Publisher Description
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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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.
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Proceedings MagazineÂ
