Shipshape
£12.99
The Author
NICK BASHFORD is an experienced business leader, author and passionate yachtsman. He has a unique approach to business management, delivering clarity and structure to both individuals and businesses. He has worked as a senior executive director and provides consultancy services through his company – Nyetimber Management. Nick has helped a number of firms to successfully develop and grow and continues to operate as a commercial yacht skipper, providing training on team dynamics and strategic planning.
£12.99
The Book
£12.99
Nick is a man of many parts. He has run his own business, run part of someone else’s business, skippered yacht crews and consulted for a range of SMEs. What has enabled him to do all that is a thirst for challenge, boundless optimism and resilience and a desire to learn. He has learned a lot because he does not just get stuff done; he has a rare ability to reflect on his experience. This book tells part of his story and distils the most valuable lessons he has learned so as to make them available to others. We should be grateful for that.
In reading this book I have discovered something I did not know – how good a writer Nick is. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.
Author of The Art of Action
Nick is able to communicate some of hardest business principles into easy-to-understand bite size chunks, whilst also giving the reader an insight into his amazing journey during a Fastnet Race campaign.
Whilst reading Shipshape, I was surprised at how many sailing principles related to running a business. I also found myself wishing I had read this book and understood those same principles many years ago. Nick has a talent for giving his readers the facts without teaching you to ‘suck eggs’. The concept of the brief and a back brief is not only a simple communication tool, it also acts as a very neat way of motivating others to take responsibility and accountability for their actions.
I have been lucky enough to witness how Nick uses these principles on a day-to-day basis and the real difference they make to a business.
Sales Manager, David Harber Ltd
Reviews
Development Editor
When reading this book, I had many moments when I realized that, after (40) years as a business owner, I could have used Nick’s advice numerous times during my company’s initial growth, early successes, rapid uncontrolled growth, near failure and, finally, its total rebirth. Nick realizes the perfect balance of having competent managers who work as a team, focused on the same goal, and who stay in their lane under the direction of an owner who has set clear objectives and gives their managers the proper tools as well as the authority to do their job in a positive and supportive environment.
In sum, I believe this book should not be read once and then put away. It should sit on your credenza as your go-to reminder to refocus your goals and objectives during both stormy and calm waters. It is always easy to navigate in calm waters, but it takes a clear mind and knowledge to brave the storms that day-to-day business throws at you. Nick has always been the captain who can be called upon at any time to set the ship straight.
President, JMH Consulting LLC, USA
As an operation director whose only time on a boat has been while crossing the channel to France, I was sceptical that Nick’s book would have any relevance to me or my work life in business! But it’s not his knowledge of boats that Nick uses in his book, it is his knowledge of skippering in all manner of critical situations that really helps the reader understand the world of business. This ranges from always ensuring you know where you are setting out from, to trusting your team to perform the tasks you have employed them to do. It becomes clear that you require high levels of autonomy in your team in order to truly achieve high levels of performance.
I can’t confess to reading lots of business books but of the handful that I have read, Nick’s is the only one that I carry with me every day.
Operations Director, David Harber Ltd
Nick is a man of many parts. He has run his own business, run part of someone else’s business, skippered yacht crews and consulted for a range of SMEs. What has enabled him to do all that is a thirst for challenge, boundless optimism and resilience and a desire to learn. He has learned a lot because he does not just get stuff done; he has a rare ability to reflect on his experience. This book tells part of his story and distils the most valuable lessons he has learned so as to make them available to others. We should be grateful for that.
In reading this book I have discovered something I did not know – how good a writer Nick is. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.
Author of The Art of Action
Nick is able to communicate some of hardest business principles into easy-to-understand bite size chunks, whilst also giving the reader an insight into his amazing journey during a Fastnet Race campaign.
Whilst reading Shipshape, I was surprised at how many sailing principles related to running a business. I also found myself wishing I had read this book and understood those same principles many years ago. Nick has a talent for giving his readers the facts without teaching you to ‘suck eggs’. The concept of the brief and a back brief is not only a simple communication tool, it also acts as a very neat way of motivating others to take responsibility and accountability for their actions.
I have been lucky enough to witness how Nick uses these principles on a day-to-day basis and the real difference they make to a business.
Jack Chalkley
Sales Manager, David Harber Ltd
This is a book which should, at all times, be within easy reach of anyone with leadership pretensions. It’s right on target.
£12.99
