Customer Reviews

Becoming a Leader the Annapolis Way

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Excellent book. As a career Naval Officer, I have seen first hand how critical each of the leadership principles discussed in this book are. Throughout fleet, these are the skills, and values which distinguish the highly successful leaders from the mediocre. In a straightforward manner, the authors elucidate the 12 fundamental lessons which have been carefully honed over the course of the Naval Academy's long and impressive history of turning out admirable military, government and business leaders. When earnestly applied, these tenets will prove to be of significant value to leaders and organizations, whether military or civilian. In this highly enlightening book, Johnson and Harper blend sound psychological and sociological knowledge with gripping real life examples. In addition to being informative and thought provoking, the book is a fun read. I strongly recommend it.

The military academies were among the first to understand that leadership is a subject that can be learned just the way you learn a language, mathematics or computer programming. It is a mixture of theory and practice. You teach the theory, and you assign 'homework' that enables these theories to be put into practice.

In the military acadamies you are teaching one of the hardest leadership tasks, how to make people perform in the crucible of combat. Here leadership is more important than in most companies. It is a field that the academies study very closely. The graduates of the program are those who lead the Navy in time of peace and peril.

This book concentrates on the Navy way of teaching leadership. It is not necessarily the way that is suited for every environment, but after all, it is only one book. And after all, some people will do better than others -- we are after all, just people. This book describes the way that the Navy has trained its officers for a long time, it works for them, and as a business manager there are certainly techniques that are applicable to business practices.

This book can help you in your personal or professional lives by distilling some key lessons of leadership as honed at the US Naval Academy. Leaders are made, not born, and no you can't become a leader by reading a book or a thousand books. But by thoughtfully reading this book and applying its lessons, you WILL improve your leadership skills. The Navy has 4 short years to turn recent high school graduates into combat leaders. Their formula has, by and large, worked for them. Put it to work for you....

I read this book because I had a son getting ready to go to the Naval Academy. Its a great book for anyone with a friend or loved one at, or heading to, the Academy. After reading it I had a much better understanding of what goes on at USNA, and more important as it turns out, it opened my eyes to a lot of things I wish I'd considered with respect to my own life when I was much younger.

The writing isn't always the best, and some of the personal stories told by the authors are a little corny, but, the substance of this book makes it more than worthwhile for anyone who is curious about leadership in general and the Naval Academy approach to leadership in particular.

Among other things "Leadership the Annapolis Way" will remind you that there are many very good, very talented people commited to protecting our freedom. In the end this book was a source of great personal inspiration and started me thinking about how the ideas it discusses apply, or should apply, to my own life. Its not every day you read a book that may have that kind of impact on you.

It was a gift and it was greatly appreciated and full of helpful information for research of a future career.

I spent my entire life growing up in Annapolis, Maryland. The Naval Academy was my back yard and playground. Literally! My family was involved in a business which was tied closely to the Academy, and those associated with it. Always interested in the development of Naval Officers, and the transformation of young men (and more recently women)into professional Naval leaders. This book goes through all of the overt and covert evolutions in the making of leaders, without the stale cookie cutter stuff normally in books on leadership. USNA is a labratory, where setting examples and having the highest expectations is the norm, and those kids "get it." On a personal note, I watched with wonder as Midshipmen could pack 24 credit hours, military instruction, extra carricular activities, a social life of sorts, standing watch, and other duties and activities, handled it all. They grew personally, professionally, and academically. Prof. Johnson and his colleagues demonstrate over and over how leaders are made, even starting with superior candidates, and great things are expected from them when they graduate and move to the fleet. They cite many examples of great courage, calmness under fire, keeping their subordinates safe in battle or other crisis, and how they used common principles of leadership they learned at the small boat school on the Severn River. I had a long career in the medical field, and rose to a position of leadership myself. I would be less than honest if I didn't admit that many of those you will read about were examples for me to emulate. My son in law graduated from USNA in 1992, and this year took command of a squadron that teaches young men and women to fly here in Florida. When he took command, I gave him a copy of that book, but added it should be a reference for him, as I noticed (as did the Navy) he displayed many of the leadership traits in that book. He, and his colleagues are now in the business of helping junior offers learn the mechanics of their trade, and also the importance of taking care of your men/women, and the serious work of defending their nation. That, in a nut shell is the essence of Mr. Johnson's book, and it could be read over and over, as it is actually a fun read.