49 pages • 1 hour read
Captain D. Michael AbrashoffIt's Your Ship
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Look for Results, Not Salutes”
Abrashoff discusses the formalities of rank and seniority within the Navy. He takes issue with some of the ways this system of formality tends to create a class system within a ship and says that he set out to “chip away” at it (93). He asserts that in his view, only results matter, and he used this outlook to inform his interaction with his crew. One of the things he did was instead of eating away from his crew, he dined with them. He also waited at the back of the line to receive his food. This caught fellow officers and crew members off-guard. Eventually, the crew came to respect this and the ship’s formal rigidity was replaced by a more collegial environment. Abrashoff points out that his crew still respected his rank and did not usually act in any subordinate or disrespectful manner toward him. Eating with the crew signaled to those on the ship that Abrashoff valued the importance of teamwork and the idea that everyone on the ship, regardless of rank, had the same goal in mind: ultimate combat readiness. When the Benfold was visited by a commodore as part of a routine check-in, Abrashoff invited the man to dine with him, which meant that the commodore ate with the crew. This was a novel experience for the commodore, and according to Abrashoff, he appreciated it. He had the chance to mingle with and speak to actual crew members, and he was reminded that though they may have been lower in rank, they were still intelligent, creative, and talented people.
Abrashoff discusses other ways that he sought to chip away at the stiffness of the rank system before pivoting to a discussion of the ways he encouraged his crew to speak their minds. He recalls one particular story from another ship that had received a new XO, a man who insisted on being right all the time. The XO decided to conduct an early morning man overboard training session. Because the ship had decoy boats set out (used to confuse submarine sonar systems), Abrashoff asked that he be given time to first reel in the decoys because otherwise, the ship would cut the cables on the decoys in the process of turning around completely. The new XO refused the request three times. At the end of the session, the cables had been severed, leaving the ship more vulnerable to a torpedo attack. Abrashoff’s point is to illustrate what can happen when a person in authority does not habitually listen to others on the ship.
Abrashoff discusses other ways he created an environment where his crew felt free to speak their minds and provides examples of what this looked like in practice. He reiterates the need to establish clear boundaries and expectations, which in his case centered on the significance of a particular moment. In other words, when lives were at stake or damage to the ship could result, Abrashoff had the final word. Otherwise, he encouraged his crew to speak their minds, and they were not usually met with contempt or anger in response. In line with giving his crew relative autonomy, he also allowed them to fail. Abrashoff asserts that this is often how people learn. If you do not provide employees a fair chance to solve their own problems, they likely will not fail in the way that is needed to actually learn what it is they should learn. Finally, Abrashoff suggests that “innovation knows no rank,” meaning that creative and smart solutions to problems can come from anywhere. He gives one example of a junior petty officer, who, to save time on the task of inspecting ships to make sure no oil was being smuggled out of Iraq, devised a database where ship information was recorded prior to inspection. This saved time immensely. Abrashoff provides more anecdotes to illustrate his point that good ideas can come from anywhere, but without a culture that promotes it, leaders run the risk of missing out on them.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Take Calculated Risks”
Abrashoff asserts that in the Navy, taking risks can jeopardize one’s career. He sees this as the opposite of what it should be and suggests that organizations should promote and encourage risk-taking. Abrashoff also points out that there is a difference between calculated risks and being reckless and claims that he never took a risk while at the Navy that could have been considered reckless. He insists that the risks he took were intended to better the operation of the Navy one small step at a time. He then provides a few anecdotes of the kind of risks he is discussing.
He describes the first refueling exercise he performed as commanding officer of the Benfold. Nobody on the ship, with the exception of one person, knew how to perform a refuel, mainly because the ship always refueled at port. Abrashoff suspects this is due to the fact that his predecessor did not trust his crew to perform such a complicated exercise. Abrashoff eventually enlisted the help of two other crew members and thrust them into a very challenging situation. Each of the crew was guided by the officer who had some idea of how to perform a refueling, and while they were tentative at first, eventually they were able to pull it off without incident. Abrashoff uses this story as an example to bet on people who can think for themselves.
