Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders

About the Author

“A top graduate of the US Naval Academy, L David Marquet commanded the nuclear-powered, fast-attack submarine USS Santa Fe from 1999 to 2001. Santa Fe earned numerous awards for being the most improved ship in the Pacific and the most combat-effective ship in the squadron. Since leaving the Navy, he has worked with businesses nationwide as a leadership consultant. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he lives in Florida with his wife, Jane.”

Sources: “About the Author” section of the book 

Our one-sentence summary

Shifting from a leader-follower model to a leader-leader approach—by giving control, building competence, and creating clarity—empowers people at every level to take ownership and drive lasting success.

Publisher’s Summary

“Captain David Marquet was used to giving orders. In the high-stress environment of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear-powered submarine, it was crucial his men did their job well. But the ship was dogged by poor morale, poor performance, and the worst retention in their fleet.

One day, Marquet unknowingly gave an impossible order, and his crew tried to follow it anyway. He realized he was leading in a culture of followers, and they were all in danger unless they fundamentally changed the way they did things.

Marquet took matters into his own hands and pushed for leadership at every level. Before long, his crew became fully engaged, and the Santa Fe skyrocketed from worst to first in the fleet.

No matter your business or position, you can apply Marquet’s approach to create a workplace where everyone takes responsibility for their actions, people are healthier and happier – and everyone is a leader.”

Source: Book Jacket 

Detailed Summary 

Introduction

• Many employees feel disengaged and stifled, limited by managers who constrain their autonomy and creativity. At the same time, managers feel frustrated—like they’re constantly babysitting their teams.
• The main problem is the leadership model—a leader-follower approach—which focuses on controlling people. It’s compelling because it was once effective, but that was when work was primarily physical.
• The solution is a leader-leader structure where employees are empowered.
• As captain of the USS Santa Fe (SSN-763), Marquet transformed crew dynamics within a year—turning one of the Navy’s worst-performing teams into one of its best across every metric, including sailor and officer retention.
• This book describes the journey of the men aboard Santa Fe and their struggles to change the way they interacted.

Part I – Starting Over

• Admitting that his ideas of leadership were formed by classics like Beowulf and The Odyssey and popular movies showcasing the leader as an individual hero, this section describes Marquet’s frustration and eventual rejection of this type of leadership.

Chapter 1: Pain

• The USS Will Rogers (SSBN-659) was a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine with two crews. Marquet was the engineer officer of the Blue Crew. He was responsible for inspecting the nuclear reactor and auxiliary equipment and supervising the 60 men who maintained and operated it.
• There was tension between doing things right and meeting deadlines. Marquet wanted to give men control and decision-making power, but he was going against the tide.
• People were wishing for the old engineer officer to come back, as he would “just tell them what to do.” Marquet felt he was the only one who wanted an empowered workplace.
• In the three days of preparation before the submarine’s deep dive, Marquet noticed problems and had to cancel it. After that, things only got worse. Eventually, he went back to leading the way he was taught: commanding.
• Marquet was eventually screened for executive officer and decided to learn about leadership, management, psychology, communication, motivation, and human behavior. He was troubled by three contradictions:

1. 1. He liked the idea of empowerment, but empowerment programs didn’t make sense to him. Why would bosses need to empower their staff when empowerment should come from within?
   2. The way he was told to manage was not the way he wanted to be managed. He needed specific goals but a broad latitude on how to accomplish them.
   3. Competence and success depended on the leader rather than the team.

• Marquet learned that believing we know something is what mostly limits learning. In Will Rogers, he understood that something was fundamentally wrong with leadership.
  • “Simply exhorting people to be proactive, take ownership, be involved, and all other aspects of an empowerment program just scratched the surface” (p. 9). 

Chapter 2: Business as Usual

• To ensure long-term success, Marquet realized he had to prioritize the future over immediate rewards. This was especially challenging, as the Navy’s system was built around short-term incentives, causing most captains to focus solely on quick wins.
  • For example, when a unit’s performance dropped after an officer left, it was often seen as proof of their strong leadership, rather than a reflection of their failure to properly train their team.
• Marquet prepared for a year for his role commanding the As soon as he joined the crew, he realized it operated in a top-down, business-as-usual structure, and everybody liked it that way. The crew was not open to change.
• While waiting to take command, during vacation, Marquet received a call and was told his change of command was canceled. Instead, he would take over the USS Santa Fe.
  • He was worried. He had prepared for the wrong submarine. 

Chapter 3: Change of Course

• Commodore Mark Kenny, Marquet’s new boss, had requested him to turn the Santa Fe Marquet knew little about the submarine other than that it was stationed at Pearl Harbor and scheduled to deploy in six months.
• Santa Fe had a bad reputation and the worst retention in the force. His job was to increase its combat effectiveness – which was a particularly challenging task.
• As captain, Marquet was to be assisted by an executive officer (XO; the second in command) and four department heads, who were likely to be competitive. Some of the potential struggles Marquet noticed were:
  • The XO was close with the outgoing captain, and two department heads were new.
  • Junior officers were recent graduates and untrained.
  • The chiefs (equivalent to middle management) were unempowered and uninspired.
• Marquet was overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start. Preparing for deployment was already daunting enough. But it was even more challenging with a demoralized crew. He had six months for Commodore Kenny to determine if they were ready.
• The good news was that Commodore Kenny had given Marquet no specific instructions on how to achieve their goals. This was his chance to revamp the leadership approach. However, he would be solely responsible if the Santa Fe was not ready to deploy. 

