Who is the author of Leadership Is Language?

The author of Leadership Is Language is David Marquet.

Management & Leadership

Leadership Is Language Book Summary - Leadership Is Language Book explained in key points

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Leadership Is Language summary

Name: Leadership Is Language
Rating: 4.5 (250 reviews)
Author: David Marquet

L. David Marquet

The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t

4.5 (250 ratings)

29 mins

Brief summary

Leadership Is Language by David Marquet challenges traditional styles of leadership and offers new language-based approaches to improve team collaboration and decision-making. By shifting from a traditional "command and control" leadership style, teams are empowered to think and act independently.

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Leadership

Table of Contents

Leadership Is Language
Summary of 10 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 10

What’s in it for me? Become a better, more effective leader by changing the way you communicate.

What does a book published in 1911 about steel mill management have to do with the 2017 Academy Awards fiasco? Why are so many airplane crashes ultimately attributed to poor communications between pilot and copilot?

You probably don’t realize it, but the language most of us use in our twenty-first century workplace is a relic of the Industrial Age. It’s designed to maximize efficiency, reinforce hierarchy, and encourage conformity. But the world has changed a lot in the past century. These days, adaptability, teamwork, and diversity are more important to a company’s success. So why are we still using a playbook developed for a different era?

In these blinks, you’ll learn to identify outdated formulations you’re probably still using – and to develop new ones better suited to the workplace of today.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

why the old leadership language is totally out of date;
hard and fast techniques for encouraging a diversity of perspectives; and
how vulnerable leaders can actually save lives.

In the traditional approach to management, people are divided into two categories – deciders and doers.

Imagine you’re at work. The day’s over, and you’re getting ready to head out. Some friends are meeting at a nearby bar; maybe you’ll join them. Or maybe it’s better to hit the gym – you could really use the workout. On the other hand, you’re exhausted. Going home for some rest sounds pretty appealing. You pause a minute to weigh each option before making your final decision. Then you pack your bag, walk out the door, and put your plan into action.

You’ve just engaged in the two primary modes of human activity: thinking and doing. You thought about where you wanted to go, and then you went. In your private life, you switch between these modes several times a day. Everybody does. But in the working world, most of us are categorized as either thinkers or doers. That’s because most companies are still run according to models developed in the Industrial Age.

The key message here is: In the traditional approach to management, people are divided into two categories – deciders and doers.

Over the years, different descriptors and signals have evolved to describe each group: leaders and followers, salaried and hourly, white-collar and blue-collar. The primary – and totally arbitrary – difference between them? One group is charged with making the decisions, and the other with executing them.

This approach is exemplified in Frederick Winslow Taylor’s 1911 book The Principles of Scientific Management. In it, Taylor specifies the single most efficient way for steel mill workers to perform a variety of tasks. The typical worker, for example, was most efficient when shoveling 21 pounds of material at a time. Not 20, not 22 – 21. Exactly 21. The way to improve efficiency, Taylor found, was to reduce variability.

That made sense at the time. In traditional manufacturing industries, after all, standardization was key. Even today, it often makes sense for companies to reduce variability. To mass-produce cars, for example, factories have to build millions of identical parts in rapid succession. To keep customers happy, McDonald’s has to ensure that its burgers come out the same every time.

But humans, unlike burgers or car parts, are variable. We can’t be divided neatly into the doers and the thinkers. Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management needs a revamp.

The language of the old approach to leadership is deterministic and binary – all about doing, not about thinking.

On October 1, 2015, a tragedy occurred in the Bahamas. After navigating into the eye of a hurricane, the container ship El Faro was lost at sea. None of the 33 crew members survived.

The old approach to leadership is no longer effective for modern companies.

Let’s consider another tragic accident on the water. In April 2010, gauges on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig began to indicate that a dangerous amount of pressure was building inside the drilling riser. Bridge operators triggered the temporary seals to shut down drilling, but none of them activated the emergency disconnect switch, a last-resort option that prevents blowouts. After nine minutes of emitting hydrocarbons, the rig erupted in flames. Eleven people died, and five million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

For organizations to thrive, the doers must also be deciders.

In 1906, the English polymath Francis Galton attended a country fair. At one stand, visitors were asked to guess the weight of an ox on display; whoever came closest would win the animal. After the contest ended, the ever-curious Galton collected and analyzed all the votes. What he found was that the collective average of the guesses came closer to the real number than all but a few of the individual guesses. The group, in other words, knew better than almost any individual fairgoer.

The key message here is: For organizations to thrive, the doers must also be deciders.

Effective leaders use language that encourages people to speak up, contribute, and participate.

