James G. Stavridis – författare

This memoir of James Stavridis' two years in command of the destroyer USS Barry reveals the human side of what it is like to be in charge of a warship--for the first time and in the midst of international crisis. From Haiti to the Balkans to the Arabian Gulf, the Barry was involved in operations throughout the world during his 1993-1995 tour. Drawing on daily journals he kept for the entire period, the author reveals the complex nature of those deployments in a ""real time"" context and describes life on board the Barry and liberty ashore for sailors and officers alike. With all the joy, doubt, self-examination, hope, and fear of a first command, he offers an honest examination of his experience from the bridge to help readers grasp the true nature of command at sea. The window he provides into the personal lives of the crew illuminates not only their hard work in a ship that spent more than 70 percent of its time underway, but also the sacrifices of their families ashore. Stavridis credits his able crew for the many awards the Barry won while he was captain, including the Battenberg Cup for top ship in the Atlantic Fleet. Naval aficionados who like seagoing fiction will be attracted to the book, as will those fascinated by life at sea. Officers from all the services, especially surface warfare naval officers aspiring to command, will find these lessons of a first command by one of the Navy's most respected admirals both entertaining and instructive.

The Division Officer’s Guide, Twelfth Edition, is a handbook for Junior Officers and Petty Officers of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard afloat, in the air, under the sea and ashore. Originally written in 1952 by CAPT John V. Noel Jr., and last revised in 2004, the book provides division officers with basic lessons of leadership, organization, administration, training, and discipline – essential elements for success in their key positions. It offers much useful information on individual readiness, the conduct of assessments and inspections, maintenance processes and responsibilities, and the preparation and methods of correspondence and officer and enlisted career planning. The lessons and themes are not limited to use in the sea services; they provide a foundation for success in both military and personal life. Learning and practicing division officer skills lays a foundation for future success, no matter the environment or occupation, including the highest levels of the military, government, and citizenship.This twelfth edition continues to evolve with our rapidly changing world. Terrorism has become an international security issue, men and women now serve alongside superbly in all of our ships at sea, and technology continues to change virtually every aspect of naval operations. Cyber tools such as web-based information, use of computer networks aboard ships, and the ability to post and share information on websites in both unclassified and secure environments continue to expand the reach of sea services but similarly provide vulnerability vectors that may be exploited if not protected. Over the next ten years, a division officer can expect to see the expanding importance of cyber tools, increased need for cooperation among nations operating in shared maritime areas, and more autonomous operations where commander’s intent must be fully understood and executed should networked operations be unavailable. Combined Navy and Coast Guard assets such as the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and Fast Frigate (FF), the National Security Cutter, the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer (DDG), and the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) will enable highly networked operations, placing even greater emphasis on the importance of skilled and capable officers leading divisions at sea.Despite the technological advances in the tools available to leaders, a great constant remains-the direct personal impact that the division officer has on sailors each day. A division officer’s fundamental task is to build the core elements of a winning team. Division Officer’s Guide Twelfth Edition is written to reinforce the skills and competencies at the heart of this charge.

For the last several years Adm. James Stavridis and his co-author, R. Manning Ancell, have surveyed over two hundred active and retired four-star military officers about their reading habits and favorite books, asking each for a list of titles that strongly influenced their leadership skills and provided them with special insights that helped propel them to success in spite of the many demanding challenges they faced. The Leader’s Bookshelf synthesizes their responses to identify the top fifty books that can help virtually anyone become a better leader.Each of the works—novels, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, management publications—are summarized and the key leadership lessons extracted and presented. Whether individuals work their way through the entire list and read each book cover to cover, or read the summaries provided to determine which appeal to them most, The Leader’s Bookshelf will provide a roadmap to better leadership.Highlighting the value of reading in both a philosophical and a practical sense, The Leader’s Bookshelf provides sound advice on how to build an extensive library, lists other books worth reading to improve leadership skills, and analyzes how leaders use what they read to achieve their goals. An efficient way to sample some of literature’s greatest works and to determine which ones can help individuals climb the ladder of success, The Leader’s Bookshelf is for anyone who wants to improve his or her ability to lead—whether in family life, professional endeavors, or within society and civic organizations.

