Leadership Is Language

The Hidden Power of What You Say--and What You Don't

De: L. David Marquet

Narrado por: L. David Marquet

Wall Street Journal best seller

From the acclaimed author of Turn the Ship Around!, former US Navy Captain David Marquet, comes a radical new playbook for empowering your team to make better decisions and take greater ownership.

You might imagine that an effective leader is someone who makes quick, intelligent decisions, gives inspiring speeches, and issues clear orders to their team so they can execute a plan to achieve your organization's goals. Unfortunately, David Marquet argues, that's an outdated model of leadership that just doesn't work anymore.

As a leader in today's networked, information-dense business climate, you don't have full visibility into your organization or the ground reality of your operating environment. In order to harness the eyes, ears, and minds of your people, you need to foster a climate of collaborative experimentation that encourages people to speak up when they notice problems and work together to identify and test solutions.

Too many leaders fall in love with the sound of their own voice, and wind up dictating plans and digging in their heels when problems begin to emerge. Even when you want to be a more collaborative leader, you can undermine your own efforts by defaulting to command-and-control language we've inherited from the industrial era.

It's time to ditch the industrial age playbook of leadership. In Leadership is Language, you'll learn how choosing your words can dramatically improve decision-making and execution on your team. Marquet outlines six plays for all leaders, anchored in how you use language:

• Control the clock, don't obey the clock: Pre-plan decision points and give your people the tools they need to hit pause on a plan of action if they notice something wrong.
• Collaborate, don't coerce: As the leader, you should be the last one to offer your opinion. Rather than locking your team into binary responses ("Is this a good plan?"), allow them to answer on a scale ("How confident are you about this plan?")
• Commit, don't comply: Rather than expect your team to comply with specific directions, explain your overall goals, and get their commitment to achieving it one piece at a time.
• Complete, not continue: If every day feels like a repetition of the last, you're doing something wrong. Articulate concrete plans with a start and end date to align your team.
• Improve, don't prove: Ask your people to improve on plans and processes, rather than prove that they can meet fixed goals or deadlines. You'll face fewer cut corners and better long-term results.
• Connect, don't conform: Flatten hierarchies in your organization and connect with your people to encourage them to contribute to decision-making.

In his last book, Turn the Ship Around!, Marquet told the incredible story of abandoning command-and-control leadership on his submarine and empowering his crew to turn the worst performing submarine to the best performer in the fleet. Now, with Leadership is Language he gives businesspeople the tools they need to achieve such transformational leadership in their organizations.

©2020 L. David Marquet (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Full of compelling advice on how to lead more effectively by choosing your words more wisely.” (Adam Grant, author of Originals and Give and Take, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife)

“Leaders have to make difficult decisions every day under conditions of uncertainty. How can they get the best information and ideas from their people to help them decide? Leadership is Language is a refreshing, actionable framework that helps you navigate uncertainty and tackle thorny problems by bringing out the best in your people.” (Annie Duke, author of Thinking in Bets)

“In Turn The Ship Around, Marquet challenged us to change the way we lead; Now, in Leadership is Language, he challenges us to change the way we talk as leaders - dropping the archaic language of command and control and learning the language of creativity, collaboration, and commitment.” (Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers)

Fantastic!!

I loved this book. I listened to it, talked about it and have gave a copy away.
Great read!

Wow what I did not know!

Did you know that the wolf pack idea is exactly how we get our data about human stress, using chimps? Random chimps shoved together and then put in different groups, just the same as we got our data on alpha wolves. I am so glad that I read a book pointing this out, how we aren't caged chimps even when we live inside of submarines.

Enjoy a book on how people actually think, with information on how we got our (wrong) ideas that may blow your mind.

loved it

loved it so much I bought the hard copy too, to take notes in.

Great book

This is one of the best books on leadership I've read in a while. I absolutely love how the author has broken down each principle into plays and actionable items that you can immediately go and practice. Everyone should read this book.

insightful and informative

lots of great tools and idea for creative collaboration.

1.25x was the listening sweet spot for speed IMO.

Red VS Blue

Several folks in my work group read Turning the Ship Around and it made a big difference in the way we talk and lead. This is a follow-on book that addresses some of the same areas but focuses on the language our teams use to execute work. The book starts with a tragic story about the sinking of El Faro, a massive cargo ship lost in a hurricane. Marquet details the issues, language, and mindsets that caused the ship to sail into danger and destruction. The premise of the book is then to show how using new language and a new playbook would prevent such mistakes. The goal of the new playbook is to give leaders the proper language and awareness to balance deliberation (Bluework) and action (Redwork).

Marquet introduces six new plays to avoid old/outdated plays:
Control the clock - not obey the clock
Collaborate, not coerce
Commit, not comply
Complete, not continue
Improve, not prove
Connect, not conform

There are chapters for each of these new plays that explain the dangers of the old plays and the benefits of using better language to call the new plays. Chapter 9 runs through several situations and how the leaders in them can call better plays for better results. Chapter 10 is a hypothetical outline of how the leaders of El Faro could have used the new plays to communicate more effectively and make better critical decisions.

Each chapter has a wealth of wisdom and ideas for implementing the new plays. Marquet is slow and deliberate in his description of each old/new play combo, calling on stories from the Oscars to submarine tactics, to more common business issues. The content is actionable, relatable, and well-organized.

One growth area for me is to work on my Collaborate play. Often, I believe I already know what the best answer is and I try to coerce others into following my lead and coming to my conclusions. I am working to be more curious. I am working to ask better questions and be more patient while others share their perspectives. I am working to invite dissent rather than trying to drive to consensus.

Marquet emphasizes the goal of having a learning mindset. If we approach problems with a desire to learn, grow, connect, and understand, we cannot lose. Even in failure, we will be strengthened by new relationships, ideas, knowledge, and wisdom. Psychological safety is so important in allowing a group or culture to face its challenges, focus on problems and processes rather than blaming people, and connect to create solutions where none appeared before.

Phil, thanks for giving me this book and walking through its lessons with me.

This is for anyone interested in learning how to be a better leader.
(Rated PG, Score 10/10, audiobook read by the author, 10:40, Hardcover, 352p.)

Great content for leaders

I like David’s storytelling ability and inflection while reading.
Very enjoyable. Even my adult kids liked it while I forced them to listen in during a long road trip.😂

Outstanding!

This book presents a compelling argument for a fundamentally different way of leading and interacting. Highly recommended reading for all.

Puts great concepts into the right words.

I have been a leader in large organizations for a while and this gave me some tools and wording I was missing for my team to truly collaborate.

Ways and words to leave industrial mind-set behind

Learn how we are stopping our own progress with our destructive industrial thinking and real actions and words we can use resulting in healthier work environments. AND much more profitable businesses😃