Chapter 4: Frustration

• Just 25 days before the change of command, Marquet walked through the submarine for the first time and saw the toll on the crew. They had been constantly told they were the worst ship in the fleet—and had come to believe it.
• Marquet was relieving the current captain, but they had to collaborate for a period of time. The crew was surprised by the change of orders.
• As Marquet walked around the ship, he also noticed equipment he was unfamiliar with. He started asking questions and was genuinely curious. Upon thinking about it, he realized that in the past, when he asked questions, he was testing the crew.
  • Upon noticing the difference, he also observed an unforeseen yet positive side effect: he was relying on the crew a lot more than he normally would have.
  • He decided to interview the crew.
• Marquet was uncomfortable not being the technical expert on the equipment on board. This went against everything he had ever done or learned, but the circumstances demanded a new mode of operation. 

Chapter 5: Call to Action

• Twenty-four days away from the change of command, Marquet decided to walk around Santa Fe talking to people. He continued to find that they were demoralized, specific procedures weren’t followed correctly, and equipment was low quality.
  • “…on board a nuclear submarine, little things like lack of punctuality are indicative of much, much bigger problems” (p. 29).
• Marquet found Lieutenant Dave Adams, the weapons officer, had good ideas to improve the ship’s systems, but his initiatives were often ignored. Eventually, he would become a key agent and advocate in the transformation of Santa Fe.
• Like Adams, Lieutenant Commander Bill Greene, the navigator and senior department head, was also frustrated. The crew had adopted a mode of avoiding mistakes and satisfying only the minimum requirements.
• After getting acquainted with his men, Marquet devoted time to observing routines. Speaking with Lieutenant Commander Rick Panlilio, the engineer, he found processes so bureaucratic that they prevented any decision-making opportunities.
• Marquet sensed that the crew wasn’t as bad as they thought. He noticed thirst and eagerness for change, which would be beneficial in turning Santa Fe
• Marquet contacted Commodore Kenny and told him he would work with the crew. 

Chapter 6: “Whatever They Tell Me To Do!”

• Fourteen days away from the change of command, Marquet asked a first-class petty officer, “What do you do on board?” With cynicism, he answered, “Whatever they tell me to do.” His answer helped Marquet see things from a different perspective.
• He began noticing this pattern everywhere. Seeing how much control the XO had over the department heads’ decisions, he addressed it, encouraging them to take psychological ownership of their roles.
  • They asked who would be responsible and accountable for the work and if he wouldn’t mind putting his reputation at risk. He reasoned that Santa Fe was in such bad shape that it couldn’t do worse.
• The issue on this ship was that everyone adopted a leader-follower mentality in everything they did. The crew would remain paralyzed, waiting for direction, before taking any action.
• “The problem for Santa Fe wasn’t an absence of leadership. It was too much leadership of the wrong kind, the leader-follower kind.” (p. 38).

Chapter 7: “I Relieve You!”

• Minutes away from taking over command of Santa Fe, 172 days from the deployment, Marquet deliberated on his responsibility for the ship. Meanwhile, the crew spent more energy trying to avoid errors than achieving excellence, incentivized by the system.
• Marquet took a moment to think about his crew and concluded that:
  • The crew wanted change even if they didn’t know how to do it.
  • He had a supportive chain of command. His bosses were outcome-focused.
  • He had done enough research to prevent falling into the leader-follower trap.
  • The crew was in a self-reinforcing downward spiral: poor practices led to mistakes, which resulted in poor morale, a lack of initiative, and the “avoiding errors” mode.
• With the Navy so focused on avoiding mistakes, the Santa Fe crew unconsciously decided not to make any decisions or take any action to avoid making mistakes. This would only lead to failure.
• Marquet decided the ship’s goal would be excellence rather than error reduction. And he knew he needed to start with changes in the middle: with the chiefs.

Part II – Control

• After assuming command of the Santa Fe, Marquet’s primary goal was to divert control and give it back to the crew. This meant letting them make decisions about how and towards what end they were going to work.
• He deconstructed decision authority by implementing the saying, “Don’t move information to authority; move authority to the information” (p. 50).

