Available Now

The one leadership book every American should read. Quality leadership is indispensable in America, the secret of its greatness. Yet today trust in leaders has sunk to all-time lows. In this uplifting book, a Navy admiral with 35 years of service shares secrets of how to elevate one's life, hone winning leadership skills, and build high-morale, high-performance teams able to achieve remarkable outcomes. Beautifully written and with striking candor, this book lights the path toward fixing what's gone terribly wrong with many leaders today and how to restore a sense of trust and connectedness that is so vital to the success of any individual, organization, or national endeavor.

ORDER NOW

E-BOOK ORDER

MIGHT OF THE CHAIN

FORGING LEADERS OF IRON INTEGRITY

Written by an accomplished U.S. Navy admiral, this unique treasury of leadership lessons shines a refreshing light on genuinely winning traits and habits of successful leaders at every stage of their careers.

Broken into crisp, colorful stories spotlighting dozens of leadership traits, this book is essential reading for any individual or organization eager to achieve exponential gains in morale, performance, and impact. It contains the formula for inspiring trust, creating genuine team success, and getting results.

It is also an exceptional guide for anyone trying to elevate their life and do their part to lift up the world around them.

Available Now

Why Mike Wrote A Leadership Book

FEATURED CLIPS

Lessons & Learnings on Leadership

The Importance of Character

Setting an Organization’s Climate

Authenticity & Connecting

Trust & Empowerment

Might of the Chain Excerpts

Leading well is the quintessential source of American excellence, the indispensable virtue that enabled greatness in our land.
It’s time for true patriots to emerge and become their own form of stainless steel, offering supreme strength, high resistance to life’s abrasions, and a beauty that reflects light into its world
Every citizen should understand the price of freedom is upholding their personal duty to project their best selves into the world, to generate more flex than friction along the master cables of our lives
Sage leadership has always been the hidden secret of our success as a nation. But we are overdue for a revitalization of this skill across the American polity and within the fabric of our society.
Inspiring, effective, honorable leadership profits everything and everyone it touches. The opposite is also true. Poor leadership is the rust, corrosion, and cracking that shatters at every touch.
The moral components of one’s leadership convert to indispensable sources of influence when handling epically tough issues.
If your decisions rest on a bedrock of integrity, you will succeed in life because people will gravitate toward those who are well-anchored, who have an ethical vitality, and who are fundamentally decent.
The journey to greatness lies in living in the closest accord with one’s genuine identity, one’s most mature authentic self.
Leaders are both born and bred, but the best are those who travel through life deeply committed to improving far beyond their start points.
Spread your time and energy across many fronts. Finding the proper symmetry in your life will shape you into a more well-rounded and capable leader – someone others will truly want to emulate.
Reflection is where real inspiration comes from. Uninterrupted peace can be the source of powerful ideas, the fount of great initiatives, and the germ of innovation.
Leading involves bravery, placing ourselves in situations that demand ascending levels of moral courage.
Standing out among the competition on the way up a career ladder takes standing up and with your very competition. Being best on the team comes from being best for the team.
Healthy organizations foster environments where employees are encouraged to speak truth to power.
How you respond to a failure, the way you unfoul line and anchor, can re-inspire people’s faith and trust in your capabilities, character, and professionalism.
Every bit of knowledge, every added experience, and every new way that you expose yourself will help prepare you for increased responsibilities down the road.
Innovation in action takes organizations to new heights; innovation inaction sinks even the best-intentioned enterprises.

Leadership is inspiring people to do more than they think themselves capable

⋆

Forging ahead requires a willingness to be shaped by forces out of our control

⋆

Give scope to all your talents

⋆

Doing what you fear overcomes fear

⋆

Take risks to grow.

