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Admiral James Stavridis USN

Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character Hardcover – October 15, 2019

by Admiral James Stavridis USN (Author)

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From one of the most distinguished admirals of our time and a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, a meditation on leadership and character refracted through the lives of ten of the most illustrious naval commanders in history

In Sailing True North, Admiral Stavridis offers lessons of leadership and character from the lives and careers of history's most significant naval commanders. He also brings a lifetime of reflection to bear on the subjects of his study--naval history, the vocation of the admiral, and global geopolitics. Above all, this is a book that will help you navigate your own life's voyage: the voyage of leadership of course, but more important, the voyage of character. Sailing True North helps us find the right course to chart.

Simply as epic lives, the tales of these ten admirals offer up a collection of the greatest imaginable sea stories. Moreover, spanning 2,500 years from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century, Sailing True North is a book that offers a history of the world through the prism of our greatest naval leaders. None of the admirals in this volume were perfect, and some were deeply flawed. But from Themistocles, Drake, and Nelson to Nimitz, Rickover, and Hopper, important themes emerge, not least that serving your reputation is a poor substitute for serving your character; and that taking time to read and reflect is not a luxury, it's a necessity.

By putting us on personal terms with historic leaders in the maritime sphere he knows so well, James Stavridis gives us a compass that can help us navigate the story of our own lives, wherever that voyage takes us.

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Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Press
Publication date

October 15, 2019
Dimensions

6.4 x 1.04 x 9.51 inches
ISBN-10

0525559930
ISBN-13

978-0525559931
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From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The author brings these admirals to life, creating a flesh-and-blood portrayal of each and calling things as he sees them in terms of both their strengths and their flaws . . . Along the way, readers also are treated to the personal insights of the author, one of the most successful maritime leaders of our time . . . For readers who learn history through personal stories, this book will resonate as both a superb popular history and a nautical exploration of leadership virtues reminiscent of David Brooks’ The Road to Character. As someone who also believes there is much to learn from our seagoing history, I’m grateful for this book, particularly one written by a skilled writer whose own leadership journey likely still has a number of its own chapters yet to be written.” —Proceedings Magazine

“James Stavridis’ new book, Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character, comes along at such a propitious moment and should be required reading for all young people looking forward to a career in public life . . . Stavridis is perfectly placed to discuss the virtues and questions of leadership.” —Cipher Brief

“[An] earnest mixture of biography, memoir, and pop psychology . . . readers will absorb some significant naval history . . . Stavridis, the former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and current chairman of the U.S. Naval Institute, has done his research in the works of popular historians . . . [These] biographies make good reading.” —Kirkus

“Admiral Jim Stavridis is a scholar-sailor-strategist of the first rank, a gift to his nation and to his times. And this book is itself a gift, a lively, learned, and resonant study of the things that matter most.” —Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America

“If character matters, this is a must read for those who would live a full life. Admiral Stavridis and I served alongside each other from the halls of NATO to the hills of Afghanistan, and he is a thinker and writer I greatly admire. In this new volume, he takes us to sea with some of the most complicated Admirals in history and shows us the challenges of character with which we all wrestle.” —James N. Mattis, General, USMC (Ret); former Secretary of Defense

“With these fascinating and timely profiles, Admiral Stavridis offers lessons about character and leadership that apply both at sea and on land. This study reminds us that strong leaders are built, not born, and that before we can inspire those around us we must first take a hard look at ourselves.” —Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright

“No one is better qualified than Admiral James Stavridis to write about leadership and the sea. A fascinating, highly personal look at ten very different leaders, Sailing True North is both a wonderful read and a probing examination of human character.” —Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown

“Jim Stavridis and I served together for years as Navy Combatant Commanders, and he is a thoughtful, historically grounded thinker and writer. His portrait of the ‘voyage of character’ resonates vividly in this turbulent 21st century.” —Admiral William H. McRaven (Ret.), author of Make Your Bed and Sea Stories

“In Sailing True North, James Stavridis, one of the nation’s most distinguished admirals and a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, has given us a timely and deeply revealing meditation on character as it informs decision-making throughout naval history. A compelling reflection on the lives of history’s most significant naval commanders, and how their leadership choices can help us find the right course to chart in our own lives. Great insights from a trusted and valued colleague at NBC News, where we rely on his views not only on security and diplomacy, but on leadership and character.” —Andrea Mitchell, NBC News’ Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent

