David Marquet

David is one of the world’s most sought-after leadership speakers and is the best-selling author of “Turn the Ship Around”. Since publishing his book in 2013, it has been consistently listed as a “top read” and is a #1 best-seller on Amazon.

David first discovered his passion for leadership as a teenager. While spending the summer with his grandparents, he found a series of books – History of United States Naval Operations in World War II by Samuel Eliot Morison. By springtime, he had devoured each of the 15 volumes, reading over 6,500 pages in total.

It was this series of books that first ignited David’s passion and inspired his dream of one day captaining a Navy vessel on which people thrived.

Wanting nothing more than to realize this dream, David graduated top of his class from the U.S. Naval Academy – an institute renowned for developing “leaders to serve the nation.” After that, he joined the submarine force.

However, the traditional leader-follower model employed by the Navy bothered him greatly as it influenced people to comply, not think. Having experienced how this practice made people feel marginalized, David knew there had to be a better way.

David tried a different approach as an engineer officer aboard the USS Will Rogers (SSBN-659), a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. Instead, he would empower his team, providing broad guidance and giving them intent rather than orders. However, his hopes of creating a better leadership practice were shattered as it turned out to be a disaster. Ultimately, he had to stop and revert to the traditional leader-follower method.

Following this experience, David was selected to captain the USS Olympia (SSN-717), a nuclear-powered attack submarine. He was one step closer to accomplishing his dream. He spent a year studying how to take command, understanding on a deep level every detail of how that submarine operated.

Unexpectedly, David was diverted to take command of the USS Santa Fe (SSN-763) when its captain quit. The Sante Fe was the worst performing submarine in the fleet and was a different type of submarine from the one he spent a year studying.

Less than a month later, David realized that the leader-follower model meant his crew would obey his every order – even if it was wrong. His team had been running a simple drill to simulate a fault with the reactor. David had ordered, “ahead two-thirds”, an order which the officer on deck repeated. In this scenario, propulsion is shifted from the main engines to a smaller, electric propulsion motor.  

However, nothing happened.

When asked what the problem was, the helmsman who was to execute the order pointed out that there were no two-thirds in the electric propulsion mode, unlike all David’s previous submarines. Even while knowing the captain’s command was wrong, the officer on deck still repeated it.

Upon realizing the possible catastrophic implications of the leader-follower approach, David decided to try Intent-Based Leadership again.

He began treating his crew as leaders and not followers, giving control instead of taking it. Not long after, operations took a dramatic turn, and Santa Fe went from the worst performing submarine in the fleet to the best, achieving the highest retention and operational standings in the Navy.

When author, educator and businessman Stephen R. Covey spent time aboard the Santa Fe, he referred to it as the most empowering organization he’d ever seen. He wrote about David’s leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit.

After David’s departure from the USS Santa Fe, it continued to win awards and promote more officers and enlisted men to positions of increased responsibility than any other submarine—including ten subsequent submarine captains.

In 2009, David retired from the Navy.

Nowadays, David works as a speaker, helping leaders build environments where people contribute and feel valued. His Intent-Based Leadership model is turning around all types of organizations— from big manufacturers to start-ups and sports teams to government.