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Corporate Culture | Leadership | Patriotism | Teamwork At the age of 36, the Navy selected Michael Abrashoff to become Commander of USS Benfold—at the time, the most junior commanding officer in the Pacific Fleet. The immediate challenges that faced him on this underperforming naval war ship were staggering: exceptionally low morale, high turnover, and unacceptably low performance evaluations. Few thought that this ship could improve. In many ways, the USS Benfold was actually an extreme example of the same problems facing many organizations today. The solution was to establish a system of management techniques that Michael Abrashoff calls “The Leadership Roadmap.” At the core of his leadership approach on Benfold was a process of replacing command and control with commitment and cohesion, and by engaging the hearts, minds, and loyalties of workers—with conviction and humility. “The most important thing that a captain can do is to see the ship through the eyes of the crew.” According to Abrashoff, The Leadership Roadmap is a practice that empowers every individual to share the responsibility of achieving excellence. “It’s your ship,” Mr. Abrashoff was known to say. His former sailors to this day still remind him of it. By every measure, these principles were able to achieve breakthrough results. Personnel turnover decreased to an unprecedented 1 percent. The rate of military promotions tripled, and the crew slashed operating expenses by 25 percent. Regarded as the finest ship in the Pacific Fleet, Benfold won the prestigious Spokane Trophy for having the highest degree of combat readiness. Most important—this transformation took place with the same crew. What had changed was the ship’s culture and Mr. Abrashoff’s leadership style. Michael Abrashoff recounted the leadership lessons from the turnaround of USS Benfold in It’s Your Ship, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, with over 800,000 copies sold to date. This extraordinary interest in Mr. Abrashoff’s leadership journey and Benfold’s organizational lessons led to two follow-up books—Get Your Ship Together and It’s Our Ship. Those books took readers deeper into ways these principles have been put into action by business leaders in their own organizations. Prior to commanding USS Benfold, Mr. Abrashoff served as the Military Assistant to Secretary of Defense William J. Perry. He also helped draft the air defense plan for naval forces in the Persian Gulf in 1990, coinciding with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait; and served as the Executive Officer of the Cruiser Shiloh, where he deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of United Nations sanctions against Iraq. Michael Abrashoff is the founder of GLS Worldwide, a consulting firm which works with and supports leaders as they address leadership, talent, and business challenges within their organization. The firm challenges leaders at all levels to re-imagine their leadership thinking and create new ways to elevate individual, team, and organizational performance.
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