Admiral Rickover (1900 - 1986) the "Father of the [US and World's First] Nuclear Navy" was:
- brilliant, or a great self-promoter
- patriotic, yet selfish
- loyal to crews safety, yet disloyal to the Navy command structure
- far seeing in engineering and scientific terms, yet rejected creativity in many others
- a great man manager, yet many of his men hated him because he micro-managed them
- generous with his money, yet played the gifts from corporations system
- humourless, yet had a well rounded deadpan sense of humour.
A book called The Rickover Effect on his leadership style, is well worth reading.
A 1984 US "60 Minutes" interview video, with interviewer Diane Sawyer, is here https://youtu.be/lpAWiqwSw-U and below. It cuts out after 15 minutes 45 seconds.
3:35 - Rickover admits "I have the charisma of a chipmunk."
6:10 - He cut parts of 2 legs of the chairs prospective SSN captain interviewees had to sit on so they
would slide off their chairs
7.00 - Jimmy Carter, when a submarine officer "hated" Rickover a "few times" before Carter became
President
7:30 - Rickover worked the political system to stay in office as nuclear navy chief
9.00 - many in the Reagan Administration, Navy and defense contractors organized Rickover's
sacking/final goodbye in 1982 after a record 63 years of active duty
11:30 - He gave $100,000 of his own money to US educational projects
12:40 - He also built the first civilian nuclear plant. Was it the Shippingport Atomic Power Station?
13:30 - Thoughts on nuclear weapons
14:30 - Rickover and love letters
15:45 - Finishes.
QUESTIONS
A. What are the most important leadership qualities a Submarine Commander should have?
B. What are the most dangerous traits a Submarine Commander shouldn't have?