The unwritten rules, the human element, and the real-world advice technical manuals can't teach - from twenty-six years on the deckplates to the pages of a new book for the officers who lead there.
A Chief's Guide to Naval Leadership for New Officers
Offers new naval officers real-world leadership advice and enlisted perspectives often absent from formal training.
From the Deckplates provides new naval officers with the practical wisdom and guidance typically shared only in the Chief's Mess - the unwritten rules, human element, and real-world advice that technical manuals cannot capture.
Drawing from 26 years of naval service as a Senior Chief, Don Sawyer has created a comprehensive guide that addresses the real challenges new officers face: managing divisions, working with Chiefs, navigating wardroom politics, earning warfare qualifications, and developing into effective leaders.
The book covers the full spectrum of naval leadership from a Chief's perspective: wardroom dynamics, division structure and team building, communication strategies, crisis leadership, ethical decision-making, digital leadership, and career development. This book fills a critical gap in naval professional development literature - the guidance that makes the difference between struggling and thriving in naval leadership.
From the deckplates to the boardroom - leadership lessons that don't come from a manual.
"Everything I learned about what makes a junior officer succeed came from the Chiefs who taught me - and from the mistakes I watched junior officers make when they didn't understand deckplate culture. This book is my attempt to pass that on."
- Don Sawyer
The book is still heading toward its October launch, but it's already in the hands of senior enlisted leaders who've lived this. Here's what they're saying.
“I think this is good material… The Enlisted community has revamped their leadership training for each pay grade. There is no equivalent for Officers. Most the officers I have interacted with are technically strong but lack empathy and soft skills. Those take time to foster. Good stuff brother, I think this would help a lot of young war fighters.”
More endorsements will be added as the manuscript reaches senior enlisted leaders and fleet reviewers ahead of publication.
This site is more than a book page. It's the start of something that belongs to every Chief who's ever taken a brand-new officer aside and told them the truth. Here's where that's headed.
From the Deckplates is the starting point - one Chief's attempt to write down what usually only gets passed along in the Chief's Mess, ship to ship, generation to generation.
Ongoing essays and short reflections on leadership, the Chief-officer relationship, and what's changed - and what hasn't - about deckplate leadership in today's Navy.
Down the road, this becomes a place where other Chiefs - retired and active - can add their own voice: the lessons they'd want every new Division Officer to hear.
It's already starting. A Master Chief who teaches the Navy's enlisted leadership curriculum took an early look at the book and came back with the kind of straight talk that makes this idea real: there's a training gap officers are still falling into, and the Chief's Mess is where the answers live. That exchange is exactly what this space is for. Are you a Chief with a story or a lesson worth passing on? Or a junior officer with a question only a Chief could answer? This is being built for you too.
Reach OutClick a folder to explore the photos in each group. Click any photo to view it full-size.
Short, direct reflections on Navy leadership - posted here as the book heads toward publication and beyond.
We carry the sum of human knowledge in our pockets. Why do we know less than the generations who had to look it up? Research, the Google effect, and the discipline of verification the deckplates taught us.
Read the Note →The enlisted community rebuilt its leadership training into a progressive curriculum. Officers are still learning it the hard way. A Master Chief's feedback, and the gap this book was written to fill.
Read the Note →What every new Division Officer needs to understand about the Chief standing next to them - and why that relationship makes or breaks a first tour.
Publishing soonAn honest look at what's different about today's deckplates - and what about good leadership never changes.
Publishing soonBe the first to know when From the Deckplates is available, and when new leadership notes are posted.
