He trusted his people and gave them control and the only parameters for that were that decisions were (i) competent and (ii) the right thing to do given their mission. The culture was different within 24 hours and the change was palpable, although it took a few years for the shift to be fully implemented. He became determined to change the whole culture of the Santa Fe and his own leadership style, and to stop giving unnecessary orders. But why hadn’t they told him rather than repeating and passing the impossible order down the chain of command? Because Marquet was the captain and he had told them to. There was no 2/3 speed setting on the auxiliary engine. Surprised by their lack of respect and instant obedience he turned to the helmsman demanding to know why they weren’t carrying out his orders. Keen to make the simulation harder, to really test them and also to improve his leadership credibility and not be seen as too ‘soft’ he gave a command to increase speed from “ahead 1/3” to “ahead 2/3”.īeing a naval commander, Marquet is used to absolute obedience from his subordinates and they duly passed the order down the chain of command. They had shut the reactor down and the crew were responding in just the right way, shifting power to the auxiliary engine and coming shallow.
Marquet was running a simulation exercise to test the crew’s ability to find and repair faults in combat conditions.
One incident revealed this to him clearly and changed his view of leadership forever. There was no way that Marquet could lead the crew in the same way he had led previous teams, he couldn’t be the all-knowing leader who gave every command, he didn’t know the sub well enough and they would see straight through him. It was literally impossible for him to assimilate all the information required in time.Ī submarine is a high-stress environment, where the leader is constantly visible, it is crucial that everyone does their job and there is no margin for error. Every nuclear sub is different and he now had two weeks to learn the new sets of plans and handbooks. Marquet’s last year of studying was irrelevant. The environment was toxic, retention was the lowest in the US Navy’s fleet, morale was low, it was the laughing stock of the other submarines and an inspection was due shortly. Then he received a last-minute change of instructions and was told he was needed to command the USS Santa Fe nuclear submarine instead.
He flew out to Pearl Harbour and he was ready to command, ready to lead it to excellence, ready to direct his team’s every action and instil obedience. For the last 12 months he had devoted himself to knowing every detail and nuance of the particular nuclear submarine he had been given to command. He had put in the thousands of hours required to be an expert in military tactics, naval expertise and submarine knowledge. David Marquet had trained for over a decade in the navy to reach the position of captain.
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