Mike Abrashoff

“When my crew came to me with a problem, I’d say ‘It’s your ship – how would you fix it?’.”

Mike Abrashoff was the most junior officer in the Pacific Fleet when he took command of the near-worst performing ship. Twelve months later, the USS Benfold was the best ship in the entire Navy—using the same crew. The story of that stunning transformation has lessons for every organization: leadership matters, engagement is key and culture is everything.

Mike established a set of management principles that he calls The Leadership Roadmap. At the core of his leadership approach on the USS Benfold was a process of replacing command and control with commitment and cohesion, and engaging the hearts, minds, and loyalties of workers with conviction and humility. “The most important thing that a captain can do is to see the ship through the eyes of the crew. The idea is to empower every individual to share the responsibility of achieving excellence.”

Mike is the author of four books. His first, It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, has sold over 1.3 million copies and has a timeless message: don’t let outside forces stand in your way as excuses—control what you can influence to get amazing results. His next two books, It's Our Ship: The No-Nonsense Guide to Leadership and Get Your Ship Together: How Great Leaders Inspire Ownership From The Keel Up, show how these principles have been put into action by business leaders in their organizations. Mike’s latest book, Ship Happens (co-authored with Stacey Cunningham), serves as a guide for leaders, detailing his strategies for transforming USS Benfold into the top-performing ship.

He inspires audiences to rethink their beliefs about leadership and organizational culture and tailors the message to focus on engagement, execution, change, safety, diversity, leadership, teamwork, innovation, accountability, and more.