Chapter 8: Change, in a Word

• On his first day as commander, Marquet held a meeting with the chiefs.
  • He didn’t start with the XO, Chief of Boat (COB), or department heads because a top-down approach appeared contradictory. That also would have meant starting with only six people, and that would have been too limited participation.
  • He didn’t start at the bottom of the hierarchy either because the crew didn’t trust their superiors. He was also too distant from them; without support from the chiefs, they’d be skeptical.
• After explaining the structural changes and the increased control they would have, the chiefs were skeptical. They acknowledged that the ship needed change but questioned whether the situation was truly dire, pointing out that there hadn’t been any collisions or major incidents.
• Despite their skepticism and the feeling of going against the grain, the chiefs agreed to take control. From then on, the meeting topic shifted to what it truly meant for the chiefs to run the ship.
• They began discussing changes they wanted to implement to give them more control over their men—and to empower their men to have control over their men.
  • For example, they streamlined the process of signing leave chits by removing others from the process. This shift required Marquet to place his trust in them.
• In his experience, Marquet found that people are reluctant to give control because they don’t trust the next level down to make sound decisions—either due to a lack of competency or clarity. In both cases, these issues can be addressed.
  • The first step to changing “the genetic code for control” in any organization is delegating decision authority as much as possible and then a bit more.
• With the leave chits, Marquet had to trust that their chiefs knew the ship’s goal and would make the right decisions about their men’s leave.
• It started with leave chits, but over the next three years, the chiefs were gradually given more control. They eventually launched a Chiefs in Charge program, which led to their winning Best Chief Quarters seven years in a row.
• In this process, however, they discovered that distributing control wasn’t enough. They also needed a higher level of technical knowledge and a clearer sense of purpose. 

Chapter 9: “Welcome Aboard Santa Fe!”

• With 169 days until deployment, Marquet felt his chiefs—and their sailors—were energized by their newfound authority. Commitment, engagement, and discipline had all improved. But there was still work to be done.
• In eight days, they were scheduled for an underwater inspection. Marquet was feeling uneasy as most of the crew’s jobs had been focusing on finalizing repairs and maintenance. He was also facing some skepticism from a few members of the crew.
• Marquet understood skeptics, but he was committed to doing what he thought was best—what he called the paradox of caring but not caring: “Caring intimately about your subordinates and the organization but caring little about the organizational consequences to yourself” (p. 64).
• He also had a lot of support, with several people on the team being core advocates. And the skeptics were willing to give it a shot, even if with less enthusiasm.
• Another challenge Marquet faced was raising sailors’ morale quickly. He had to change the ship’s culture fast. He enlisted the officers to do this.
  • In a meeting, he asked them what behaviors can be observed in a crew that’s proud of their boat. After hearing their answers, he suggested, “What if we just tell our crew to act that way?” That sparked a debate.
  • Eventually, they created the three-name rule. When greeting someone, they had to use the visitor’s, their own, and the ship’s name. For example, “Good morning, Commodore Kenny. My name is Petty Officer Jones. Welcome aboard the Santa Fe.”
• To change culture, Marquet and the officers opted to act their way to drive new thinking.
• The crew had a tendency to blame outside influences or factors for what was happening, leading to a collective lack of responsibility. This victimhood led to low morale. The three-name rule eliminated the sense of victimhood. 

Chapter 10: Under Way on Nuclear Power

• With 160 days to deployment and Marquet being in command for only 12 days, they were getting ready for Commodore Kenny’s inspection and preparing to go underway.
• They had had some struggles. The crew was still focusing too much on complying with regulations rather than making the Santa Fe the most operationally capable possible.
• The Navy has a process for preparing nautical charts. The team was so focused on having these perfectly done that they didn’t realize they would become irrelevant.
  • For instance, the chain of command reviews focused on ensuring the charts were navigationally and procedurally correct but didn’t account for Santa Fe‘s effectiveness as a warship. Marquet knew enemies would use a different route from what the chart proposed.
• Another human tendency affected the process. Subordinates wanted to present a perfect product the first time. To address this, they decided that the navigator would talk to Marquet at each phase of the review process.
  • The review team needed to overcome fear of criticism, and Marquet needed to refrain from jumping in with answers. They devised a motto: “A little rudder far from the rocks is a lot better than a lot of rudder close to the rocks” (p. 73).
• The charts were also inconsistent. Marquet was upset the reviews hadn’t focused on the right operational goals. But rather than talking to the XO and having the message go down the chain of command, he gathered all the quartermasters to discuss the issue.
  • They discovered that the varying colors of contour lines were based on marker availability. So, they created a system where each color had a specific meaning and remained consistent across all maps.
• Short, early conversations are a mechanism of control because conversations do not involve the boss telling people what to do. These are supposed to be opportunities to get early feedback on tackling problems.
• Supervisors need to recognize also that demanding perfect products the first time results in significant waste and frustration. 