Abrashoff notes that it can be risky to bet on an individual who has found themselves in trouble. He provides the account of a particular crew member who had overslept while ashore, and the ship had departed without him. In the Navy, this is a serious offense. Abrashoff had the man helicoptered to the Benfold and discussing the incident with the sailor, Abrashoff gave him half of the usual penalty for such an offense. He also made the man write a letter of apology to the rest of his shipmates. The sailor did not see this as a soft response from his captain, one which suggested that the offense was not to be taken seriously. Instead, he responded by truly motivating himself to make up for his mistake and become the best sailor he could become. After his enlistment was up, he pursued a career in air-traffic control. Abrashoff claims that the man is one of the best that he has ever seen in that position and now helps defense contractors iron out problems with air-traffic control equipment. Abrashoff maintains that the man looks back at that incident as a turning point in his life and career.
Abrashoff turns toward a discussion about rules. He argues that if a rule does not make sense, then it should be broken, especially if a better alternative can be offered as a replacement. He provides an anecdote about on shore transportation of sailors in Dubai. While the officers were chauffeured around, the sailors were required to take a bus. Much to Abrashoff’s surprise, the crew hated Dubai, mainly because they felt unsafe while being transported around. To rectify the problem, he rented passenger vans so that the crew could be more safely transported and could actually enjoy their time off. This was against Navy policy; however, the result made more sense in Abrashoff’s estimation than stuffing 60 sailors into a bus, making them targets for a terrorist attack or prone to the unsafe driving style of the bus driver.
Lastly, Abrashoff recommends that “if a rule does make sense, break it carefully” (126). He provides an anecdote of when he insisted to his Master Chief to load 100 cases of beer onto the ship. The Master Chief questioned the order, but Abrashoff insisted on it. Bringing alcohol onto the ship is a very risky idea, given the rules against drinking while on the ship. As the Benfold headed to the Persian Gulf, they were required to stay as a response to some upheaval conducted by Saddam Hussein. When things finally calmed down, it was New Year’s Eve. The ship was at sea and the beer could not be consumed while onboard. However, Abrashoff had ordered a barge to be towed to the ship. The crew disembarked the Benfold for the barge, and they were able to have a full New Year’s Eve party with beer, food, and music.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Go Beyond Standard Procedure”
As the title indicates, Abrashoff highlights the various ways the Benfold went beyond the status quo, or what was minimally required. Abrashoff adamantly argues that for true innovation to take place, a leader needs to push past standard operating procedure. Along the way, mistakes may happen, but this is merely proof that an organization is pushing itself, not necessarily that it is incompetent. Abrashoff urges that leaders need to keep their priorities in focus at all times. In the Navy, this means making sure combat readiness is as high as it possibly can be. He provides an anecdote of a time when he was a combat systems officer on the USS England. The ship had been performing a pre-planned tour in the Persian Gulf right at the exact time Saddam Hussein decided to invade Kuwait. This ultimately led to Operation Desert Storm. However, the USS England had been out in the gulf, and its radar had picked up 21 fighter jets that appeared to be heading directly toward it. Abrashoff’s commanding officer was not entirely prepared for such an encounter, and at one point had asked his subordinate, Abrashoff, what he intended to do. Because the ship was ill-prepared for such a circumstance, it had no idea which country the fighter jets these belonged to. Because of the Iraqi invasion, they were left with no choice but to assume that the jets were hostile. Just as these jets approached a range where Abrashoff could fire missiles at them, it was discovered that the jets belonged to Kuwait, and they had been fleeing from the invasion. Catastrophe had been averted, but Abrashoff used the experience to illustrate how he approached leadership moving forward: always be entirely prepared for combat.
Abrashoff pivots to a discussion of staying ahead of the competition. He describes a competition with two other ships in which a simulation of an incoming missile attack was performed. The task was to shoot down the missile. Abrashoff describes in full detail how the exercise was performed and how the other two ships did not really prepare for it. By contrast, the Benfold had prepared for the exercise well in advance. When the day arrived for the exercise to take place, the Benfold was the only one of the three ships that actually struck down the missile. Abrashoff attributes this success to the ship’s preparation. He then urges leaders to “push the envelope for innovation” (137) and describes how he initiated a program to have satellite televisions installed on Navy ships (other than carriers that had them already).