⋆

Ignore ethics at your peril

⋆

Leadership is teachership

⋆

You control your destiny, you are the master of your own fate

⋆

Trust is built on a common aspiration to serve a transcendent cause

⋆

I shined best when my companions also shined

⋆

Strong behaviors can become powerful assets if channeled correctly

⋆

Invest in your climate and your climate will invest in you

⋆

Never muddle hard work and success

⋆

Don’t confuse motion with action, heat for light

⋆

The risk of inaction in many cases can be more dangerous than the risk of action

⋆

Leadership is inspiring people to do more than they think themselves capable ⋆ Forging ahead requires a willingness to be shaped by forces out of our control ⋆ Give scope to all your talents ⋆ Doing what you fear overcomes fear ⋆ Take risks to grow. ⋆ Ignore ethics at your peril ⋆ Leadership is teachership ⋆ You control your destiny, you are the master of your own fate ⋆ Trust is built on a common aspiration to serve a transcendent cause ⋆ I shined best when my companions also shined ⋆ Strong behaviors can become powerful assets if channeled correctly ⋆ Invest in your climate and your climate will invest in you ⋆ Never muddle hard work and success ⋆ Don’t confuse motion with action, heat for light ⋆ The risk of inaction in many cases can be more dangerous than the risk of action ⋆

What People Are Saying

“During a long career in naval intelligence, Admiral Studeman gained his reputation as one of the foremost analysts of China. Now, drawing on insights from years in command, he reveals himself to be a serious thinker on the nature of leadership as well. This is a thoughtful and engaging book.”

— Henry Kissinger

“Before you can be a leader of others you must learn to lead yourself. Studeman's examples are gems with universal applications that can help take you wherever you want to go in life. Highly recommended.”

“There are countless books available on leadership. Might of the Chain by Admiral Mike Studeman is distinctly different as well as succinct and eminently readable.I've read a lot of books about leadership and have written one myself. Might of the Chain is quite special.”

— Robert Gates

— Stephen Coonts

“This leadership book is superb, beautifully written, and quite engrossing.”

— Admiral James Stavridis

Sign up for Mike’s leadership newsletter

Mike's Leadership Minutes

Book a speaking event with Mike

Follow Mike on LinkedIn

Why Mike Wrote A Leadership Book

Leading well is the quintessential source of American excellence, the indispensable virtue that enabled greatness in our land.

It’s time for true patriots to emerge and become their own form of stainless steel, offering supreme strength, high resistance to life’s abrasions, and a beauty that reflects light into its world

Every citizen should understand the price of freedom is upholding their personal duty to project their best selves into the world, to generate more flex than friction along the master cables of our lives

Sage leadership has always been the hidden secret of our success as a nation. But we are overdue for a revitalization of this skill across the American polity and within the fabric of our society.

Inspiring, effective, honorable leadership profits everything and everyone it touches. The opposite is also true. Poor leadership is the rust, corrosion, and cracking that shatters at every touch.

The moral components of one’s leadership convert to indispensable sources of influence when handling epically tough issues.

If your decisions rest on a bedrock of integrity, you will succeed in life because people will gravitate toward those who are well-anchored, who have an ethical vitality, and who are fundamentally decent.

The journey to greatness lies in living in the closest accord with one’s genuine identity, one’s most mature authentic self.

Leaders are both born and bred, but the best are those who travel through life deeply committed to improving far beyond their start points.

Spread your time and energy across many fronts. Finding the proper symmetry in your life will shape you into a more well-rounded and capable leader – someone others will truly want to emulate.

Reflection is where real inspiration comes from. Uninterrupted peace can be the source of powerful ideas, the fount of great initiatives, and the germ of innovation.

Leading involves bravery, placing ourselves in situations that demand ascending levels of moral courage.

Standing out among the competition on the way up a career ladder takes standing up and with your very competition. Being best on the team comes from being best for the team.

Healthy organizations foster environments where employees are encouraged to speak truth to power.

How you respond to a failure, the way you unfoul line and anchor, can re-inspire people’s faith and trust in your capabilities, character, and professionalism.

Every bit of knowledge, every added experience, and every new way that you expose yourself will help prepare you for increased responsibilities down the road.

Innovation in action takes organizations to new heights; innovation inaction sinks even the best-intentioned enterprises.