Leadership Is Language and Turning the Ship Around
Our latest Get Amplified episode flips a familiar leadership habit on its head: ask more, tell less. Joined by Chris Collett, we dig into two books that seriously made us stop and rethink leadership: Turn the Ship Around and Leadership Is Language by David Marquet.
One big idea kept coming up again and again: the words leaders use really matter. Sometimes more than the decisions themselves.
The book tells the story of Marquet taking over the worst-performing submarine in the fleet and realising very quickly that the traditional command-and-control approach just wouldn’t work.
One moment really brought that home: Marquet gave an order and nobody challenged it, even though “it was impossible to execute that order.” As Chris explained, that’s when Marquet realised: “I need to quickly turn this ship around in a place where people can challenge me.”
Decisions where the information is
A big theme throughout the conversation was decision-making. Chris pointed out that “often decisions are made at a point where there is no information”, and instead, leaders should be “moving it down to where the information is.”
This really resonated with us in the tech world, where the people closest to customers and delivery often know best.
Psychological safety isn’t optional
We spent a lot of time talking about psychological safety, because without it, nothing else works. Chris put it bluntly:
You can ask the best question in the world and no one’s gonna answer it if people don’t feel safe.”
He also challenged the classic leadership line: “my door is always open.” But unless leaders are deliberate with their language, people still won’t speak up, especially when it matters most.
Collaborate, don’t coerce
One of Vic’s biggest lightbulb moments from Leadership Is Language was Marquet’s idea to “collaborate, don’t coerce.”
As Chris explained, when leaders speak first, they “anchor people to what they’ve said first.” Even unintentionally, leaders can shut down debate.
That’s why Vic now deliberately stays quiet in meetings: “I will put myself on mute and stay on mute until everybody else has spoken.”
Commitment, not compliance
Another standout idea was the difference between compliance and commitment. People might comply, but that doesn’t mean they believe in the decision. As Vic put it, Marquet talks about “commitment, not complying.”
Instead of forcing certainty, teams should “test a hypothesis”, try something, learn from it, and pivot if needed. That mindset makes it much easier for teams to move fast without fear.
Slow down to go faster
Chris also introduced the idea of red work (doing) and blue work (thinking). Too often, teams rush straight into action. But as he said,
speed often sacrifices quality.”
His favourite analogy? Open-water swimming. You can swim fast with your head down, but if you don’t look up occasionally, “you go very fast in the wrong direction.”
Final takeaways
Chris closed with three simple but powerful reminders:
- “Ask more, tell less.”
- “Speak last.”
- “Replace certainty with curiosity.”
Or as he put it best:
Great leaders don’t just have the answers… they create the conditions for better thinking.”
You can find all episodes, listed by theme, on our website here.
