Capt. (Ret.) L. David Marquet is the former commanding officer of the U.S.S. Santa Fe, a fast-attack nuclear submarine. He also is the author of Turn the Ship Around!, which is the true story of how Capt. Marquet and his fellow officers transformed the Santa Fe from one of the lowest-ranking ships in the U.S. Navy, into one of the Navy’s most consistently high-ranking warships, by creating a leader-leader (vs. leader-follower) culture.
Capt. Marquet’s latest book is Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions. Here is my take:
Distancing is a book about improving decision-making by making a mindset shift in 3 key areas: how we relate to ourselves, how we view our situation, and how we see the possible outcomes of our decisions. Taken together, changes in each of these three areas can dramatically improve the quality of our decision-making, thereby improving outcomes.
First, we are invited to change how we relate to ourselves (“Be Someone Else”). We’re asked to adopt the persona of a Coach; someone who always has our best interests in mind and who simultaneously is willing to challenge our assumptions and limiting beliefs, call us on our own B.S., and push us to bring out our best.
Second, the authors challenge us to see ourselves and our situation through the lens of a dispassionate observer (“Be Someplace Else”). Taking a step up and out of the fray gives us the ability to see the situation and the actors more objectively, which makes the next step(s) much more clear.
Third, we’re asked to become time travelers – to closely examine the future, based on the decision we’re making today (“Be Someplace Else”). Who wins? Who loses? What are some of the unintended consequences of what we decided to do or not do? What will we regret? What opportunities did we foreclose, or open up? “Be Someplace Else” invites us to closely examine not just the immediate needs of the situation, but the long-term impacts our decision might produce.
These three mindset shifts aren’t just for organizational leaders: they can also be extremely effective in the personal arena as well. Speaking to yourself as a Coach would speak to you, looking at yourself and your situation from a more objective viewpoint, and being mindful of how the future you will look and feel based on the decisions you make today, are all worth adopting.
In a nutshell, if you want to improve the quality of your decisions, start by changing the ways you approach decision-making. Distancing explains how to do that, quickly and effectively.