“Admiral Stavridis chronicles the stories of ten admirals of historical importance and the inner voyage of each to develop the qualities of personal character that made them heroic. While the forge in their journeys was the sea, Stavridis draws from their lives lessons on the importance of character for personal self-worth and professional success applicable for all of us. As always, Jim Stavridis takes on a topic of enormous contemporary concern—growing indifference in our society to the importance of character—with creativity, honesty and power.” —Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense 2006-2011

About the Author

Admiral Jim Stavridis, USN (Ret.) spent more than thirty years in the US Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and previously commanded US Southern Command, overseeing military operations through Latin America. At sea, he commanded a Navy destroyer, a destroyer squadron, and an aircraft carrier battle group in combat. He holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he recently served five years as dean. He has published eight previous books and hundreds of articles. Admiral Stavridis is Chief International Security and Diplomacy Analyst for NBC News, and a columnist at both Time magazine and Bloomberg Opinion. Based in Washington, D.C., he is an operating executive of the Carlyle Group, an international private equity firm, and chair of the board of counselors of McLarty Associates, an international consulting firm.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter I

The Power of Persuasion

Themistocles

Born c. 524 b.c., Athens, Greece

Died c. 459 b.c., Magnesia, modern Turkey

I first heard of Themistocles when I was an eight-year-old boy. My family had just moved to Athens, Greece, because my father, a major in the US Marine Corps at the time, had received orders to be the assistant naval attach at the local US embassy. He had been chosen for this assignment for a simple reason: he was Greek American, and his first language was Greek. Although he was born in the United States, his was an all-Greek-speaking home and, until he went to elementary school as a five-year-old, he'd spoken only Greek. After combat tours in Korea and a stint earning a master's degree at Purdue, he was now, in the mid-1960s, being sent to the land of his forefathers. My mother, not of Greek stock, began taking lessons in the language. I just wanted to be sure my bicycle was in the shipment.

As part of preparing to move to Athens, my father began to talk to me about Greece. He began with mythology, fascinating me with stories of the gods of Olympus. Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Hephaestus, Ares, and many others started to populate my dreams. After we covered the gods, he shifted to Homer, and I learned the stories of the Trojan War, and about the wily Odysseus and his long voyage home to Ithaca. Even as a small child, I knew these were fables and stories, representing only some part of the truth. But after Homer, we began to talk about the real history of ancient Greece.

My father told me about the half-century nightmare of the Persian invasions of Greece between 499 and 449 b.c. A terrific natural storyteller, he laid out the saga of those years in bold, vivid strokes. I still cherish the recollection of his description of the Battle of Marathon in 490 b.c. and (of course) the heroic stand of the three hundred Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 b.c. I loved the story of the monument there, which has carved upon it the words, "Go tell the Spartans / stranger passing by / that here, faithful to their laws / we lie." During those years in Greece, my father brought all those tales to life by taking the family to visit the sites of each of those famous battles.

Much as I enjoyed learning about the Spartans, my favorite of my father's stories-then and since-was that of Themistocles, the Athenian admiral who won the pivotal Battle of Salamis, also in 480 b.c. Numbers are always hazy in ancient historical battles, of course, but by most estimates the Greeks were outnumbered roughly five to one in the amount of heavy trireme warships with their triple banks of oars. After luring the Persians into the constrained waters of the Straits of Salamis off the coast of Athens, Themistocles led the free Greeks under his command to a smashing victory over the enslaved oarsmen of the Persian foe.

I asked my father again and again to tell me the story of Themistocles. At the time, I didn't appreciate the complexity of the ancient admiral's life and character-he simply loomed large as the winner of the most important naval battle fought by the ancient Greeks. And, though I often reenacted the battle with a set of toy ships on a hand-drawn map of the Bay of Salamis, the part of the story that most captivated my imagination was Themistocles's ability to inspire his men. I wondered what it was about him that allowed him so successfully to lead men into battle. My father tried to explain to me the complex mixture of charisma, inspiration, and rhetoric that Themistocles employed; although all of those words were well beyond my vocabulary at the time, I have since turned to them on many occasions.