In The Admiral’s Bookshelf—the third and final title in the Bookshelf series—Adm. James Stavridis, a leader in international business, national security, and global philanthropy, shares the books that facilitated his success. A guide to living and leading through reading, The Admiral’s Bookshelf links twenty-five essential life lessons and leadership principles to the books that best illustrate them. Each chapter covers a single work of literature and showcases Stavridis’ deft analysis of its significance and impact, as well as what he learned and how he used it to better himself. The result is a rewarding and compelling volume that shows how anyone can use expansive reading to develop essential skills and values for successful leadership.   Stavridis’ eclectic collection covers both fiction and nonfiction, ranging from explicitly instructive works to philosophy, history, biography, and memoir. It features classics such as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War alongside lesser-known writings. The wisdom he gleans from these books and their parallels to his own life is often surprising and deeply resonant. He shows how Don Vito Corleone’s success in The Godfather results from the same skills and priorities that benefited the Department of Defense under Donald Rumsfeld, how The Handmaid’s Tale teaches one to think independently, and how leaders can learn patience from The Odyssey.   The life of Admiral Stavridis, as he reveals it to readers book by book, chapter by chapter, and lesson by lesson, makes a compelling case for the importance of reading to acquire practical life skills and to enrich one’s character. Stavridis offers sound advice on what and how to read, how to build an extensive personal library, and how to become wiser, savvier, and more resilient in positions of responsibility. Anyone seeking to become a better leader—or a better reader—will find The Admiral’s Bookshelf an invaluable guide.

Watch Officer's Guide, 16th Edition, is a handbook for all deck and combat information center watch officers of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard afloat, in the air, under the sea, and ashore. Originally written more than one hundred years ago, and last revised in 2007, the book provides officers with guidance on the watch in general, communications, shiphandling, standard commands, safety, honors and ceremonies, engineering, and rules of the road - essential elements for success in standing any watch. It offers, in a single volume, a great deal of important information for aspiring officers seeking qualification, ensuring that they have the requisite knowledge and appreciation of the importance of what they are doing. For the more experienced watch officer, this 16th edition continues a long-standing tradition by providing a compendium of information handy for review and for the actual standing of a watch. The lessons and themes are shaped and geared towards the afloat watchstander; though they also provide a foundation for success in other areas of both military and personal life.

This newest edition of Command at Sea includes the valuable guidance for prospective and commanding officers that has been the hallmark of this book since it first appeared as well as addressing the evolving nature of command at sea. This seventh edition has been updated to incorporate new strategic guidance, examines recent changes in fleet structure, and reflects the Navy's and our nation's return to Great Power Competition amidst China's rising assertiveness and a resurgent Russia's efforts to undermine NATO unity in Europe. Of vital importance, this newest edition includes lessons learned from the collisions of USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain. These tragedies prompted the Navy to initiate a Comprehensive Review of Recent Surface Force Incidents that recommended significant actions pertaining to the training, operating, and equipping of surface ships and crews throughout the force.The book provides additional guidance on joint and combined operations, including the need for cooperation and coordination among interagency players as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), both international and domestic.The authors discuss changes in the fleet, including the emergence of recent classes of ships (the Freedom- and Independence-class littoral combat ships and the Virginia-class attack submarines) and the addition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.Finally, the authors provide advice from senior leaders, templates for new commanders to follow as they assume command and a recommended reading list tailored to the challenges and rewards of being a commanding officer.

