Leadership is Language

When David Marquet was unexpectedly placed in charge of a poorly performing nuclear submarine that he did not know with a demoralised crew, he quickly discovered that the familiar leadership style that had propelled him up the ranks of the navy to admiral would not work.  In Leadership is Language, Marquet expounds the radically different style of leadership which did work. The key was language:

Punctuate red work with blue

In unfamiliar and changing circumstances, we cannot be certain that any particular process either is or will remain optimal. So we need to chop our journey into chunks, punctuating periods of activity (which Marquet calls "red work") with periods of reflection ("blue work"). Red work requires us to commit to an activity and carry it out to completion as efficiently as possible. Blue work requires us to collaborate in questioning with curiosity the outcomes of the previous period of red work and options for the next.

This think-do rhythm is analogous to switching between the System 1 and System 2 Thinking explained by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman in his book Thinking Fast and Slow. System 1 Thinking is instinctive and emotional: it allows us to follow established patterns quickly and efficiently. System 2 Thinking is deliberative and logical: it enables to solve problems, but it takes time and conscious effort. Without System 1 thinking, our progress would be painfully slow. Without System 2 thinking, we would frequently be hurtling off in the wrong direction.

Broadening our perspectives

We need to be consistent in our doing (red work) but divergent in our thinking (blue work). In periods of blue work, our objectives are: "to broaden our perspectives, embrace variability, and make visible the collective knowledge, thoughts, and ideas of the group." This requires us consciously to break out of our usual language patterns and deliberately to seek alternative ways of looking the same situation.

Marquet proposes:

Distributing the voices

"If you want to hear more from your team, you need to talk less." Give space for everyone to express their personal perspective before discussing the options as a group. Seek out a diversity of genders, ages, backgrounds, personalities, skills and positions.

Asking How? and What? not Why?

Asking "why do you want to do that?" implies that you already disagree and thus pushes the other person into defending their position and trying to change your opinion. By contrast, asking "what do you see?" or "how might we do that" draws out information without judgement.

Using nouns not verbs

Nouns focus attention on the work; verbs focus attention on the worker. Choosing nouns rather than verbs helps steer the conversation away from judgement and defence towards observation and deliberation. Contrast: "You need to make more sales" with "I see that the volume of sales was lower this quarter than last."

Using a scale rather than binary choices

Since by the nature of what we are trying to achieve, none of us can be absolutely certain about our options it is more honest to ask the team to think in terms of percentages, probability or on a scale of “fist to five” rather than a simple “yes” or “no.” Exploring the nuances this reveals helps us to make better informed decisions.

Getting better results from red work means investing in blue work. Effective blue work requires us to change the language: by bringing a broader range of voices to the table and by choosing different words with which to express ourselves and consciously seeking out diversity.

_{Background image by nuraghies on Freepik. Book cover image from davidmarquet.com}