What a Nuclear Submarine Captain Can Teach Us About Leadership

I remember when I got really into the concept of self-managing teams. I was first inspired to look into it when I studied at INSEAD. Then I read the book Reinventing Organizations and my life changed.

Pretty soon I was improving the way I did everything as a leader. I was sharing authority for big decisions with my team – including who could spend the budget. We were holding meetings in-the-round and generating ideas in really creative ways. It was amazingly successful and inspiring for all of us to experiment with these progressive ways of working.

A lot of the inspiration for this thinking comes from quite radical movements, even from anarchists, the environmental movement and protest groups. But one of the best books on the subject is by a nuclear submarine captain. Someone from a very, very different world.

L David Marquet's book "Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Building Leaders by Breaking the Rules" is both a wonderful story and a brilliant primer on the art of delegation. It describes how the author took over the US Navy's worst performing submarine crew and turned it into the best. It's a gripping tale.

At the heart of the book is how Captain Marquet moved from a ‘leader-follower’ model to a ‘leader-leader’ model. It's based on the principle that people don’t need permission; they need authority to think and act.

One of the most practical tools in the book is the “I intend to…” framework. Put simply, instead of asking for permission to do something, individuals declare their intended actions and their reasons. This fosters accountability, agency and informed decision-making.

So, one small step you could take to improve your leadership practice is to encourage your colleagues to start using this phrasing when they are describing what they will do:

I intend to {insert action} and my reasons for that are {insert reasons}

Why not experiment with it and see what happens?

Good luck, Stephen

On Friday I will be giving a masterclass on leadership & delegation to my clients and members of HeRO Academy. Why not join Manuel, Saif, Katie, Emma & others? I have 4 places left this week. Just sign up to the Academy for free, and I will see you there.