"It’s a tour-de-force." - Ethan Kross, Bestselling Author of Shift and Chatter.
Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions
In Turn the Ship Around!, lauded by USA Today as one of the 12 best business books of all time, former nuclear submarine captain David Marquet told the incredible story of creating a thinking team that transformed the worst-performing submarine into the best in the fleet. His second book, Leadership Is Language, delved into the transformative power of shifting from Industrial Age language to intent-based communication, enabling teams to think and act like leaders.
Now comes book 3 in the Trilogy.
In the process the question becomes, how do we help people make wise decisions? Now, in DISTANCING: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions (Portfolio/Penguin Random House; on sale August 12, 2025), Marquet teams up with Dr. Michael A. Gillespie, psychology professor at the University of South Florida, to introduce a leadership superpower: the ability to step outside ourselves to see more clearly and make better decisions.
Elite athletes and top executives rely on coaches to gain perspective. But what if we could each become our own coach? Distancing introduces “psychological distancing”—a powerful method that allows us to break free from the biases, emotions, and pressures of the moment. By learning to Be Someone Else, Be Somewhere Else, and Be Sometime Else, leaders unlock new levels of clarity, reduce anxiety, and make wiser choices.
Marquet and Gillespie deliver a groundbreaking framework that blends recent research, real-world leadership insights, and practical tools. Whether you’re leading a team, making high-stakes decisions, or contemplating decisions in your own life, Distancing will help you rise above the noise and build a habit of consistently better decisions.
Now comes book 3 in the Trilogy.
In the process the question becomes, how do we help people make wise decisions? Now, in DISTANCING: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions (Portfolio/Penguin Random House; on sale August 12, 2025), Marquet teams up with Dr. Michael A. Gillespie, psychology professor at the University of South Florida, to introduce a leadership superpower: the ability to step outside ourselves to see more clearly and make better decisions.
Elite athletes and top executives rely on coaches to gain perspective. But what if we could each become our own coach? Distancing introduces “psychological distancing”—a powerful method that allows us to break free from the biases, emotions, and pressures of the moment. By learning to Be Someone Else, Be Somewhere Else, and Be Sometime Else, leaders unlock new levels of clarity, reduce anxiety, and make wiser choices.
Marquet and Gillespie deliver a groundbreaking framework that blends recent research, real-world leadership insights, and practical tools. Whether you’re leading a team, making high-stakes decisions, or contemplating decisions in your own life, Distancing will help you rise above the noise and build a habit of consistently better decisions.
What if I told you that you had a superpower that would allow you to remain unflappable in the face of adversity, be calm in the face of criticism, learn faster, have better relationships, make better decisions, and best of all -- when you got to the end of your life you would have fewer regrets?
Well, others have tapped into this superpower by asking questions like "What would my 80-year old self want me to do now?" or "What would my replacement choose in this situation?"
The superpower is called Distancing - it's the practice of temporarily imagining yourself not as you but from another perspective. From that distanced perspective you coach yourself. The magic is that the distanced you - Coach - is largely free of all the baggage that you being you brings with it.
Everyone has the ability to practice this superpower but few do. Now you can too! In ways large and small, during daily irritations or big life decisions, this practice will enhance your life. We know that because it has enhanced ours and others who have practiced it.
Well, others have tapped into this superpower by asking questions like "What would my 80-year old self want me to do now?" or "What would my replacement choose in this situation?"
The superpower is called Distancing - it's the practice of temporarily imagining yourself not as you but from another perspective. From that distanced perspective you coach yourself. The magic is that the distanced you - Coach - is largely free of all the baggage that you being you brings with it.
Everyone has the ability to practice this superpower but few do. Now you can too! In ways large and small, during daily irritations or big life decisions, this practice will enhance your life. We know that because it has enhanced ours and others who have practiced it.