In one such instance, I was searching for the right words for a huge dinner event as part of a patriotic celebration in New York City in November 2007. The title of the event was "A Salute to Freedom," and after quite a bit of thought, I ended up talking about our heroic US Navy SEALs by telling the story of Themistocles and his oration that had so deeply inspired the Greeks some 2,500 years before. And in the years since then, I have spoken many times about that battle and the character of Themistocles.

My father, who eventually retired as a full colonel of Marines and went on to lead a huge community college after earning a PhD in education, had passed away by the time of that 2007 speech; but I know he would have been very proud to hear his son, by now improbably a four-star admiral, retelling the story of Themistocles to a big New York audience. Almost half a century after he told me the timeless stories of an ancient Greek admiral, I was able to keep that inspirational character alive, down the long centuries, by echoing his words that we must all "row for freedom." That is a powerful lesson, and one I've carried with me, drawing upon Themistocles over and over.

What do we know of this ancient admiral, and what can we learn from his voyage of character? Various ancient sources paint a vivid but inconsistent image of the historical Themistocles. Rather than a crisp factual narrative, we have a mosaic of sharp, short vignettes of his life from two of the earliest Greek historians: Herodotus and Thucydides. Although they are described as the first modern historians, the work of neither would hold up to modern standards; moreover, their separate approaches and biases led them to draw quite different conclusions about Themistocles. Herodotus, writing about the Persian Wars which distinguished Themistocles's career, saw the admiral as a greedy swindler; Thucydides, writing about the origins of the Peloponnesian War decades later, portrayed Themistocles as a tragic hero who saved Greece only to be exiled by his own city. Both, however, are clear that Themistocles was a remarkably influential and self-assured voice in military and political life.

Themistocles was born in Athens about 524 b.c. In 508, just as he was entering into maturity, the city began its experiment in democracy by giving all free men the right to vote-a radical move for the time, but we should be careful to note that the privilege extended to only a very few of the city's inhabitants. Nevertheless, it allowed the solidly middle-class young Themistocles to enter Athenian political life on rough par with any other citizen. He grew up in a time of heady change, full of opportunity and challenge, and quickly established himself as a voice in his thriving city-state. From the earliest days of his life, he would have been part of a society that was both prideful of its position at the top of the Greek hierarchy of city-states but also a society under stress and challenge from lesser nations in the Hellenic world, as well as the "looming tower" of his day-the massive Persian Empire to the east.

We do not know much personal detail about Themistocles's life before he was elected archon, the chief administrative role in Athens, at the age of thirty-one. In that role, Themistocles distinguished himself early by his speaking ability, upon which Athenian democracy placed a high priority. Once in office, Themistocles quickly and forcefully began speaking out in favor of building Athens into a seagoing power. Crucially, as archon, he commissioned a defended port to be built at Piraeus (the nearest significant harbor to Athens, just a few kilometers distant), which transformed Athens into a sea power almost overnight and continues to serve the city to this day. His was a strategic vision coupled with a practical ability to move supporters, win public arguments, and demonstrate the long-term value in leveraging the seagoing access Athens enjoyed. I have often journeyed to the port of Piraeus from downtown Athens, and in the modern world the two ancient cities are part of a single seamless, contiguous entity. I made the trip in the 1960s as a young boy living in a suburb of Athens, headed to catch a ferry to the islands with my parents; then later in the 1980s as a junior Navy officer coming from my ship to the liberty spots of the Plaka (the strip of bars and restaurants surrounding the Parthenon); as a NATO commander-whisked along with police escorts and in hardened black cars; and most recently as a member of the board of the Onassis Foundation (and shipping company) to visit one of our ships in the harbor. On every occasion, I thought about the vision of Themistocles, who sensed early on the power that a true, defendable harbor would afford the ancient city-state. His ability to "see around the corner" and build that harbor helped save Greece's democracy a decade after his service as archon.