A CEO is out to lunch with an old friend. It’s a big day for him. His company is field-testing a new product; if all goes well, the benefits will be significant. In the middle of lunch, he gets a call from his project lead, who’s on site, overseeing the trial. Things are not going well. After a brief conversation, he signs off with the following instruction: “Tell me if you need me to come over.”

It just so happens that the CEO is out to lunch with the author of Leadership is Language, who is troubled by this interaction. He suggests his friend call back the project lead and rephrase his sign-off. The CEO does just that. “On a scale of zero to five,” he asks her, “how helpful would it be if I came to the site?” The answer is five. The CEO gets up, thanks his friend, and heads over.

A successful leader rejects the traditional “obey the clock” mindset in favor of a “control the clock” approach.

Let’s imagine an alternate reality in which the crew of El Faro felt psychologically safe enough to question the captain’s decision. In this scenario, the captain took the time to meet with his first mate before departure. “I’m excited you’re on the team,” he told her. “Our differences in age and gender probably mean we’ll bring different perspectives to the table. I encourage you to share your opinions, and I commit to listening to what you have to say.”

Over the next two days, he called several all-crew meetings at critical junctures to discuss the possibility of changing routes. He used language that facilitated full participation and employed a variety of techniques to include everyone in the decision-making process. Instead of blindly adhering to the route chosen before departure, he called time-outs for reflection and reconsideration. In short, he did what the author refers to as controlling the clock.

Effective leaders embrace a collaborative approach to decision-making that celebrates diversity and variability.

Executives of a big international company are attending a leadership seminar run by the author. After people break into small groups, he assigns them a task. Each group has 90 seconds to come up with an educated guess about the results of an experiment the author has just recounted. At every table in the room, the same thing happens: one person – usually a senior executive – throws out the first guess. Others offer guesses slightly above or below that one. And then everyone discusses and agrees on a choice. The result? Each group’s final estimate is always somewhere around that first guess, no matter how far off that first guess was.

The key message here is: Effective leaders embrace a collaborative approach to decision-making that celebrates diversity and variability.

Effective leadership means getting people to commit to actions rather than comply with directives.

It’s late afternoon on the first of January. Last night, you resolved to give up sugar for a month; now, you’re tired, hungover, and desperately tempted to raid the cupboard for sweets. You tell yourself no, you can’t eat sugar. It becomes a refrain: I can’t eat sugar, I can’t eat sugar, I can’t eat sugar.

What you don’t realize is how much more effective it would be to tell yourself you don’t eat sugar. Saying “can’t” implies there’s an external force trying to keep you from consuming sugar. When you use the word “don’t,” on the other hand, the power comes from inside you. You won’t raid the cupboard because you are a person who does not eat sweets. This type of intrinsic motivation is much more powerful in driving human behavior than compliance with an outside force.

Successful leaders complete defined goals instead of continuing work indefinitely.

Toward the end of the 2017 Academy Awards, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway walked on stage to announce the Best Picture winner. When Beatty opened the envelope, he found a card that said, “Emma Stone, La La Land” – and, in smaller print at the bottom, “Actress in a Leading Role.” It wasn’t the card for Best Picture at all.

We all know what happened next: Dunaway announced the wrong winner, the producers of La La Land came on stage to accept the award, and it wasn’t until minutes later that one of them interrupted the celebrations to announce Moonlight as the real winner.

Successful leaders encourage people to learn, grow, and improve.

You’ve probably heard of the Disney movie Frozen, even if you haven't seen it. It grossed over a billion dollars, after all, and won tons of prestigious film awards. What you probably don’t know, though, is that an early version of the film was a total flop. At a test screening held 18 months before the planned release date, viewers were unsparing in their criticism and dislike.

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What is Leadership Is Language about?

Leadership is Language (2020) is a playbook for successful team management. Written by a former US Navy captain, it teaches leaders how they can change their language and mindsets in order to improve decision-making, empower workers, and achieve better results.

Leadership Is Language Review

Leadership Is Language (2020) is a thought-provoking book that challenges conventional leadership practices and offers fresh perspectives on effective communication. Here's why this book is a worthwhile read:

It provides concrete strategies for fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and innovation within teams and organizations.
Backed by research and real-world examples, the book explores the power of language to shape culture, influence decision-making, and drive positive change.
With its engaging storytelling and practical insights, it keeps readers captivated, offering a valuable resource to improve leadership skills and enhance team dynamics.

Who should read Leadership Is Language?

Team leaders, executives, and managers – current or aspiring
People interested in the way human language shapes human behavior

About the Author

L. David Marquet spent 28 years in the United States Navy before becoming a leadership consultant for businesses around the world. In his 2013 bestseller Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, he documents his time as commander of the USS Santa Fe, a nuclear submarine he helped transform from worst performer in the fleet to best.

Categories with Leadership Is Language

Management & Leadership Communication Skills

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