Chapter 11: “I Intend To…”

• With 159 days to deployment and four days to the inspection, the crew was put to the test. The reactor was shut down to test the crew’s ability to find and repair the fault.
• The crew responded well, so Marquet decided to complicate things and asked his senior department head, Greene, to increase speed from “ahead one-third” to “ahead two-thirds.”
  • He gave the order, and nothing happened. Marquet asked the helmsman what was going on, and he explained that there was no “ahead two-thirds on the EPM.”
  • Marquet asked Greene if he knew about this, and he said he did. So he asked, “Well, why did you give the order?” “Because you told me to, and I thought you had learned something secret at PCO that only you knew about,” he answered.
• Marquet realized it was too dangerous for people to follow a leader when he was wrong, so he vowed never to give an order again. From then on, officers would express their intention, “I intend to…” and he’d say, “Very well,” unless he had questions.
  • Eventually, people learned to foresee his questions and would provide all the information necessary for him to say, “Very well.”
  • This shift caused them to think at a higher level. Everyone was acting their way into the next higher level of command, so there was no need for leadership development programs.
  • Later, the Santa Fe had a disproportionate number of promotions.
• This change in language profoundly shifted ownership of the plan to the officers. It didn’t take long to catch on. The crew loved it. 

Chapter 12: Up Scope!

• With 153 days to deployment, and Santa Fe was about to start their inspection. Marquet and his team were trying to determine the enemy’s route. Marquet knew they needed to be at a particular spot at 0600.
  • It was midnight. He was tired and simply told the team where to go. He didn’t explain much but stayed silent, waiting for someone to say something. When no one did, he went to bed.
• The next day, he woke up at 0500 only to find out they were miles out of position and in the wrong direction, away from the enemy. This put the inspection at risk, but Marquet viewed this as his fault and worked with the team to get them back on track.
• In the end, they were able to torpedo the enemy successfully. Part of their success involved Marquet remaining silent in instances when he was tempted to tell everyone what to do. Marquet knew he had to let his officers figure things out independently.
• Resisting the urge to provide solutions is a control mechanism. Following the leader-leader model means taking time to let others react to the situation. The entire team must also be allowed to make open decisions. 

Chapter 13: Who’s Responsible?

• With 152 to deployment, Santa Fe faced an issue.
• The inspection team observes tactical maneuvers and examines administrative issues. They had identified that Santa Fe did not respond to several messages from the squadron, Pacific submarine force, and maintenance facility.
• When Marquet asked the XO about the missed items, he showed him a binder and said they had been tracking messages and knew they hadn’t responded.
• Confused, Marquet questioned them and eventually realized they had a system that focused on understanding the status of things instead of getting things done.
• Marquet decided to attend the next meeting, during which the department chiefs and heads reviewed the binder. There, he resisted the instinct to micromanage.
• After the discussion, they invented a new efficient way to get things done: eliminating top-down monitoring systems. Department heads would now tell the XO what they were doing, hadn’t done, and needed help with. They also eliminated the department chiefs’ and heads’ meetings held only to review the binder.
• Often, the process becomes the goal rather than the outcome it’s supposed to achieve. Because of that, mistakes are made, leading only to more oversight. However, these overseers merely flag issues after the fact without contributing to the actual objective. 

Chapter 14: “A New Ship”

• With 151 days away from deployment, the inspection was over and successful, and the team was returning to port. But Marquet was not happy with the fact that their success had relied too much on his involvement.
• He discussed the problems with the department heads, and they realized:
  • The crew had lost perspective about what was important. To Marquet, this manifested in people still lacking clarity and focusing too much on avoiding mistakes.
  • There was an absence of informal communication. As naval officers, they needed to adhere to certain practices where nonspecific messages were forbidden. But Marquet realized this was just the communication style needed in a leader-leader approach.
• They decided to work on a new form of communication that they called thinking out loud. This allowed the crew to express worries, concerns, and other thoughts.
• Thinking out loud is a control mechanism because when the leader knows what others are thinking, it’s easier for them to let their team execute their plans. It’s when people are quiet that they feel tempted to step in.
• In the beginning, Santa Fe had difficulties embracing thinking out loud. In hierarchical structures, there is no need for it. So, Marquet worked hard to ingrain this informal yet informative speaking manner into the crew.
• Thinking out loud is also an organizational clarity mechanism. Expressing a lack of certainty is a strength, and expressing solely certainty is arrogance. 

Chapter 15: “We Have a Problem”

• Less than an hour after the inspection debrief, Marquet noticed Lieutenant Commander Rick Panlilio approaching him. Panlilio looked concerned and said, “We had a problem with shore power. We violated a red tag.” (p. 109).
  • While this can be rather dangerous, their particular case was not hazardous. Yet, it was a wake-up call. Rick insisted on reporting the problem to Squadron Seven and the Naval Reactors.
• They set up a critique for the next day and invited Rick’s counterparts at Squadron Seven and the Naval Reactors Office. Marquet also invited Commodore Kenny.
• Here and going forward, they set up a mechanism they called Embrace the Inspectors, which sent the signal that they were in charge and not controlled by others. This is a control mechanism because it gives power back to the team.
• This approach also helped create an atmosphere of learning and curiosity among the crew. For instance, Marquet would hear his crew members say, “I’ve been having a problem with this. What have you seen other ships do to solve it?” (p. 112) or similar.
  • Most inspection teams loved this attitude. Thus, Santa Fe was getting superior grades on inspections, and sailors learned a lot, improving their job performance. 

