It's Your Ship

is the title of an excellent book by Michael Abrashoff (isbn 0446529117). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

A recent Gallup study found that when people leave their companies, 65 percent of them are actually leaving their managers.

What I suddenly realized was that I had the power to do this all along. I just never had the self-confidence.

Something happened as a result of those interviews. I came to respect my crew enormously.

Secrecy spawns isolation, not success.

No matter how fantastic your message is, if no one is receiving it, you aren't communicating.

You earn trust only by giving it.

More often than not, bureaucracies create rules and then forget why they were needed in the first place, or fail to see that the reasons for them no longer exist.

Once leadership opportunities are squandered, you can never get them back.

If a rule doesn't make sense, break it.

If a rule does make sense, break it carefully.

I felt as small as a man could. I had just had my core values calibrated by someone half my age.

One-size-fits-all programs tend to fit none.

Leadership is mostly the art of doing simple things very well.

Open yourself. Coldness congeals. Warmth heals.

The goal shouldn't be to reduce the standards for some, but to raise everyone else to the highest possible level.

Train for unity.

If you don't intend to act, then don't bother to ask if it is going on. It will only make matters worse.

I kept walking around the ship, questioning the crew, drawing them out.

Having fun with your friends creates infinitely more social glue for any organization than stock options and bonuses will ever provide.