Making Rickover
This is not a biography of Rickover. Not by a long shot. But how he became who he was is important and instructive. He career was very much informed by how he got there and when we contrast his path with that of many modern leaders (particularly corporate leaders) we see more clear cause and effect.
Hyman Rickover was a Polish immigrant. His family fled a growing anti-Semitism growing out of the Russian revolution and the family immigrated to New York and soon after, Chicago. He graduated high school and began a job delivering telegrams for western union. It was there and then that he caught the attention of Congressman Adolph Sabath who, impressed with the young man, offered the appointment to the Untied States Naval Academy.
There is no shortage of quips and questions about Rickover’s time at the Academy. At that time, there were hardly any Jewish midshipmen. Rickover was also slight in build- not always a winning attribute at an institution with a proud athletic history. But frankly, there’s not a ton of information on his school days beyond the fact that he was very bright and very hard working.
I want to pause the story here and talk more broadly about The Naval Academy because there are some key contrasts between the education young Rickover received and that of so many other leaders- during the formative years of early adulthood.
The Naval Academy does not exist to simply train seamanship. For a long time, The United States taught seamanship much like our British brethren with newly minted officer canadates serving onboard ships. However, in 1842, one of these midshipmen decided to incite a mutiny aboard USS Somers. That midshipman was Phillip Spencer, son of Secretary of War John C. Spencer. The younger Spencer was tried, convicted, hanged and buried at sea along with his alleged co-conspirators.
While questions about the Somers Affair exist to this day, one lasting legacy was the stark realizations, at the country’s highest levels, that the future of the officer corps for the United States Navy must go beyond the technicalities of waging war at sea. An officer must learn and embody the capability and character to lead with integrity.
When you visit the Naval Academy, one thing you often see and hear reference to is the honor concept. It’s both regulation and aspiration to the conduct of would be officers during their time at the academy and for them to carry forth into the careers and life. And here it is:
Midshipmen are persons of integrity: They stand for that which is right.
They tell the truth and ensure that the truth is known.
They do not lie.
They embrace fairness in all actions. They ensure that work submitted as their own is their own, and that assistance received from any source is authorized and properly documented.
They do not cheat.
They respect the property of others and ensure that others are able to benefit from the use of their own property.
They do not steal.
So think about this for a moment. These are the words a young Hyman Rickover read, recited and strove to abide by when he was coming into adulthood. This is what he believed. And, without giving away too much of the story, it’s what he lived.
An honor concept as such the one above may seem dated in out modern world. Oh sure------don’t lie. But do we have to tell the whole truth? Can’t I hold back a few things as leverage for later? And cheating…. isn’t that in the eye of the beholder? Plus, it’s not really cheating…I’m just booking the value of the sales before they are actually realized. That’s not cheating…. it’s creative accounting. Plus, how can I be stealing if you can’t tell me whom I’m stealing from. What if I need this idea or concept or bonus? It’s a dog eat dog world and I’m hungry. Let’s be honest-Our modern world of management is so bereft of integrity that we make best selling films showcasing the spoils of managing and leading without integrity. People pay to watch accounts of people who lie, cheat and steal to get what they want.
Rickover was a maverick. There’s no doubt about that. He could also be cold, impatient, insensitive and belligerent. But he also told the truth. He didn’t break rules or misrepresent the work of others as his own. He did not take what did not belong to him. In fact, he’s one of the rare people that brought money back to the US congress because, in the course of a project he was working on, he was able to save some costs and not exhaust the budget.
Who on earth does that?
I’ll tell you.
Someone with integrity dose that.
Hyman Rickover did that.
A young midshipman once told me her definition of integrity. She said “people will often tell you integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking. I have a different perspective. I believe integrity is doing the right thing while everyone is looking even when it is not popular”.
And from there- that place and that mindset came the man who would change the world and for who the engineering building at USNA would eventually bear his name.
A man of great integrity.
No Heroes In Peacetime is a new book that looks at the management practices of Admiral Hyman Rickover, his efforts that gave rise to the nuclear Navy and how many of his principles and practices can and should be applied to modern organizational management. Portions of the book will be periodically released over social media and the full book should be ready sometime in 2021. You can follow the books development on the Facebook page: Jeff Snowden, Author.