Part III – Competence 

• Competence is one of two key pillars supporting control. It means that people have the skills, knowledge, and ability to make decisions independently.
• So far, this book has focused on promoting decision-making power and control at lower organizational levels. However, Marquet found that control itself is not enough. The following chapters focus on enhancing technical competence.

Chapter 16: “Mistakes Just Happen!”

• With 150 days to deployment, Marquet was leading the critique (from the previous chapter). He struggled to balance holding people accountable with being compassionate for their efforts. In the spirit of team accountability, he also did not want to blame the Petty Officer who had moved the tag in error.
• Such a mistake would warrant a Captain’s mast or nonjudicial punishment, which meant a reduction of pay, rank, or restriction to the boat. Marquet didn’t want to go there.
  • He appreciated that the Petty Officer, aware he deserved a Captain’s mast, but he was honest and came forward. Marquet believed he needed to be rewarded. So, he let him leave the meeting. Instead, he asked the supervisors to stay.
• “Now, gentlemen, how are we going to prevent this from happening again?” (p. 119) Marquet said. The meeting lasted about eight hours.
• Some proposed refresher training, adding supervision, and similar options, but these options weren’t going to solve the problem. Exasperated with Marquet’s unwillingness to accept any of the proposed solutions, someone said, “Captain, mistakes just happen!” (p. 120).
• This sparked a different type of discussion. Then, they were able to devise a mechanism to help people think before they act, which they called taking deliberate action.
  • Prior to any action, the person would pause, vocalize, and gesture to what he was about to do, and only after a deliberate pause would he execute the action, even in the absence of a supervisor or observer.
• This mechanism had other benefits besides reducing error. In team settings, it allowed adjacent operators and monitors to correct mistakes before they happened.
• Later, when Santa Fe earned the highest ever recorded grade in a reactor operations inspection, the inspector said that the crew started to make the same number of mistakes as everyone else. Yet, because of deliberate action, the mistakes never happened. 

Chapter 17: “We Learn”

• With 136 days before deployment, another issue arose in the torpedo room—a mishandled valve operation removed hydraulics from a torpedo mechanism, shifting it out of position.
  • While deliberate action could have helped, the real issue was technical competence. Marquet realized that as the authority is delegated, technical knowledge and competence at all levels become more critical.
  • If you only follow orders, there’s no need to master your craft. Making decisions, on the other hand, requires deep technical knowledge.
• Meanwhile, Marquet and his team were working on codifying principles into a creed and command set and decided to include the need for greater technical competence. This would be reflected in seeking learning opportunities in every submarine event.
• They distinguished learning from training—learning is passive, while training is proactive. Their approach was continuous learning everywhere, all the time.
• This mindset is a competence mechanism. Over time, the crew embraced learning, and inspection teams took notice, which impacted their success. 

Chapter 18: Under Way for San Diego

• With 127 days before deployment, the USS Santa Fe was preparing to travel to San Diego for exercises with the USS Constellation battle group.
• The transit out of Pearl Harbor went smoothly, with Marquet barely speaking. However, as they prepared to submerge, Marquet felt uneasy. Crews often forgot the process, given the shift away from wartime operations since WWII.
• Before diving, the diving officer of the watch held a briefing where he read through the ship’s manuals and asked for questions—no one asked.
• As expected, the dive didn’t go well. The team was confused, made mistakes, and took too long to correct them. Afterward, during the debrief, Marquet asked, “What happened?” Someone replied, “Captain, no one listens to those briefings.”
• Marquet realized that briefings were passive—only the briefer was truly engaged. Crew members nodded along without real understanding. Therefore, Marquet decided to replace briefings with certifications.
  • Instead of simply presenting information, the leader would question the team, assessing their readiness before making a go/no-go decision.
• After implementing this change, Marquet found that when people knew they would be asked questions, they took the time to study their responsibilities ahead of time, which increased their intellectual involvement. 

Chapter 19: All Present and Accounted For

• With 116 days before deployment, a junior quartermaster went AWOL. Marquet met with the missing quartermaster’s chain of command, along with the COB, XO, and others.
• Some believed the sailor knew his duties and deserved a captain’s mast to set the right example. Others were more sympathetic, recognizing he had endured significant hardship, including prolonged sleep deprivation due to unforeseen circumstances.
• Marquet dug deeper and discovered that supervisors were allowing their crews to go without sleep despite their not being on the watch bill. Reviewing the schedule, he found that a diving officer was on a one-in-six rotation schedule while his crew was on a one-in-three.
  • This imbalance was not uncommon, as many in the Navy saw being chief as a privilege rather than an added responsibility.
• Now leaning toward the sympathetic side, Marquet decided to find the sailor. When they spoke, he saw he was emotionally and physically drained. He took a risk and granted him amnesty but made it clear he had to return to the ship the next morning.
  • Some feared his decision set a bad precedent or showed favoritism, but they were wrong—there wasn’t another AWOL case for three years.
• He then confronted the chiefs, who had misused authority for personal gain rather than supporting their crew. So, Marquet implemented a new rule: no supervisory watch station could have a better rotation than the worst rotation of any station under them.
• At this point, Marquet began doubting his leader-leader approach initiative—if the chiefs didn’t get it by now, how could it succeed? Their resistance baffled him. But eventually, he realized that change required relentless, consistent messaging.
  • Even when people emotionally embrace change, old habits are hard to break. The chiefs wanted to adapt, but letting go of their past ways proved difficult.

