Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character

Admiral Stavridis uses biographies of ten famous admirals and his own military career to reflect on the virtues of leadership and character. It’s an interesting concept for a book, though one that is perhaps a little over-structured, as Stavridis digests the complexity of an entire career down to a single value, like bravery, innovation, or anger.

For all its naval overtures, this is hardly a militaristic book. The subjects are lauded more for innovation and organizational transformation over tactical skill or boldness in battle. Some interesting common themes pop out: Leaders are overwhelming leaders of human beings. Themistocles rallied his sailors with brave speeches, and Nelson forged a band of brothers. In the modern era, both Nimitz and Zumwalt used tours in the naval office in charge of personnel as key stepping stones, while Rickover personally selected every officer going into nuclear submarines with infamously torturous interviews.

Character matters, and tempering your own character and knowing the quality of those around you is key. The virtues of character are commonplace: insight, boldness, generosity, knowing when to go along and when to fight, and above all resilience to life’s knocks. Applying them is hard.