Former top Navy official: never let your values sink

Thomas Modly has a submarine full of leadership lessons learned from his five months as Acting Secretary of the U.S. Navy — a term that ended in chaos and controversy April 7, 2020.

The situation stems from a COVID-19 outbreak, early in the pandemic, on the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The ship’s captain, Brett Crozier, went outside the chain of the command, Modly says, when he wrote to an assortment of leaders that most of the crew should be taken ashore. While the letter won Crozier the support of the crew of nearly 5,000 military personnel, it also was improper, Modly contends, and, for a host of reasons, jeopardized the Navy’s mission: to protect America and its allies.