Begin your journey to increased personal and professional productivity and strengthened workforce morale as you apply elite leadership lessons. Inspiring, educational, and entertaining, Elite and True translates James Barnhart’s real-life experiences in the US Navy’s Officer Candidate School, Nuclear Power School, and submarine service into deeper leadership insights than most people will ever experience in their entire careers. Barnhart deftly transforms his own military experiences into a broad format that readers can apply to general leadership situations in their own lives. Many people seem to confuse leadership and management, or to incorrectly use the two terms interchangeably. As one officer succinctly stated to distinguish leadership from management, “You lead people, while you manage things.” Never confuse management of assets, budgets, projects, or any inanimate object with leadership of cognizant, sentient, emotional human beings. To lead is to inspire people to perform. To manage is to measure and prioritize actions. The skills necessary for management differ markedly from those of leadership. Whenever you’re unsure of an answer, there is no better response than, “I do not know, but I will find out.” This is the universal right answer. To hazard an unqualified guess can mislead the inquirer, and the basic “I don’t know” is insufficient. The key is to honestly admit to not knowing, then to make real efforts to seek out and return the answer at the soonest opportunity. Beneficiaries of hard-won and valuable lessons from the author’s own life in the US Navy and as a manager in the corporate world, readers will learn how to develop leadership capabilities in four clear phases: unsure follower, determined follower, positional leader, and true leader. The true leader is the authentic leader, true to oneself and to others. When readers finish Elite and True , they will feel motivated and energized―and know that they can accomplish more personally―and with their teams―than they could previously. This unique book is for those who aspire to lead, are presently leading, or who hold a management position in government or the private sector. "Jim Barnhart's engaging, thoughtful—and fun—book, Elite and True, provides aspiring leaders with a tremendous roadmap for achieving success. Barnhart combines delightful storytelling with key leadership lessons to deliver a refreshing take on how the US Navy develops great leaders. He is particularly adept at showing how the leadership lessons learned from his naval officer career are completely applicable to achieving great leadership by those who operate in the civilian business environment." —Steve Newberry, former CEO and Chairman at Lam Research (Nasdaq: LRCX) and graduate of the United States Naval Academy "I read Elite and True in just two days as I found it highly engaging and rewarding. One's destiny can be determined by a surprisingly small number of key life decisions—sometimes as few as one or two in a lifetime. So I enjoyed living alongside Barnhart day-to-day while he tenaciously pursued early acceptance into NUPOC, ostensibly to "just pay the bills," but leading him to learn what true leadership is and is not. He then parlayed those lessons into success in the high-tech business sector. From the first page, I was instantly drawn into Barnhart's life story of leadership lessons—some learned straightforwardly; others the hard way. I found the book engaging and very much enjoyed Barnhart's down-to-earth writing style. I both grimaced and laughed out loud several times while reading! As someone who has personally worked alongside Barnhart in the business sector, I can attest to the authenticity and success of his leadership style as portrayed in Elite and True . Elite and True is invaluable for someone making the transition from military service to the private sector. For that matter, for anyone who desires to transition from a career path not well suited to one better matched to their passions and career goals." — Bob Akins, Co-founder, former CEO and Chairman, Cymer, Inc. (NASDAQ: CYMI - now an ASML company) "In my nearly 40 years of leadership of both public and private companies I've not encountered another leadership book that is nearly as readable and practical as this one. Using the fascinating background of the U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine program as the basis for his study, Jim has demonstrated the steps that an individual should follow to earn the right to become a leader. He then follows this up with the steps required to become an outstanding leader. His highlighting of things that should be done as well as pitfalls to be avoided make this a very valuable guide to anyone trying to develop their leadership skills." —Clarence Granger, former CEO and current Chairman of the Board, Ultra Clean Holdings (UCTT) "Barnhart's experiences are condensed and interspersed with leadership wisdom born from the author's own life