Customer Reviews

The Rickover Effect: How One Man Made a Difference

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Many biographies have been written about Hyman Rickover, the father of the Nuclear Navy, which focus on his dictatorial idiosyncrasies and leave the reader wondering how anyone could have ever worked for him. In "The Rickover Effect: How One Man Made A Difference" author Ted Rockwell discusses how Rickover's leadership style created a paradigm shift among all of the organizations he came in contact with focusing away from the status quo and toward operational excellence and high-reliability. Rockwell, who worked for Rickover from 1949 to 1964 and served as the Technical Director of the U.S. Naval Reactors Program (NR) between 1954 and 1964 is certainly in one of the best positions to discuss his perceptions of Rickover's personality, work ethic, and style.

One of the quotes from the book that impressed me very much was that Rickover questioned how people who admitted they could never have accomplished what he had done -- building the first atomic submarine from abstract concept to reality in record time - could question his leadership and management style. Critics generally focus on Rickover's demanding style as ruthless and insensitive, when in reality he was building a committed organization and shaking out those that were not as dedicated as he was. It is quite obvious that Rickover would never had asked anyone to do anything he was not willing to do.

Rockwell's story encompasses his recruitment out of the post Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge until Rickover's death. While Rockwell left the Naval Reactors program 1964, he continues to write about how Rickover's influence shaped his management and technological paradigm and allowed he and two of his co-workers at NR to open an engineering firm delivering outside of the Navy the same operational excellence and high-reliability systems they had developed in NR. Rockwell also discusses how leaving Rickover's program changed their relationship.

Rockwell's book is a pleasant read, as his story is not overly technical and draws readers into an appreciation of how the Naval Reactors program influenced work systems and quality management. This book should be of interest not just to those interested in the life of Hyman Rickover and the Nuclear Navy, but persons studying leadership and culture management, technological advancement, and the career of Ted Rockwell - one of the unsung heroes of nuclear technology. I also encourage readers to check out Rockwell's new book, "Creating the New World: Stories and Images From the Dawn of the Atomic Age."

The lessons, stories and themes within this book extend well beyond the nuclear navy and into many process oriented, high availability and quality sensitive disciplines - for me, that has included IT Service Management.

As a former nuclear submarine officer I both suffered under and learned from the practices set in place by this single individual. I later pulled from those methods to fill the voids largely missing in IT service operations - most notably: persistent quality management, continuous improvement philosophy and practices, process optimization, investing heavily in professional and team development, management by facts not beliefs, inherent risk controls, necessity for inspection and tailored metrics, standard procedures, focus on mission (business) performance and the overriding importance and constraints of an organization's culture. Interestingly the existing culture that Rickover set in motion does not view these qualities as unique or particularly rare as they have become common place and self sustaining. Every leader embarking on organizational transformation strategies can learn from the mistakes and successes of Rickover depicted within this book.

Explore for yourself and discover how many of the answers sought by today's IT leaders already exist only a couple hundred feet beneath the oceans.

Rickover is a legend in the nuclear field, and this book fills in many of the details to illustrate that the legend was a person and was following a very logical progression in building the industry we enjoy (without fanfare!) today. The people engaged in any industry today, particularly those now in or thinking of entering the nuclear field, would do benefit by understanding the history described in this book. Very well done.

This is a great book to read to really understand the reasons ADM. Rickover operated in the way he did. He was a outpoken, poorly understood man very ahead of his time. The man is a unsung hero of our modern times.

I bought it because the Diane Sawyer interview popped in my head after all these years ... and I needed to satisfy my need to understand the man.

But really a good read and the feat of getting something so comlex operational in 10 years is almost unimaginable. And the author allows those of us not well versed nuclear physics to still get to the heart of the Rickover's accomplishment.

If you're in management, this book is a must.

An engaging, personal account of the birth of the US Naval Reactors program, as told by Theodore Rockwell, an engineer who worked closely with Admiral Hyman Rickover on the creation of the nuclear submarine. Rockwell's account emphasizes the groundbreaking work that was required to create the USS Nautilus - the engagement of industrial firms like Westinghouse and GE and the creation of extremely high standards for all facets of work.

Rockwell's account is a personal one and isn't a complete survey of the Naval Reactors program during its early years. It does provide an excellent view into the leadership and character of Hyman Rickover, who set a very high standard for Naval and civilian personnel and contractor firms.

A good read for those interested in: Naval history, with an emphasis on technology; and, in the history of technology.

The title could have been called: how a leader can successfully deal with bureaucracy while maintaining high standards and values. If you read the 2008 book "Influencer - the power to change anything" Rickover was an "influencer virtuoso". Rickover understood the dynamics of motivation and ability at the three [personal, social and structural] levels. Rickover did some unusual things with the people who reported to him [many mostly harmless "social experiments" intentionally placing people in unusual and challenging situations, to see what people were made of] which I frequently found humorous. People that say Rickover was a "nut case" are only capable of seeing the outer layer of the onion. Inside is a brilliant intellect, leader and manager.

Admiral Rickover was an amazing man. The author tells his story in an interesting, personal way, showing his relentless pursuit of excellence. His story demonstrates how a capable, driven man can move mountains, or in this case, nuclear powered submarines!

A Great History Lesson!

The reviews by O'Hara (7/20/2003), Herrell (12/29/2007), Cohen (1/9/2007), and Margolis (3/24/2003) say it well.

"People always seemed to know half of history, and to get it confused with the other half" -- Jane Haddam

This is an excellent insider account of Rickover's efforts and
accomplishments. Dr. Rockwell really makes the history come alive.