Abrashoff moves on to a discussion of volunteering. He reports the story of a young sailor who revealed that he hated the Navy, to Abrashoff’s surprise. After speaking with the man, Abrashoff learned that the young man had come from a disadvantaged background and he aimed to pursue a career in social work once he left the Navy. At first, Abrashoff was somewhat condescending toward the sailor, but after hearing his story, Abrashoff reflected further. He came up with an idea. He told the young sailor when they were in port in San Diego to pick a school and go volunteer at it. Abrashoff encouraged the sailor to bring others with him. And that’s what he did. Soon, the spirit of this initial volunteering episode spread throughout the ship, and sailors would often seek out opportunities to volunteer at schools or hospitals wherever they were in the world. Lastly, Abrashoff discusses how leaders can use rules that are outdated or senseless in advantageous ways. He describes an example from the Benfold that required younger sailors to pass through the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) program in order to qualify for shore leave. Abrashoff mentions how the rule itself assumes the worst in the sailors and that they cannot be trusted. Abrashoff, therefore, encouraged his crew to pass through the ESWS program, which they did. They essentially used the requirement as a way of heightening the ship’s combat readiness while at the same time, it meant that the young sailors could benefit directly by being allowed shore leave.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
The theme of Organizational Change features prominently in this section. Abrashoff often discusses the way he brought a change in leadership strategy when he assumed command of the Benfold, and then makes more generalized observations and recommendations meant to be applicable in a variety of leadership contexts. As an example, Abrashoff points out that “In the Navy, as in business, SOP—standard operating procedure—tends to rule. After all, it’s standard—safe, proven, effective. You will seldom get in trouble for following standard operating procedure” (130). The SOP, as Abrashoff sees it, is a potentially disastrous approach to leadership as it naturally elevates the status-quo regardless of whether or not problems exist within it. Because the SOP enables leaders to operate in relative comfort because they can generally feel safe within it, without being willing to get outside the comfort zone, the organization will likely experience stasis.
As Abrashoff points out earlier in the book, this stasis is terrible for businesses, as it is for the Navy. Abrashoff discusses the Navy’s prioritization of rank as an example of this kind of SOP. Abrashoff walks a fine line here, being sure to respect valuable traditions, yet he pokes at the flaws within this ranking system, which often prioritizes bureaucracy over combat readiness. Because this is the way things go in the Navy, very few question it even when it produces negative results. Abrashoff prizes innovation and creative but realistic thinking to transform outdated protocols into effective processes. For Abrashoff, procedure must always meet the criteria that it will improve combat readiness, which is the end goal and the determining factor of a ship’s capabilities. If a policy, protocol, or tradition does not serve this bottom line, then it must be replaced with a better idea that does.
This section also focuses on The Impact of Empowerment on Team Morale. Abrashoff tends to approach leadership from a human-centered position, and rather than see his employees as a means to an end (his own advancement), he sees his crew as made up of individuals and attempts to know them on that level. The same cannot be said for his predecessor or many other commanders mentioned in the book. In Abrashoff’s view, real success depends on how a leader develops and cultivates the skills and talents of their crew: “I wanted officers to understand that ideas and initiative could emerge from the lower deck as well as muscle and blind obedience” (94). He takes exception to the traditional leadership model of top-down command as he sees it as stifling the talent of all onboard the ship. In this model, people are not given autonomy; therefore, they are not given opportunities to grow. This top-down style also devalues the importance of operating as a team, pits fellow crew members against each other, and leads to generally low morale.
Abrashoff carefully points out that the opposite of a top-down command is not a leader who allows their crew free rein. His “line in the sand” (106) was drawn on high-stakes decisions that involved life-or-death consequences or cost taxpayers additional money. Abrashoff believes that empowering his crew is what set the Benfold apart from others. The crew felt trusted, were empowered, and performed in a commendable fashion as a result.
