# Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its practical ideas on leading skilled teams, giving workers trust and accountability, and changing organizations in place.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong leadership book for skilled teams (3 comments): "it's a really interesting take on leading highly intelligent, skilled teams" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48356539)) "A really good book on this is "Turn the ship around"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46769047)) "the only good book on leadership I've managed to find" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49461555))
- Praised as fantastic and interesting (4 comments): ""Turn the Ship Around" is fantastic. It's a short audio book (about 6.5 hours), if that's more up your alley." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48356384)) "Read the book. Then if you want go check the sources." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48352628)) "I appreciate that book and that context" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46771282))
- Practical ideas for changing organizations (2 comments): "Turn the Ship Around [1] is also great at giving examples of how to "change organizations in place"." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46113485)) "One of my favourite techniques from that book is to remove the centralised backlog." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47048454))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unaccountability-machine.md): 11 recommend
- [Shape Up by Ryan Singer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/shape-up.md): 6 recommend
- [Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais](https://hackerapproved.com/p/team-topologies.md): 5 recommend
- [Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister](https://hackerapproved.com/p/peopleware.md): 5 recommend
- [Army Leadership by US Army](https://hackerapproved.com/p/us-army-leadership-doctrine.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0241250943?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780241250945) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet", https://hackerapproved.com/p/turn-the-ship-around/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).