Greatness

I've dug out an entry from my Leadership Journal. I tried to sum up the concept of Greatness in David Marquet’s book Turn the Ship Around, focusing on empowering teams and decentralizing leadership. At the core is the idea of fostering "greatness" by embedding the capacity for it within the people and practices of an organization, rather than tying success to a single leader's personality. 

Extract from My Leadership Journal

In Turn the Ship Around!, David Marquet, who was a former U.S. Navy submarine captain, shares his leadership journey aboard the USS Santa Fe. Marquet was initially assigned to command a submarine that lacked strong leadership, plagued by low morale, poor performance, and an entrenched culture of compliance. Instead of leading with the traditional 'leader-follower' model, he shifted to a 'leader-leader' philosophy, redistributing authority to his crew and empowering them to think, decide, and act.

Marquet discovered that greatness emerges when people are trusted to own decisions and develop competence alongside accountability. He created a culture where initiative thrived, encouraging the phrase, “I intend to…” rather than waiting for orders. This fostered pride and responsibility at every level. The Santa Fe quickly rose to become one of the best-performing submarines in the fleet.

Greatness in leadership involved building up others. Marquet emphasizes that true greatness lies in creating an environment where individuals are inspired to become leaders themselves, ensuring long-lasting excellence that outlives the individual. The opposite of micro-management (which if you've read any of my articles before, you know I have difficulty with), the approach was based on trust. His story proves that when leaders resist the urge to command and instead enable others to lead, organisations achieve extraordinary, sustainable performance.

Traditional leadership views emphasise authority, where leaders make decisions and others follow. Marquet challenges this by advocating for a shift from issuing orders to giving intent. This approach allows team members to take ownership of actions and decisions, promoting psychological empowerment. The leader still holds moral and ethical responsibility but enables autonomy by not requiring permission for every decision. 

Two key questions leaders should ask are: 

1. "What are you going to do?" (to assess competence), and 

2. "Is it the right thing to do?" (to assess alignment with organizational goals). 

   
   

This encourages team members to think like leaders themselves, shifting decision-making authority to where the relevant information resides. This not only boosts engagement but also engenders thinking. 

This reminded me of a graphic that I saw in the TES which highlights "The 5 Characteristics of Great School Culture" from Integrity Coaching: 

1. Shared Vision – clarity on direction, 

2. Collegiality – collective teamwork, 

3. Lifelong Learning – commitment to growth, 

4. Risk-Taking – trying new approaches, 

5. Celebration and Humour – fostering joy and confidence. 

The graphic is a summary of the ideas presented by Viv Grant, Director of Integrity Coaching. I think I included it on the same page of my leadership journal because I saw the word 'Great' and it also provided a school context. Overall, the idea promotes leadership that empowers, trusts, and builds sustainable greatness through distributed decision-making and cultural strength. This ties in with Marquet's story, and that's great!