Chapter 20: Final Preparations

• Just 28 days before deployment, Santa Fe was enroute to San Diego, and running exercises, including a fire alarm drill. The goal was to extinguish the fire within two minutes, but the drill was messy.
• Marquet realized bureaucracy had removed any incentive for the crew to act quickly. Drill guides followed a rigid script disconnected from real responses, so the drill dragged on for an hour. Determined to fix this, Marquet decided to make a change.
• He authorized the drill monitor to adapt the scenario based on the crew’s response, making consequences more realistic. He also clarified that the goal was to extinguish the fire and that he didn’t care who handled the hose.
• This shift dramatically improved response times. Now, whenever an alarm sounded, the closest crew members self-organized to act. With this approach and their success, they eventually earned awards for damage control.
• Encouraged by the success of the fire drills, they revamped other emergency response procedures, focusing on specifying goals rather than dictating methods. This approach spread across various other contexts.
• Arriving in San Diego to pick up the inspector, Marquet felt calm despite the high-stakes test of his leadership. His confidence proved justified—the crew performed exceptionally, earning deployment certification from Commodore Kenny.
• Specifying goals, not methods, became a key mechanism for competence. It motivated the crew to find the best solutions and freed them from rigid procedures, leading to creative ways to improve response times.
• This was also a mechanism for clarity, as it shifted their focus from merely avoiding errors to actively striving for excellence.

Part IV – Clarity

• Clarity means that everyone throughout the organization understands its purpose. Along with competence, it is essential to distribute control. That’s because people make decisions based on criteria that include what the organization is trying to accomplish.

Chapter 21: Under Way for Deployment

• After 161 days in command, Marquet and the Santa Fe were ready to deploy. Once submerged, he gathered the chiefs and officers to discuss their goals. The crew wanted to set personal goals alongside their mission objectives—such as taking college courses, a Navy-offered program often neglected due to exhaustion.
• They established three key themes: empowerment, efficiency, and tactical excellence.
  • Empowerment meant supporting the crew in achieving their goals.
  • Efficiency focused on removing obstacles that hindered empowerment.
  • Tactical excellence encouraged innovative ways to maximize Santa Fe’s combat effectiveness.
• In the first few days at sea, the crew received exam results and learned they had not performed well. Marquet discovered that, among the many requirements, exam scores played a crucial role in promotion decisions. The Navy sailors who would get promoted averaged 64 points, while his crew averaged 51.
• He was happy because that meant they had a degree of control over this. So, he decided to have the crew create and take practice exams. Having them actively engage with the material sparked interest, involvement, and a deeper understanding of the content.
• When they arrived in Japan, Marquet learned that the XO had to transfer to care for his ill father. Meanwhile, the engineer was expecting a baby in a few weeks. Having missed his own daughter’s birth, Marquet was determined to ensure he didn’t face the same.
  • With help from his crew, they arranged both of the transfers on time.
• Months later, the COB handed Marquet the advancement results—the crew had significantly improved. In one year, they advanced 48 enlisted men, 40% of the crew, and did even better in the following years.
• Building trust and caring for people is a mechanism for clarity. Marquet realized that when he occasionally blurted out criticism, his crew didn’t take it personally—they knew he was fully committed to their success and advancement.

Chapter 22: A Remembrance of Wat

• Even deployed, the Santa Fe crew still had to run casualty drills. In one of them, they were going over a jam dive from high speed, simulating a failure of the stern planes in the maximum downward position.
• During a critical moment, the Officer of the Deck (OOD) needed to order the venting of the forward ballast tanks and bring the main engines to “all stop,” but he hesitated. Time passed, and the order still hadn’t been given—a potentially dangerous delay.
• Then, the Chief of the Watch Scott Dillon placed his hand on the forward vent switch. Noticing the gesture, the OOD finally gave the order. The execution was flawless—the ship slowed to a near hover and leveled out.
• Later, Marquet asked Dillon why he did it. Dillon explained that he knew the next action and wanted to be ready. But he had also subtly signaled the OOD. This moment highlighted a key lesson: anticipatory deliberate action.
  • This new approach to deliberate action minimized the risk of mistakes, allowed for intervention, and reinforced teamwork.
• Days later, Marquet was exercising when he heard Lt. Dave Adams announce on the 1MC, “We are now passing the approximate location of where the USS Grayling was sunk in September 1943” (p. 176).
• Marquet was impressed. Grayling Was one of the 52 American submarines sunk during WWII. Submariners inherit a rich legacy but have no formal program to instill it.
• On Santa Fe, they adopted practices to connect new members to the submarine force’s WWII accomplishments. Initially, Marquet worried the crew wouldn’t see the value, but he found the opposite to be true. Embracing their legacy provided organizational clarity, reinforcing why they served.
• Using legacy as inspiration is a powerful tool for clarity. Many organizations start with a strong purpose but lose their way over time. By tapping into history and shared purpose, they can sustain motivation and direction as they grow.

