Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Between the Line: It's Your Ship...Family version

I was working on a project recently and remembered something I read in "It's Your Ship" by Captain Michael Abrashoff. This is a great leadership book describing how he took the worst ship in the Navy and made it the first ship in the Navy.

I pulled it off the shelf and started my search for the particular content I needed and then decided to glance back over my "underlines," the content that had made me think when I read the book the first time. Some of these are so good, that I wanted to share them here on the blog. (You'll probably see more in the future.) As you read these thoughts, please don't dismiss them as business or leadership jargon. You can easily make the transition to your family by replacing the words "crew", "leader", "organization", and "company" with the words like "kids", "parent" and "family."

  • All leaders (parents) have the challenge of getting the most out of our crews (kids), which depends on three variables: the leader's (parent's) needs, the organization's (family's) atmosphere, and the crew's (kid's) potential competence.
  • Leaders (parents) must free their subordinates (children) to fulfill their talents to the utmost. However, most obstacles that limit people's potential are set in motion by the leader (parent) and are rooted in his or her own fears, ego needs, and unproductive habits.
  • Show me an organization (family) in which employees (children) take ownership, and I will show you one that beats its competitors (opposition).

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