Conversation with David Marquet

Until he retired from the U.S. Navy as a captain in 2009, David Marquet spent most of his career underwater in a submarine.

But Marquet's first assignment out of the U.S. Naval Academy was also his most challenging. The Navy chose him to lead one of its most poorly performing submarines  — the USS Santa Fe — after its captain quit. 

Marquet, now 56, says the experience changed his approach to leadership, and believes that alteration changed the course of the Sante Fe and its mates. The ship went from being the worst in the fleet to one of the best, and 10 men from Marquet's crew received promotions to become captains of their own submarines.

After his retirement, Marquet wrote books, such as "Turn the Ship Around," which espouses how to create a cohesive team of independent employees. He shared his wisdom with the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance at its August luncheon. 

I'm a geeky kid inside. I'm the history buff, chess and science club guy. 

Something about submarine warfare and the strategy there really appealed to me, and that was a driving force that led me to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and later man a military submarine.

I wasn't a natural leader. Sometimes you learn that over time, if you lead the right way.

Leaders are sometimes found during difficult situations. I was in a hard situation when I was transferred at the last minute to the absolute worst submarine in our fleet. It was old, had a bad reputation and was the kind of sub where if you asked 35 guys to join, three would say yes. No one wanted to occupy it.

Back then, I thought leadership meant being the one with all of the answers, and telling people what to do. It doesn't.

I noticed on the submarine that men followed my orders, even when they knew they were wrong. And, that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted people to tell me when I was wrong, and for us to work together to fix things. That's how a team operates.

Leaders make mistakes, I know I've made a lot of them.

A leadership model that works is intent-based leadership. The objective is to get employees to transition the way they think from asking for permission for everything to taking initiative. We want employees to say, "I intend to do this." 

Maybe that intention is right, maybe it's wrong. But letting people show you what they can do rather than you telling them what they can do creates a dependency between the employee and the leader. 

Instead of asking, "Are you sure?" try saying, "How sure are you?" 

Keep your people communicating. People talk to their boss to get permission, rather than brainstorming ideas. Businesses need open communication, but without the permission aspect.

Competence and clarity are achieved with communication, not just being the title of being someone's boss.

I'd say society has the "When you show me, I'll grain confidence in you" mentality. But when you challenge employees, that shows how good that person is at their job.

Give control before taking it away.

Leadership is more of a sport than a science. Leading means blocking and tackling issues — together.

Empowering people is an overused term in the workplace. When you hear your employer say he or she wants to empower you, usually that means to manipulate you into doing what they're telling you to do.

During my presentation, I could say, "We're taking a break now, come back at 1:15 p.m." Or, I can just say we're taking a break and I'm starting at 1. It's a simple statement, but it's true. Too often we're telling people to do things, and not letting people make informed decision for themselves. I tell you when I'll start speaking again and you choose to come back and listen, not just because I tell you to come back.

Employees aren't children, so they respond better to adult-like treatment.

What is empowerment? Have you heard that phrase at your workplace? What does it actually mean? No one knows, and if they do, it's a definition their boss told them.

Yes, someone needs to be "in charge," to be the most knowledgeable person on the ship. But, I want to change what that looks like.

My mindset was an uncommon perspective for the military. But the numbers showed it worked for my team. We went from a 1 in 10 retention rate to 100%. We were getting higher scores on our rankings and evaluations. 

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder, was the exception to my mentality on leadership. From what I've researched, telling people what to do was more his style. Apple is a successful company, so that worked for him. But it doesn't always work.

I wanted to create a group that could live without me.

Leadership is speaking, listening and seeing all at once. 

All meetings are run the wrong way, all of them. Instead of being talked at, workshop or meeting leaders should ask everyone attending to write down an idea of a way to make the business better, or whether to hire that person. Why is one person in charge of commanding the ship? That sinks a ship.