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"Turn the Ship Around!" is an easy but incredibly inspiring read. The way Captain L. David Marquet describes the transition from a Leader-Follower to a Leader-Leader paradigm on board the USS Santa Fe seems simple but effective: »The steps were evolutionary. The result was revolutionary.«

Based on the three legs "control, competence and clarity", Marquet develops manyfold learnings and insights that are valuable to the US Navy leadership, and certainly beyond. Things that resonated strongly with me, among others, were questioning the usual connotation of "empowerment", introducing the idea of "acting and talking ourselves into a new way of thinking", the concept of "deliberate action", and what it really means to take care of your people.

A truly encouraging book.

I finally read this book for a second time, and find myself being a fan of its entertaining (and yes, of course oversimplified and exaggerated) approach to introduce ideas that are still not fully understood or internalised by the majority of organisations nowadays.

The content of the book itself has been discussed more than once, so I spare you with that. The writing style gets the message delivered, but there's certainly nothing to rave about. Also, this is not a cook book by any means, so there's no recipe for you to follow blindly, but it will give you more than only one thought to reflect upon.

Having read the "The Phoenix Project", it's worth to dive into the works of W. Edwards Deming or Eliyahu M. Goldratt for a deeper and better funded understanding, if you didn't already do so.

This book is pointing out five dysfunctions that many teams struggle with, at least at times, and gives ideas on how to observe and overcome them. Many of those ideas are worth consideration, and highlighting these dysfunctions in a structured context is certainly helpful.

A book that is written with good intention.

Nevertheless, I can't really digest the old narrative of a wise and superior leader who knows what's best for his or her subordinates, and would love to have read the same story with a team that's more at an eye level.