Admiral Stavridis, a leader in military, international affairs, and national security circles, shares his love of the sea and some of the sources of that affection. The Sailor's Bookshelf offers synopses of fifty books that illustrate the history, importance, lore, and lifestyle of the oceans and of those who "go down to the sea in ships." Stavridis colors those descriptions with glimpses of his own service--"sea stories" in popular parlance--that not only clarify his choices but show why he is held in such high esteem among his fellow sailors. Divided into four main categories--The Oceans, Explorers, Sailors in Fiction, and Sailors in Non-Fiction--Admiral Stavridis' choices will appeal to "old salts" and to those who have never known the sights of the ever-changing seascape nor breathed the tonic of an ocean breeze. The result is a navigational aid that guides readers through the realm of sea literature, covering a spectrum of topics that range from science to aesthetics, from history to modernity, from solo sailing to great battles. Among these eclectic choices are guides to shiphandling and navigation, classic fiction that pits man against the sea, ecological and strategic challenges, celebrations of great achievements and the lessons that come with failure, economic competition and its stepbrother combat, explorations of the deep, and poetry that beats with the pulse of the wave. Some of the included titles are familiar to many, while others, are likely less well-known but are welcome additions to this encompassing collection. Admiral Stavridis has chosen some books that are relatively recent, and he recommends other works which have been around much longer and deserve recognition.

After he was selected to be NATO's sixteenth Supreme Allied Commander, The New York Times described Jim Stavridis as a "Renaissance admiral." A U. S. Naval Academy graduate with a master's degree and doctorate from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, conversant in both French and Spanish, this author of numerous books and articles impressed the Navy's leaders and senior Pentagon civilians with his wide range of interests, educational background, keen understanding of strategic doctrine, mastery of long-range planning, and command of international affairs. Since NATO had previously been led by generals, Stavridis saw his assignment as the first admiral to take command as somewhat "accidental." As the American and NATO commander in Europe responsible for 120,000 coalition troops serving in fifty-one nations, on three continents and at sea he had come a long way since almost leaving the Navy for law school five years after receiving his commission.The Accidental Admiral offers an intimate look at the challenges of directing NATO operations in Afghanistan, military intervention in Libya, and preparation for possible war in Syria--as well as worrying about the Balkans, cyber threats, and piracy, all while cutting NATO by a third due to budget reductions by the twenty-eight nations of the alliance. More than just describing the history of the times, Stavridis also shares his insights into the personalities of President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, and Chuck Hagel, Afghan President Hamid Karzai; Generals David Petraeus, Stanley McChrystal, John Allen, and many more. Known as an innovator and an early adopter of technology and social media, Stavridis' ability to think "outside the box" and sail in uncharted waters is unmatched. He shares his insights on leadership, strategic communications, planning, and the convergence of threats that will confront the United States and its allies in the near future. Stavridis is an advocate of the use of "Smart Power," which he defines as the balance of hard and soft power. He explains that in creating security in the twenty-first century it is critical to build bridges, not walls, and stresses the need to connect international, interagency, and public-private actors to achieve security.

For the last several years Adm. James Stavridis and his co-author, R. Manning Ancell, have surveyed over two hundred active and retired four-star military officers about their reading habits and favorite books, asking each for a list of titles that strongly influenced their leadership skills and provided them with special insights that helped propel them to success in spite of the many demanding challenges they faced. The Leader's Bookshelf synthesizes their responses to identify the top fifty books that can help virtually anyone become a better leader.Each of the works--novels, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, management publications--are summarized and the key leadership lessons extracted and presented. Whether individuals work their way through the entire list and read each book cover to cover, or read the summaries provided to determine which appeal to them most, The Leader's Bookshelf will provide a roadmap to better leadership.Highlighting the value of reading in both a philosophical and a practical sense, The Leader's Bookshelf provides sound advice on how to build an extensive library, lists other books worth reading to improve leadership skills, and analyzes how leaders use what they read to achieve their goals. An efficient way to sample some of literature's greatest works and to determine which ones can help individuals climb the ladder of success, The Leader's Bookshelf is for anyone who wants to improve his or her ability to lead--whether in family life, professional endeavors, or within society and civic organizations.