As would the American admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan centuries later, Themistocles understood the geopolitical context better than most, saw sea power and seaborne commerce as the natural destiny of his people, and devoted his early prime years of life to helping make that vision reality. Themistocles knew that the combination of Athens's coastal location and expanding mercantile interests, plus the ever-growing threat of the expanding Persian Empire to the east, made it essential for Athens to develop a navy as a connector and protector between it and the outside world. He also understood the value of building coalitions despite the challenges of uniting the famously fractious Greek cities into rudimentary alliance systems. And he demonstrated not only vision, but also the kind of internal strength of character that allows a leader to carry a position that is not intuitively clear or wildly popular.

When the Persians predictably attacked the politically fractured Greek mainland in 490 b.c., Themistocles was among those Greeks who helped repulse the hated enemy at the Battle of Marathon. After that desperate fight, Themistocles not only never forgot the experience of combat, but he-unlike many of his fellow Athenians-also never let down his guard in anticipation of another Persian attack. Keen observer that he was, Themistocles predicted not only that the Persians would return, but that they would bring a much more powerful navy with them when they did. To survive such an attack, the Athenians would need a navy of their own-but first they had to be convinced of the need to build one. Themistocles consistently made the argument throughout the Athenian polity that building the port was necessary but insufficient to the needs of his nation. Both his vision and his character came into play in making the case for creating real security-these were expensive propositions and there were harsh criticisms of his advocacy for sea power.

Themistocles set about the task of convincing his countrymen of the need for sea power by using his famous oratorical skills, not merely in the abstract but also by trumpeting a time-honored maritime threat: piracy. As the newly appointed commander of the nascent navy he championed, he began talking up the threat posed by pirates on the nearby island of Aegina to give the Athenians a concrete reason to build a fleet without directly referencing the Persians. Luckily for him, as this argument began gaining traction, the obvious money problem was solved by a windfall from a nearby silver mine; with one last oratorical effort, Themistocles persuaded his fellow citizens to put the additional revenue into building the fleet he so fervently sought, ostensibly for antipiracy protection. In this he demonstrated the ability to exercise pragmatic judgment to accomplish a larger purpose-so often we see leaders who lock themselves into a rhetorical position and cannot summon the flexibility to shift arguments when necessary to achieve success. Character requires both conviction and flexibility.

Themistocles got his fleet, and none too soon. He also saw his fears fulfilled as the Persians returned, led by the young, capable, and determined emperor Xerxes I. Xerxes assembled an army of conquest from the far corners of the Persian Empire and descended on Greece from the north-and, as Themistocles had predicted, the Persians did not neglect to bring a powerful navy this time around. The Second Persian War had begun, and the fighting quickly became desperate on both land and sea. This became a time of existential danger for Greece. It is hard to imagine how the world would have shifted from what we know today had the Persians won. Would they have continued west, choking off a nascent Roman Empire? Conquered Europe entirely? Would the superpower of today be Iran, the inheritor of that empire two millennia later? Would democracy-the greatest of Greek contributions to civilization-have emerged when it did? These are, of course, unanswerable questions. But without question, the world we know today would be more than a few degrees of separation different. We are so used to the story of history we know that we tend to think of it as an immutable force. But big doors swing on small hinges, and the fact that Themistocles built a port and a fleet, and was able to stop a Persian fleet, was a seemingly small hinge upon which a big door eventually swung to the west, not east.

Despite Athenian capabilities, Greece overall was initially unprepared for the onslaught. Political divisions and operational bickering between the allied city-states hampered a coherent response. The Greeks eventually settled on a two-pronged strategy. To counter the land invasion, the allies would hold at the strategic choke point of Thermopylae on the eastern coast of mainland Greece, where King Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans (plus a handful of other Greek warriors) would make their legendary last stand to buy time for the rest of the Greeks to assemble. Meanwhile, the Athenian navy led a blocking effort at Artemisium (a seaport on the island of Euboea, north of Athens and near Thermopylae), where they, like the Spartans ashore, delayed the Persians but could not turn them back. Greek land and naval forces fell back to the immediate vicinity of Athens, setting up the conclusive battle against Xerxes's invaders. Themistocles, who was a strong voice in any situation, continued to advocate the idea of striking a maritime blow at the invading forces. He correctly saw that they would be overconfident in their vastly larger numbers, and also were logistically dependent on supplies and reinforcement from the sea.

