Rating: 
Summary: How "best Damn Ship" helped me
Review: As a new supervisor in a law enforcement organization, I can readily see the parallels between police work and the military. Theres the "old school" ways and the exact opposite. Theory X vs TheoryY. Capt. Abrashoff's book is most enlightning and is definetely vogue to the law enforcement community. The book has motivated me to employ many, if not all of his time proven philosophies of good leadership. I supervise civilian personnel, in addition to sworn officers. The inherent challenges in manging both groups is obvious. If we had more leaders like Capt. Abrashoff, the results would be of such magnitude that each and every agency would be competing to have the "Best Damn Agency" in the business. Thanks to Capt. Abrashoff for strengthening what I always thought was the WAY TO GO.....
Rating:
Summary: Goose bumps....this book makes you want to succeed
Review: I read Mikes book from cover to cover and ENJOYED it so much.
His book is full of living case studies of how how motivated, encouraged and challenged his crew and gives commentary on how to be a better leader.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational and Practical
Review: I was fortunate enough to hear the author speak once at work. He provides the inspiration and can-do attitude that empowers people that they can make a difference. He is so effective because he has done it. He could have never changed his part of the Navy unless, his employees, unless he led them through the change himself. He led from the front and backed up his employees. He could have never pulled things off without having the courage to make mistakes and learn. He provides excellent examples of managing up and down the organization...something every leader needs. It is also a skill every employee wants to see in their leader. It was refreshing to see Abrashoff apply his daily learnings to his work. Each time a new risk was taken, whether the risk was successful or not, the author applied the learnings for the next opportunity, readying his team to learn from their trials.This book is easy to read and practical...a leadership guide that all leaders should read. This will be a must read for my team.
Rating:
Summary: It All Makes Perfect Sense
Review: Michael Abrashoff tells an inspiring story loaded with credibility, loyalty, mutual respect between teams, commitment & professionalism. And my favourite - passion. A passion for doing things right, and doing the right things - by your people and your employer. Throw in powerful high tech equipment and life & death decision-making in a context of urgency and impact which most of us will never experience, and you have the story of a real-life American hero. Well done Michael Abrashoff. This book is your gift to the nation!
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Summary: D. Michael Abrashoff for President!!
Review: Having read this exceptional material, I can't think of a better individual to occupy the Oval Office. His leadership reminds us that we all in greed stricken America overlook and ignore the basic principals of life and common decency -- the continuation of ignoring the obvious and remembering that empowerment is contagious. Every business and political leader would have much to gain from such brilliant and basic advice in dealing with human beings -- to remember they are human beings. That will always be Americas greatest asset -- its people. God Bless the amazingly brilliant Commander Abrashoff and all those who follow his advice.
Rating:
Summary: Straight to the point
Review: This book is straight to the point....and having met its author I am not surprised. The book is topical, fresh and very valuable for those "captains" of industry who really care about steering with accuracy. My gut and experience tell me that the navy-born concepts detailed in "It's Your Ship" will fit civilian organizations like a glove.....Read it.
Rating:
Summary: I Wanna Be Like Mike!
Review: What a great story about commanding a navy warship! This grassroots approach to leading such a diverse population is extraordinary. Someone once told me that the key to success in leading people is to "remember their name and look them in the eye when they're talking." Abrashoff proves this and also emphatically drives home the fact that 'the little things count the most.' Bravo-Zulu Mike - This should be considered a textbook for all managers at all levels!
Rating:
Summary: Greatest Book on Leadership That I Have Ever Read!
Review: I am always trying to find books on people management, leadership and mentoring. I am the COO of a small size bank. I saw Captain Abrashoff on the Fox News Channel and decided to buy the book. Boy! am I glad I did. I loved it. I have passed it on to my boss to read and I will probably buy addtional copies for my staff to read.
Reading this book made me wish I had been on the USS Benfold with these guys!
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Leadership Primer
Review: As a former army officer, I'm a little surprised that Michael Abrashoff didn't learn some of these lessons until he was a ship's captain. (Conventional navy leadership - which Abrashoff's rebels against - seems much different than the leadership I learned from my sagacious army mentors). Nonetheless, I loved this book. It's full of universal principles and interesting stories of leadership wisdom in action. In last few days I've been quoting Abrashoff to friends and subordinate leaders. Here's some tidbits... "Leadership is about understanding yourself first... a leader must free their subordinates to fulfill their talents to the utmost... my experience has shown that helping people realize their full potential can lead to attaining goals that would have been impossible to reach under command-and-control [i.e. through micro-management]... as a manager, the one signal you need to steadily send to your people is how important they are to you... listen aggressively... I vowed to treat every encounter with every person on the ship as the most important thing at that moment... I had a microphone for the ship's public-address system on my desk. Whenever I got a good suggestion, I hit the button and told the whole ship about it... I decided the Benfold was going to be the best dam ship in the Navy. I repeated it to my sailors all the time, and eventually they believed it themselves... The best way to keep a ship - or any organization - on course is to give the troops all the responsibility they can handle and stand back... Trust is a kind of jujitsu: You have to earn it, and you earn trust only by giving it... Trust makes money... Trust people, they usually prove you right... Expect the best from your crew. You will get it..." Abrashoff's vision of leadership is - as it should be - people-oriented and empowering. A great primer for anyone in any kind of leadership position: military, civic, religious, or commercial.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolute garbage
Review: I gleaned little from this book on "leadership" other than a better appreciation of the need for humility among leaders. CAPT Abrashoff's arrogance is appalling. I've served on similar ships at the same time as CAPT Abrashoff and can empahtically say that few of the ideas he passes off as his own are truly original. Far from it for him to believe, but his is not the only ship in the Navy to achieve such success. Admittedly, BENFOLD did have a good reputation and continues to enjoy a good record. But I fail to see many positive lessons on leadership from his oddly-arranged collection of "sea stories". In fact, this is not a book on leadership but what appears to be Abrashoff's resume. The best thing I can say about it is that it will keep you riveted from page to page as your anger at such unrestrained arrogance and self-promotion boils over. If you can take away a lesson from it (as that is the goal of all books on leadership) it is that you should endeavour to not be like CAPT Abrashoff.
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