Most Popular Books by D. Michael Abrashoff

The legendary New York Times bestselling tale of top-down change for anyone trying to navigate today''s uncertain business seas. When Captain Abrashoff took over as commander of USS Benfold, it was like a business that had all the latest technology but only some of the productivity. Knowing that responsibility for improving performance rested with him, he realized he had to improve his own leadership skills before he could improve his ship. Within months, he created a crew of confident and inspired problem-solvers eager to take the initiative and responsibility for their actions. The slogan on board became "It''s your ship," and Benfold was soon recognized far and wide as a model of naval efficiency. How did Abrashoff do it? Against the backdrop of today''s United States Navy, Abrashoff shares his secrets of successful management including: See the ship through the eyes of the crew: By soliciting a sailor''s suggestions, Abrashoff drastically reduced tedious chores that provided little additional value. Communicate, communicate, communicate: The more Abrashoff communicated the plan, the better the crew''s performance. His crew eventually started calling him "Megaphone Mike," since they heard from him so often. Create discipline by focusing on purpose: Discipline skyrocketed when Abrashoff''s crew believed that what they were doing was important. Listen aggressively: After learning that many sailors wanted to use the GI Bill, Abrashoff brought a test official aboard the ship-and held the SATs forty miles off the Iraqi coast. From achieving amazing cost savings to winning the highest gunnery score in the Pacific Fleet, Captain Abrashoff''s extraordinary campaign sent shock waves through the U.S. Navy. It can help you change the course of your ship, no matter where your business battles are fought.

The more insecure you feel, the more difficult situations become. That''s because most people resist, making matters worse. Suppose you do the opposite: Accept fear, treat it like a passing shower, and focus on things you can control. Your demons vanish. In this brief eBook are those and other tonics for hard times from bestselling author Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, who discovered joyfulness as a plebe at Annapolis.

Companies and ships have this in common: Success depends heavily on crew morale, the eagerness born of spirit, zeal, and zest. You can’t buy morale, much less bribe or bully it into existence. But you can sharply boost it--at little or no cost--by spicing serious work days with unserious good times. These are difficult times in the business world. No company or job is safe anymore. And the fear of unemployment is real for many people. In some respects, high morale can be defined as having faith that your company’s business prospects will mean that you continue to have a job. However, we must all strive for greater excellence in the workplace, even in tough times. Every manager’s worst nightmare is a workplace full of enemies--angry, bitter, bored people who despise their bosses, along with themselves. The next worse nightmare is a workforce of robots who do their jobs as convicts do time, with zero creativity, enthusiasm, or loyalty to the company and its goals. In both cases, leaders have themselves mainly to blame. Along with myopic hiring, they create and perpetuate dysfunctional companies by not seizing their power--and duty--to humanize the workplace, lighten up the climate, and help people actually enjoy their jobs.

How do you get people to take initiative? The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal bestselling author Captain D. Michael Abrashoff says the answer is: One, build their confidence by giving them an unexpected opportunity to shine. Two, encourage challenges to established wisdom and authority. Three, keep increasing expectations.

Figure out what’s wrong, enlist your people in the cause of fixing it, persuade them to take ownership, and never declare victory. That''s the advice of D. Michael Abrashoff, author of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal bestseller It’s Your Ship, on how to turn around any organization. The Atlanta Falcons hit rock bottom the day a tornado ripped off half of its stadium’s roof. By then, their charismatic quarterback, Michael Vick, was in prison for leading a dog-fighting ring. Their coach, Bobby Petrino, had defected in mid-season to college football. They’d won only four games in 2007, losing 12. They weren’t just defeated; they were demoralized, beaten, losers. It was up to their owner, Arthur Blank, cofounder of Home Depot, to turn this sorry situation around. And in one of the deftest performances I’ve ever heard of, he did. By the end of 2008, the Falcons had gone to the playoffs with an 11-5 record. Their new coach, Mike Smith, was NFL Coach of the Year. Their quarterback, Matt Ryan, was NFL AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. “This is the season of miracles,” Blank said. But the miracles all traced to the careful moves he’d made....

Give people power to do their job and clear the decks of anything that keeps them from doing it, and leave your ego on shore. That’s the advice of D. Michael Abrashoff, author of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal bestseller It’s Your Ship. Our ship, USS Benfold, was serving in the Persian Gulf in the 1997 Iraq crisis, and the entire U.S. fleet there was snagged in a giant communications snafu. At any moment, some 7,000 messages could go astray or just stop moving. Ironically, Benfold and many other ships were equipped with a new satellite system for launching Tomahawk missiles. But most radio operators hadn’t been trained to use it for anything besides launching missiles. Not so John Rafalko, who pored over its manuals and told me it could solve all our communications problems. I reported this to the admiral’s chief of staff for communications, who rejected the idea. With the fleet verging on chaos, I went over his head and told the admiral--who erupted, chewed out his subordinate, and ordered him to adopt Rafalko’s plan immediately. We flew John all over the Gulf to train other operators, and suddenly the whole fleet was communicating seamlessly. This radioman saved the Navy’s bacon: My only role was to listen and back him up.