Rather than sacrifice the inhabitants of the city under siege, Themistocles thought it better to sacrifice the city itself, and persuaded the Athenians to evacuate. Imagine the difficulty of carrying that argument-give up everything you know, surrender your possessions and land, and flee into the scrubby woods around the city. Themistocles argued that Athens could be rebuilt and repopulated as long as her people survived and the Persians were defeated at sea. Abandoning their city to the Persian onslaught, civilians took to the hills while Themistocles and his crews took to their ships and sailed across the Straits of Salamis to take refuge on the island opposite the port of Piraeus. Civilians and sailors alike watched from their sheltering places in the countryside as the Persian army burned Athens and the Persian fleet gathered in its multitudes at the mouth of the straits.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Press; Illustrated Editiion edition (October 15, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525559930
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525559931
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.04 x 9.51 inches

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Admiral James Stavridis USN

Admiral James Stavridis USN

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Admiral James Stavridis, US Navy (Retired)

Vice Chair, Global Affairs, The Carlyle Group

Chair of the Board of Trustees, the Rockefeller Foundation

A South Florida native, Jim Stavridis attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and spent over thirty five years in the Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star Admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans, and piracy off the coast of Africa. He also commanded US Southern Command in Miami, charged with military operations through Latin America for nearly three years. He was the longest serving Combatant Commander in recent US history.

In the course of his career in the Navy, he served as senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. He led the Navy’s premier operational think tank for innovation, Deep Blue, immediately after the 9/11 attacks.

He won the Battenberg Cup for commanding the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet, the Destroyer USS BARRY, and the Navy League John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational leadership as a Commodore. He holds more than 50 US and international medals and decorations, including 28 from foreign nations. He also commanded a Destroyer Squadron and a Carrier Strike Group, both in combat in the Middle East.

He earned a PhD from The Fletcher School at Tufts, winning the Gullion prize as outstanding student in his class in 1983, as well as academic honors from the National and Naval War Colleges as a distinguished student. He speaks Spanish and French.

Jim has published nine books on leadership, character, the world's oceans, command at sea, Latin America, ship handling, and innovation, as well as hundreds of articles in leading journals. His latest book is "2034: A Novel About the Next World War," which depicts a war with China. It hit #6 on the NYT bestseller list when it was released in early 2021.

An active user of social networks, he has over one hundred thousand followers on Twitter, friends on Facebook, and connections on Linked In. His TED talk on 21st century security in 2012 has had nearly a million views across all platforms. He tweeted the end of combat operations in the Libyan NATO intervention. His memoir of the NATO years, “The Accidental Admiral,” was released in October 2014, and he had two books out in 2017: "The Leader's Bookshelf," about fifty books that can make you a better leader; and "Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans." His latest non-fiction book is "Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character" in 2019. In all, his books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and are in print or under contract for publication in 20 countries.

Admiral Stavridis is also the Chair Emeritus of the Board of the US Naval Institute, the professional association of the Nation’s sea services: Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine. He is also Dean Emeritus of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a position he held from 2013-2018.He is a contributing editor for TIME Magazine and Chief International Security Analyst for NBC News.

He is happily married to Laura, and they have two daughters – one working at Google and the other a Nurse Practioner. Both are married to physicians and have small children. Jim enjoys competitive squash and tennis (he played on the varsity team at Annapolis), and cycling rather slowly.

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Customers find the book insightful, interesting, and loaded with character and history. They describe it as an awesome, fantastic, and valuable read. Readers praise the writing quality as well-written, warm, and clear. Opinions are mixed on the pacing, with some finding it brilliantly engaging and a great adventure, while others say it's pompous and self-congratulatory.

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Customers find the book insightful, interesting, and thought-provoking. They say it's loaded with character and history. Readers also mention the reflection is effective and thought-provoking. In addition, they describe the author as remarkable and an excellent leader of men.

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Customers find the book awesome, fantastic, and valuable. They say it's interesting and instructive.