Chapter 23: Leadership at Every Level

• When Marquet first arrived on Santa Fe, he sent out a survey asking officers and chiefs about the command’s strengths and the guiding principles they should follow. After several meetings, they refined and selected the principles that truly mattered.
• Marquet wanted these principles to be practical, not just words on a wall. He tested their utility by asking: If I were a crew member facing a decision, would these principles help me choose the right course of action?
• The guiding principles they established were:
  • Initiative: Taking action – without waiting for orders – to improve knowledge, prepare for missions, and solve problems.
  • Innovation: Finding new ways to improve existing processes.
  • Intimate Technical Knowledge: Being responsible for mastering their role.
  • Courage: Choosing to do the right thing, even when difficult.
  • Commitment: Being fully present at work and giving their best effort.
  • Continuous Improvement: Learning from every process and striving to grow.
  • Integrity: Being honest with themselves and each other.
  • Empowerment: Encouraging subordinates to take initiative and supporting them when they make mistakes.
  • Teamwork: Collaborating without undercutting each other.
  • Openness: Feeling free to express thoughts and ideas.
  • Timeliness: Completing tasks on time and reducing delays.
  • Leadership at Every Level
• Marquet and his team took deliberate steps to ensure these principles became a real part of Santa Fe’s culture and reinforced them through tangible actions, such as hosting award ceremonies that recognized those who exemplified these values.
• For guiding principles to be effective mechanisms of clarity, they have to genuinely reflect the realities of the organization, not an idealized version of it. Authenticity is essential, too. 

Chapter 24: A Dangerous Passage

• One night, while transiting the Strait of Malacca, Santa Fe faced a challenging passage amid heavy vessel traffic and shallow waters. As they passed Singapore, Marquet spotted a dim light moving across them.
• While still trying to figure out what it was, he heard OOD Rick Panlilio shout, “All back emergency, right hard rudder!” The throttleman reversed the main engines, bringing Santa Fe to a shuddering stop—just short of a towline between a tug and its vessel.
• Shaken but relieved, Marquet went straight to maneuvering to commend the engineering team. The throttleman, the same Petty Officer involved in the shore power incident, had saved them from a collision.
• Marquet immediately requested a Navy Achievement Medal and personally pinned it on Panillo, offering words of appreciation. The formal recognition followed, but the instant acknowledgment was important.
• Marquet believes that immediate recognition is crucial for reinforcing desired behaviors—no more than 30 minutes should pass.
• In his approach, awards are framed as “man versus nature” rather than “man versus man.” This shifts the focus from team competition to collaboration toward a common external goal, fostering a culture of cooperation rather than rivalry.
• Using immediate recognition is a mechanism for clarity acid reinforces desired behaviors.

Chapter 25: Looking Ahead

• The Santa Fe was initially scheduled to deploy on June 29, but they deployed two weeks earlier. Lieutenant Dave Adams wanted time off before the six-month deployment, and the only way to get it was to be completely ready two weeks ahead of schedule.
• Marquet feared external organizations, like the weapons loading facility, would take advantage of the extra two weeks, so department heads had to ensure the ship was ready three weeks before the deployment date. They aimed for June 8^th
• Working towards that, Commodore Kenny called for an earlier deployment on June 18. They could meet the deadline because they had already been working toward it, though they lost their vacation and family time.
• To address long-term issues, Marquet held mentoring sessions with key supervisors that were focused solely on the long term. He eventually realized he was using a traditional mentor-mentee approach, which conflicted with his leader-leader philosophy.
• They shifted to a mentor-mentor program, encouraging supervisors to think three years ahead, as most were assigned to Santa Fe for that long.
  • By the time they were transferred, many of them had already accomplished most of their goals.
• Another practice Marquet employed was quantifying officer evaluations by tracking reduced critique percentages. By his last year in command, ten men were eligible for promotion, with a 90% selection rate, promoting nine chiefs.
• Using data like this effectively demonstrated their success in achieving their goals.
• To start with the end in mind, focus on long-term organizational goals for three to five years. Then, review evaluations for statements reflecting those achievements.
  • Next, ask employees to write their own evaluations for one, two, or three years ahead, ensuring their goals are aligned with the organization’s objectives. Then, define how to measure success.
• This approach helped officers clarify their own goals but also fostered helpful dialogue, enabling them to align their departmental objectives with the organizational higher-level goals. Starting with the end in mind is, therefore, a mechanism for clarity.