Leading without listening is like walking in the dark. You need to know what your crew, customers, and suppliers think, so listen hard--and pounce on every good idea you hear. That said, it’s not as easy as you think. A leader who hasn’t learned to listen is working under a huge handicap. It may be possible to lead without listening, Douglas MacArthur-style, but that approach is twice as hard, half as fast, and prone to disaster. Even as I rose through the ranks of the Navy, I found that listening didn’t always come naturally to me. Often, I merely pretended to hear people. How many times had I barely glanced up from my work when a sailor or officer came up to the bridge or into my cabin? I wasn’t paying attention; I was marking time until I could give orders. When I took command of Benfold, I was determined to do things differently--and I had to move fast. In two months, we would deploy to the Middle East, and we weren’t ready....

The legendary navy captain and New York Times– bestselling author of It''s Your Ship returns with winning leadership advice for the business world. The story of Captain Abrashoff and his transformative command of USS Benfold has become a fable of smart leadership inside and outside the Navy. Abrashoff turned his ship into a model of naval efficiency, with amazing cost savings, the highest gunnery score in the Pacific Fleet, and a highly motivated and top performing crew. In It''s Your Ship, he first demonstrated how to bring his successful management techniques from the ship to the boardroom. Now Abrashoff shares the leadership, motivational, and management insights and tips that he has learned from his last six years of addressing business and corporate audiences. Abrashoff''s timely advice is wise, actionable, and features anecdotes and insights from leaders of businesses both large and small from public and non-profit sectors.

Former U.S. Navy Commander Michael Abrashoff attracted worldwide media attention for his success in turning around a struggling ship, the USS Benfold—the subject of his acclaimed bestseller, It’s Your Ship. Since then, he’s been a fixture on the business lecture circuit, spreading an empowering message that any organization can be turned around with compassionate but firm leadership. Abrashoff never claimed to have all the answers. He also knew that there were plenty of other creative leaders in the navy, army, air force, marine corps, and even the coast guard who could teach businesspeople how to motivate, inspire, and get great results under pressure. So he asked around, found some fascinating people in every branch of the U.S. military and the business world, and interviewed them about leadership and teambuilding. The result is Get Your Ship Together—a book that will be just as valuable as It’s Your Ship. For example, Abrashoff introduces us to a working-class enlisted man who rose rapidly in the navy for his creative leadership under fire; an army platoon leader who fought in Afghanistan; the first woman to fly an Apache helicopter in combat; a former commander of the air force’s elite Blue Angels; and many other unsung heroes. Abrashoff distills their stories into fresh lessons that can be applied in the business world, such as: Make a contract with your people and honor it Develop your subordinates better so you can buy back a little quality of life Conduct the battle on your terms, not those of your adversary

Em Este Barco Também é Seu, Abrashoff narrou as suas extraordinárias experiências no Benfold. Agora, em Este Barco é Nosso, o Comandante se concentra nas descobertas e dicas sobre liderança, motivação e gestão que ele aprendeu, tanto no período que passou a bordo do navio de guerra da marinha americana quanto durante os anos em que ministrou palestras para audiências do meio corporativo. Os conselhos oportunos de Abrashoff incluem relatos de líderes da atualidade, de grandes e pequenas empresas, dos setores públicos e de ONGs. Com uma abordagem prática e interativa, o autor mostra como otimizar os níveis de desempenho e dedicação de sua equipe e gerar, assim, melhores resultados para todos, em qualquer setor da atividade humana.

Quando o capitão Abrashoff assumiu o comando do USS Benfold, um navio de guerra moderno, equipado com os sistemas mais avançados da atualidade, foi como se passasse a dirigir uma empresa com toda a tecnologia disponível, mas de baixa produtividade. Consciente de que a responsabilidade de melhorar o desempenho recaía sobre os seus ombros, ele compreendeu que precisaria desenvolver a sua própria capacidade de liderança antes de tentar aprimorar o navio. Em poucos meses, Abrashoff conseguiu uma tripulação constituída de pessoas confiantes, motivadas a solucionar problemas e dispostas a tomar iniciativas e assumir a responsabilidade pelos seus atos. O relato sobre como ele conseguiu este feito poderá ajudar você a mudar o curso do seu navio, não importa onde as suas batalhas profissionais sejam travadas.

O ex-Comandante da Marinha dos EUA D. Michael Abrashoff alcançou notoriedade no mundo inteiro pelo sucesso obtido no comando do USS Benfold. Hoje ele é presença permanente no circuito de palestrantes, divulgando sua inspiradora mensagem de que toda organização pode recuperar-se, bastando para isso muito trabalho e a direção de um líder compreensivo, mas firme. Abrashoff sabia da existência de muitos outros líderes criativos que poderiam ensinar a todos novas formas de motivar, inspirar e alcançar grandes resultados sob pressão. Ele descobriu alguns formadores de equipe extraordinários não entre os CEOs corporativos, mas, sim, líderes desconhecidos, pessoas notáveis com histórias notáveis que nunca recebem a devida atenção e publicidade da mídia, e os entrevistou para Este Barco é de Todos. Este livro comprova que em qualquer ambiente, seja um navio de guerra ou uma padaria, grandes líderes inspiram todos os envolvidos a aderir à causa comum e a assumir responsabilidade pessoal pela organização.