"...I truly enjoyed reading about the ten admirals and the challenges they faced." Read more

"...So I found this book very interesting, both in the Admiral discussing various times in his Navy career, and the history he discusses in each chapter..." Read more

"...He is a remarkable man, very entertaining, and writes so very well about his naval experience and subjects...." Read more

"This was a great book! Easy reading with awesome true stories! We need people of character! Must read!" Read more

18 customers mention "Writing quality"15 positive3 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book to be well-written, carefully worded, and thoughtful. They also say it's easily readable non-fiction and warm. Readers also mention the stories are well-presented and interesting.

"Admiral Stavridis did an excellent job writing this book. I truly enjoyed reading about the ten admirals and the challenges they faced." Read more

"...The first few stories, however, were well presented and quite interesting. My interest had waned by the time I reached the end." Read more

"...or ethics, or just someone who enjoys interesting, easily readable non-fiction, there is something in Sailing True North for you...." Read more

"...weaves together ten examples of character using clear analysis and warm writing...." Read more

7 customers mention "Pacing"3 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some find it brilliantly engaging and fascinating, while others say it's pretentious and dull.

"...What there is, is smothered in academic, pretentious prose. References are poorly done...." Read more

"...This is fascinating page-turner is about ten past admirals (and several current leaders) who demonstrated character and leadership in diverse, and..." Read more

"Clearly a well-meaning effort. But the constant pretentious tone smothers the subject matter...." Read more

"...Stavridis reflects on through four decades as a Navy sailor is fascinating, instructive and encouraging...." Read more

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Truly thoughtful and inspiring

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2024

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It’s hard to pick a limited number of people who exemplify the true traits of character for emulation, but when the next book is written, Admiral Stavridis must be included. I WILL read and listen to this again!

One person found this helpful

Worthy book to read

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2024

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Admiral Stavridis did an excellent job writing this book. I truly enjoyed reading about the ten admirals and the challenges they faced.

One person found this helpful

Quite interesting for the first half of the book, but increasingly dragged in the second half.

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2022

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I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book, but was continually expecting a deeper thread of wisdom from its author. One can tell that Admiral Stavridis is a quality guy and it would have been an honor to meet him, let alone serve along side him. But, the 'wisdom' summarized at the end of each tale was not enlightening in the least. The first few stories, however, were well presented and quite interesting. My interest had waned by the time I reached the end.

2 people found this helpful

Why "a constant process of self-examination is at the heart of improving our character"

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2019

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As I began to read James Stavridis' latest book, I was again reminded of another whose author also focuses on military leaders. In Edgar Puryear's Nineteen Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership (1973/2003), they are three five-star generals (George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, and Douglas MacArthur) and another with four-stars, George Patton. All are directly associated with World War Two.

Stavridis' focus is on ten naval leaders throughout a period that extends from Themistocles (524-459 BC) to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (1906-1992). The others are Zheng He, Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Horatio Nelson, Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, Admiral Lord John Arbuthnot Fisher, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Admiral Hyman Rickover, and Admiral Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. I knew little (if anything) about most of them when I began to read this book. All seem worthy of inclusion as do other naval leaders such as John Paul Jones and Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, a non-admiral.

Stavridis shares these thoughts in his Preface "The voyage of character is the most important journey each of us ever makes...above all, we learn from these admirals that the quality of finding sufficient time to think and reflect is a crucial part of building character. In our frenzied world today, we should learn from their collective example...Leadership is broadly understood to be the ability to influence others, generally in order to accomplish a specific purpose...Character, on the other hand, is about internal effect and the ability to influence oneself."

He goes on to suggest, "Character is at the heart of the ability to lead the inner self toward what is just and right. It proceeds from overcoming the strong amoral impulses -- what Freud described as the id -- and sailing toward the metaphorical light of moral choice. Character, unlike leadership, has both moral and ethical weight and can be more correctly described as either good or bad."