Chapter 26: Combat Effectiveness

• Nearly a year into Marquet’s command of the Santa Fe, the crew was conducting an exercise with a SEAL team when the loudspeaker suddenly announced “yellow sounding”—indicating shallower water than expected and the need to move.
  • The crew had been preparing to recover the SEALs. Everything had gone smoothly so far—not because of Marquet’s orders, but because his crew had anticipated the SEALs might be cold, hungry, or injured and took the initiative to prepare.
  • When the alarm sounded, Marquet entered the control room to find an eerie calm. Moving the ship now would make it harder for the SEALs to locate them.
  • Seeing the ship shift course, Marquet shouted, “That’s wrong—we need to go back!” A pause followed, then an officer replied, “No, Captain—you’re wrong.”
  • Marquet was stunned but stayed quiet, watching the compass. They had moved just 100 yards—enough to reach deeper water. Moments later, the SEAL Zodiacs appeared. Had Marquet’s order been followed, they would have missed them entirely.
  • The moment taught Marquet a lasting lesson: fostering a questioning attitude—not blind obedience—is a mechanism of clarity. 

Chapter 27: Homecoming

• In January 2000, following the holidays, Marquet and his team were in a period of proficiency training when Dr. Stephen Covey visited Santa Fe. At one point, Covey asked Marquet what the ship had accomplished. Marquet listed:
  • Steamed 40,000 miles safely
  • Made nine port calls in six countries, with the crew acting as exemplary ambassadors
  • Zero liberty incidents – something Marquet’s superiors had warned him to avoid
  • Maintained 100% operational readiness with no downtime due to repairs, maintenance, or personnel issues
  • Reenlisted 19 crew members, totaling over $500,000 in reenlistment bonuses – a record at the time
  • Awarded 282 submarine qualifications and qualified 290 individual watch stations
  • Demonstrated operational excellence, including a torpedo exercise in the Arabian Gulf and transits through the Straits of Hormuz and Malacca, as well as SEAL recoveries
• While Marquet couldn’t share everything, what impressed him most were the retention improvements.
• Santa Fe was awarded the Arleigh Burke Fleet Trophy for achieving the greatest improvement in battle efficiency that year.
• Covey later told Marquet that Santa Fe was the most empowered organization he’d ever seen – not just in the military, but anywhere.
• In 2001, Santa Fe received the highest score ever recorded in a reactor operations exam. The leadership-leadership approach was taking hold. Among the key changes:
  • The focus shifted from a detailed review of work to understanding and developing people
  • Reporting and inspections were reduced, not increased
  • Instead of leading more to produce followers, Marquet led less to cultivate leaders at every level
• These experiences led Marquet and his team to develop the core leadership framework presented in the book: Control, Competence, and Clarity. 

Chapter 28: A New Method of Resupplying

• In 2001, Santa Fe was on deployment once again, but with a few new officers who quickly adapted to the crew’s operating system.
• Navigating the Strait of Hormuz at periscope depth, they found a small oil leak in a hydraulic ram that couldn’t be fixed at sea. It was depleting their oil supply, risking cutting the mission short and threatening their perfect record of completing missions.
• Suddenly, a new ensign on the periscope, Armando Aviles, spotted a nearby Navy resupply ship (AOE) and suggested, “Why don’t we just ask them for some oil?”
• The only problem was the protocol: resupply requests had to be submitted via a Daily Intentions Message (DIM) at least 36 hours in advance. Normally, that meant no last-minute asks, but Marquet decided to try anyway.
• To his surprise, the AOE agreed, and the crew jumped into action. Coordinating such a complex operation on short notice required precise, synchronized effort—exactly what their training prepared them for.
• Marquet noted that he could not have managed such a complex task himself; the crew’s readiness made it possible.
• In the end, they not only received the oil but also fresh produce and medical and dental care for anyone who needed it.
• That’s when Marquet realized that while empowerment helps break command-and-control habits, it isn’t enough. On its own, empowerment still assumes a leader grants power to followers—a top-down dynamic in disguise.
• True transformation requires emancipation: recognizing the innate genius, energy, and creativity in everyone and creating the conditions for those qualities to emerge. This happens when teams have decision-making authority, competence, and clarity.
• An emancipated team is one that no longer needs to be empowered—they already own the mission. 

Chapter 29: Ripples

• Twelve years after taking command of Santa Fe, Marquet handed it over to Commander Dave Adams. Reflecting on his experience, Marquet realized the leader-leader model had produced two unexpected outcomes.
• First, the ship’s success continued long after his departure. Because leadership practices were embedded in the crew, Santa Fe sustained excellence—winning Best Chiefs Quarters for seven consecutive years and the Battle “E” award for combat effectiveness three more times over the next decade.
• Second, it created an extraordinary pipeline of leaders.
  • Both of Marquet’s executive officers went on to command their own submarines and later earned major commands.
  • The three eligible heads became executive officers, then commanders, and the four entered the Navy’s engineering duty officer community, all reaching the rank of captain.
  • Many enlisted crew members also advanced—some becoming chiefs of the boat, others earning degrees and launching their own businesses.
• After leaving the Navy, Marquet found in his consulting work that every organization is unique—there’s no one-size-fits-all formula. The mechanisms for building a leader-leader culture must be adapted, not prescribed, though they may share structural similarities with those in his book.
• Ultimately, the most important person to have control over is yourself. Resisting the impulse to take charge and attracting followers will help you create leaders. This discipline is the foundation of lasting and meaningful success.