A New Playbook for Leaders

Abstract

Marquet, who before he became a leadership advisor was the captain of the nuclear submarine USS Santa Fe, writes about the language people use in workplace settings, and how they react to people in different positions of power. Part of this includes dissecting the tragedy of a container ship, El Faro, that sank in 2015, causing the deaths of all 33 aboard. Marquet writes: “The problem is that the captain and crew had been programmed with an industrial age leadership playbook.” In that bygone age, workers were separated into those whose job involved thinking and those who performed the work. “Society and cultures,” Marquet states, “developed rituals, symbols, and uniforms to allow us to label and identify which group people belonged to.”