These are among Stavridis' other observations that caught my eye:

"Themistocles's life invites a question that will haunt this book and the lives of most of these admirals: is vision the consequence of character? I would argue that vision is in fact one of the most distinctive elements of human character, and that it is so often what separates the ordinary life from the extraordinary." (Page 17)

"Beyond his devotion to the nation, Nelson was a master of leadership and character in assembling the right collection of subordinates and motivating them to pull together asan effective squad -- from a handful of sailores manning a gun when he was a young midshipman to the legendary 'band of brothers' he created among his ship captains when hed was a fleet commander. This type of team-building approach -- fanatically adopted by twenty-first century organizations such as US Navy SEALs and the corporate giant Google -- is at the heart of both Nelson's character and leadership skills." (88-89)

Did Admiral Hyman Rickover use anger and impatience "clinically as an appropriate tool of leadership? Or were they rather a character flaw that he could not control?...My view: I suspect that this diminutive, complicated, driven utterly brilliant leader used anger consciously to achieve results; but the fearsome temper also met some dark need in his own heart. He was at once the Master of Anger and a leader of brilliance as well." (191)

Stavridis uses -- never abuses -- the voyage metaphor while achieving two separate but interdependent objectives: to examine the journey of exemplars from whose personal growth and professional development many valuable lessons can be learned, and, to help his reader understand and apply those lessons during their own journey. He concludes with this observation by Oliver Wendell Holmes who correctly said that "to reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor."

This is precisely what Tennyson's Ulysses had in mind when reaffirming his commitment "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Here's how James Stavridis describes it: great leaders keep going, and -- most important -- they keep learning.

4 people found this helpful

David H. Kennerly

Another Great Book From Admiral James Stavridis

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2019

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Retired Admiral James Stavridis has written an excellent new book, and it’s all about integrity. “Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character,” is an uplifting and informative story about Stavridis’s own journey in the U.S. Navy, but is mostly about ten other admirals who inspired him, and helped shape his personal path. I’m also a bit biased. I have known Jim for over 20 years, and he is one of the finest people I’ve ever met.

Here are the admirals, along with some of Admiral Stavridis's text from the book about them:

Themistocles, 524-459 B.C. -- The Power of Persuasion

A Greek admiral who possessed a predictive skill, and “ . . . forecast the possible outcomes in any given circumstance.

Zheng He, 1371-1433 – A Sailor of the Middle Kingdom

“An organized frame of mind tempered by a calm personality.’

Sir Francis Drake, 1540-1596 – A Pirate and a Patriot

“A good example of how a deeply flawed character can still accomplish a great deal in an energetic life—for both good and ill.”

Vice Admiral Viscount Horatio Nelson, 1758-1805 – The Band of Brothers

“Personified the desire that many people of character have to be part of something larger than themselves.” That trait was echoed often by the late Senator John McCain.

Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, 1840-1914 – The Influencer

“ . . . unwavering in his determination to communicate a new strategic vision of his nation—one that fit the times and turned America’s gaze to the world.”

Admiral Lord John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1841-1920 – Rum, Buggery, and the Lash

“ . . . relentlessly upbeat and positive.” Stavridis added, “If I could pick only one admiral to spend a long evening with, it would be Jacky Fisher.”

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, 1885-1966 – The Admiral’s Admiral

President Gerald Ford, in dedicating the aircraft carrier bearing Nimitz’s name, quoted E.B. Potter, who said, “He was aggressive in war without hate, and audacious while never failing to weigh the risks.”

Admiral Hyman Rickover, 1900-1986 – The Master of Anger

“ . . . no admiral in this book was more visionary than Hyman Rickover.”

Admiral Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt, Jr., 1920-2000 – The Angel of Change

“Bud Zumwalt was great in vision, bold in challenging old customs, ideas, and assumptions; and both willing and able to make the bureaucracy howl.” Zumwalt’s gravestone bears the epitaph, “Reformer.”

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, 1906-1992 – Don’t Go Near the Water

“ . . . a believer that it was loyalty to principle that mattered, not blind loyalty to any given boss.”

Admiral Stavridis also offers ten character traits that echo the success and failures of the ten admirals, and also served him well over during his career on land and at sea.

Creativity
Resilience
Humility
Balance
Honesty
Empathy
Justice
Decisiveness
Determination
Perspective

General James Mattis said, “If character matters, this is a must read for those who would live a full life.”

I agree 100%. “Sailing True North” should be an addition to everyone’s library.

