't listen. In his case he makes attempts to communicate with his boss that yields him success. Well, if that happened so easily I would call it luck. Trying to communicate an idea, trying to put yourself out there - that's not what is lacking in managers I feel. It's when you're working with a lunatic in some way - someone who doesn't listen to you at all, or a micro-manager, or someone trying to impress his own superior way overboard, or too big a responsbiility is placed on your shoulders that's even greater than you capabilies such that you feel uneasy. And then how do you go about learning, making mistakes etc?

This guy doesn't seem to make any mistakes. It feels like he's been successful without knowing the amount of struggle that other people are going through. And finally he's put together a couple of high level theories after he looks back at his experiences. That's not what I need. I want to read about a manager who's pathetic intially and slowly slowly learns some lessons, still makes more mistakes and finally learns how to say what, what to do when etc.

So I'm gonna have to give it a 2, sorry.

( )

This is my favorite book on business management. One day a director of sales handed it to me, and I casually put it aside, as there were hundreds of books at home patiently waiting for their turn to be read. Danged if I didn't keep stealing glances at the cover. I knew it was watching me. So I thought, why not read it at work? The books at home would never know. Separation of church and state, so to speak.

LOOK FOR RESULTS, NOT SALUTES
Microsoft has been in a freefall since it focused on Salutes over Results. Once a company starts growing, the obsession with offices and cubicle height overtakes the focus on results and customer satisfaction.

COMMUNICATE PURPOSE AND MEANING
Yahoo might rise again if the CEO can get her point across, which is standardization and goal achievement. A leader must present a common goal for all to strive for, otherwise everyone is only thinking about their own workload.

GO BEYOND STANDARD PROCEDURE
I work in a company where those who think outside the box are castigated and ostracized. Steve Jobs would have been fired here. The author rightly points out that everyone must push the envelope, outside the rigidity of SOPs. Kaizen.

Abrashoff makes some very basic points, such as being able to delegate, because you can't be on every ship at the same time. This isn't an intellectual exercise or a fable about cheese-obsessed mice, just a terrific take on the difference between being a manager and being a leader.

Managers do the thing right. Leaders do the right thing.

Book Season = Year Round ( )