Submarine Lessons for Business Leadership
From Sketchplanations - The Podcast by Bell Boy Productions
April 7, 2026 · 52 min · Season 5 · Episode 13
About this episode
David Marquet discusses leadership lessons from his experience as a US Navy submarine captain.
US Navy submarine captain and author David Marquet discusses leadership lessons from turning the USS Santa Fe from worst to best, focusing on “pushing authority to information” rather than pushing information up a hierarchy. Marquet critiques industrial-age leadership language that seeks obedience and creates “bobblehead” agreement, arguing that real engagement comes from giving people decision-making authority, He also explains “distancing,” as a leadership and decision-making tool: viewing oneself from a third-person, from a different time, and/or from a different place to reduce ego and defensiveness over previous decisions. A thoroughly fascinating chat with a very talented and fun individual. External Links for items referenced in the conversation: David’s 3 books can be found here: Turn the Ship Around (+ workbook), Leadership is Language , and Distancing Here are two of many of David's talks to be found on YouTube: What is leadership? and Turn the Ship Around at the World Web Forum Here's the YouTube video of David rating submarine movies for how realistic they portray life under the waves. David talks about advice given to him by Simon Sinek Some of Jono's…
People in this episode
Guest: David Marquet
Topics covered
- leadership
- business
- decision-making
- engagement
- naval strategy
- self-improvement
Keywords
- leadership
- USS Santa Fe
- authority
- decision-making
- engagement
- industrial-age leadership
- distancing
- self-talk
- submarine movies
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: US Navy
Books & works: Turn the Ship Around, Leadership is Language, Distancing
More episodes of Sketchplanations - The Podcast
- The Diderot Effect · June 2, 2026 · 34 min
- Why Only 2 Countries Are Double-Landlocked · May 19, 2026 · 31 min
- How To Become An Overnight Success. · May 5, 2026 · 35 min
- Play Until Something Gets Broken · April 21, 2026 · 23 min
- Hitting the Target: Accuracy vs. Precision · March 24, 2026 · 30 min
- Do you Know Your Dashes? · March 10, 2026 · 33 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Sketchplanations - The Podcast podcast page.