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40 people found this helpful

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One of the best books I've read about character

Reviewed in Canada on July 3, 2020

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Sea Power has always fascinated me. I will forever cherish the memories of walking in the footsteps of Admiral Chester Nimitz in Pearl Harbor and Admiral Horatio Nelson at Gibraltar. Back in 2011, I spent a night on the Rock and had trouble sleeping. Heat certainly had something to do with it, but I was also pondering how the British legend spent his days here, defending the interests of King and Country at the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea. I like to think that I might have crossed his spirit while walking in the beautiful streets of this British Overseas Territory.

These men and women who ruled the waves were gifted with exceptional and inspirational values. And I’m very grateful to retired Admiral James Stavridis for writing Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character, where he details how these larger than life figures not only mastered what are certainly some of the most demanding jobs in the world, but also their character in front of adversity, whether it is the threat of invasion, war, bureaucracy, sexism or racism just to quote these examples. The best lessons are seldom learnt in easy circumstances.

Naturally, I will not talk about each of the fascinating personas that are presented between the covers, but I will write a few words about my Top 3.

The first one was a discovery for me. Zheng He was a 10 years old boy when he stood his ground in front of a conquering Ming General. He was then taken as a prisoner, “castrated and placed into imperial service as a eunuch.” In such circumstances, many people would lose faith in life. The boy nevertheless capitalized on his situation and “gradually became a favorite of the prince” who “[…] charged […] him with one of the most ambitious parts of this plan (rebuilding and modernizing the country): building China’s first deep-ocean fleet and leading it on exploratory voyages beyond the traditional range of Chinese coastal shipping.” Zheng He therefore embarked on a voyage that notably brought him on the South China Sea. This was during the 14th century. Beijing’s claim on that body of water is therefore nothing new.

Zheng He was a wonderful surprise for me in the book and I certainly would welcome a longer chapter or article from Admiral Stavridis about this fascinating figure.

Admiral Nelson is my second selection. A must for me. I already knew that the iconic son of Britannia had lost an arm and an eye during battle. But I was unaware that “[…] he was also afflicted with seasickness and other illnesses on and off throughout his life” and depression. There again, the future victor of Trafalgar turned things to his advantage. Not only did “[…] he painstakingly worked to learn to write left-handed”, he led his sailors to a victory that was “[…] at the top of the list of geopolitical impact within the era.” Said otherwise, Nelson blocked Napoleon’s way.

Third and final, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, the “American Nelson”. The German-American farm boy can also teach us a lot about the voyage of character of our daily lives. For him, “the true acme of character [was] sublimating anger, pettiness, and impulse in favor of a cool, calm temperament.” That was, for the author, “the genius of Nimitz.” In this day and age when we probably live the worst challenges of our epoch, coupled with a toxic political climate inflamed by hatred, intolerance and division, this should be a daily motto in itself. In a social context where nothing is private, his discretion is also a value we should take inspiration from. And, last but not least, I guess I share the positive view Chinese have about the famous sea dog for defeating the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.

There is one very important quality underlined in Admiral Stavridis book that I’d like to mention before I conclude. On many occasions, he mentions the exceptional character travellers he chose to portray were avid readers, writers and thinkers. Throughout their busy schedule, they took the time to engage in such cerebral activities. In an intellectual environment dominated by social media and intellectual fast food where many people “[…] now balk at reading a single long book”, it is essential to understand that the wisdom and knowledge of humankind is offered through books. The price of being a person of content is spending time between the covers of books. For the author, the books we read are as important as the company we keep in life. Powerful, indeed.

Trust me, you won’t regret picking up Sailing True North, a book which should be required reading for anyone interested in embarking on a journey of character building and making a real difference in the world. We may not be at the helm of an aircraft carrier, but we certainly are at the helm of our lives.

Anchors Aweigh, readers!

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BZ

Reviewed in Italy on January 13, 2020

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Leadership awareness

Amazon Customer

Thoroughly enjoyable

Reviewed in Canada on December 18, 2019

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I started reading this book on a long train ride. I spent a lot of time staring out the window consumed in deep, reflective thought. I also found myself forced to take notes on the author’s succinct, impactful descriptions of the traits of character. I have purchased a number of these books for persons whom I respect.

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