Title: Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders
Author: L. David Marquet
Published: The Penguin Group in 2012
Pages: 227
Genre: nonfiction
Obtained: library
Summary: The author shares his story of taking the crew of the worst naval submarine in the fleet and turning things around so that they became the best. The captain's focus was to change the leader-follower model to a leader-leader model which focused on giving the crew control and responsibility over their jobs. The crew would not follow orders, but would let the captain know what they were going to do. Therefore, they needed clarity of the goals of the submarine and navy and needed to be competent at their jobs. The captain also gave the crew support in reaching their own personal goals.
Thoughts: This book is supposed to show how to go from a leader- follower organizational structure to a leader-leader structure. The author is successful in presenting what the mind sets need to be in the organization at all levels so that everyone is a leader. There are also some really good ideas and examples in this book about how to be a supportive supervisor, how to assist in increasing the happiness of employees in their jobs, and how to promote worker's ability to grow in their jobs and careers. There are also great examples showing how sometimes processes can be a hindrance to success or time waster rather than helpful, and how steps may be able to be cut out of a process or the process may be cut out altogether and the action just taken.
The team on which the leader-leader model is used in the book is a military crew on a submarine which is a unique work environment. It is an extremely high stress atmosphere and since it is a military organization, the crew has ranks. So, at times it is hard to relate what the author did with the submarine to a company or other organization where you might want to use the leader-leader model. Most companies are not life and death and have job titles rather than ranks. The workers are also not confined to cramped quarters for months at a time.
If you are looking for ideas to improve your work place success and morale, this is a good book to read. If you are looking for a step by step plan to do this, you will not find it in this book.
Tea: Banana Dulce
Obtained: gift
Banana Dulce is a caffeine free tea blend created by Art of Tea. Ingredients include rooibos, chamomile, lemongrass, lavender, banana, and coconut.
The tea is packaged in a foil-lined brown paper bag which keeps the tea protected. When you open the bag, there is a strong scent of very ripe bananas. The blend is made up of very small pieces of brown leaves, long green and brown leaves, and many chamomile flowers- a pretty tea.
I poured 8 ounces of water over 1 tablespoon of leaves and let this brew for 5 minutes. The liquid was an amber color and some of the very small leaves had gone through my tea ball into the liquid. They did sink to the bottom, and were very small so I didn't bother to strain the liquid. The scent of the liquid was very, very faint. It was reminiscent of warm banana bread. The taste was stronger, but more of chamomile with a tropical background of bananas and coconut and a hint of lemon.
This is a very comforting tea. It is the end of May and feels like a summer day in New England. I see this as a winter tea- something to enjoy and be comforted by after coming in from the cold. To me it is a sweet tea or dessert tea- enjoyable.
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