Navigating Now in 'Sea of Despair'

Review by Bill Doughty––

In these troubled times we can and should consider advice from good, principled leaders.

Then-Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Ray Mabus speaks with civil rights hero and U.S. Representative of the Fifth District of Georgia, John Lewis, Jan. 6, 2016, before the ship-naming ceremony for the future fleet replenishment oiler USNS John Lewis (T-AO 205). USNS John Lewis will be the first ship of the Navy's newest generation of fleet replenishment oilers. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Armando Gonzales)

The most respected living civil rights leader, Representative John Lewis of Georgia, asked Americans today on the Morning Joe show to "not get lost in a sea of despair but to keep the faith" and be "true to the cause of love, peace and nonviolence." (Read another moving statement from Lewis at the end of this post.)

This week, after witnessing the horror of racially charged events –– including the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Aubrey –– I turned to a book by Melvin G. Williams Sr. and Melvin G. Williams Jr., "Navigating the Seven Seas: Leadership Lessons of the first African American Father and Son to Serve at the Top in the U.S. Navy" (Naval Institute Press, 2011).

The book has been a perennial recommendation on the Navy Professional Reading Program. It serves as a lighthouse of inspiration with advice on character, courage and commitment as well as other key qualities needed to be a good leader, citizen and sailor.

Williams Sr. is a retired Command Master Chief who was in charge of the SECNAV-CNO Flag Mess at the Pentagon and played a pivotal role in helping further integrate the Navy in the late 60s, including providing advice and inspiration to ADM Elmo Zumwalt Jr., then-Chief of Naval Operations.


All Hands Update "Legacy of Service" interview with Williamses about diversity in the Navy. Hosted by PO2 Patrick Gearhiser. (DVIDS)

ADM John C. Harvey Jr. publicly commended retired Master Chief Williams in 2010 saying, "You served your Navy and your nation with honor and distinction for over twenty-seven years, during a period of time when you loved your Navy far more than your Navy loved you. You never lost faith that someday, the Navy you loved so much and served so well would take the steps that had to be taken and allow a sailor's talent to be the sole measure of what a sailor can do." Williams Sr. served in the Navy for 27 years.

Vice Adm. Mel Williams Jr., commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet, salutes sideboys aboard the guided-missile frigate USS Halyburton (FFG 40) April 28, 2010 during a ship visit while Halyburton is in port for Fleet Week Port Everglades for a celebration of the maritime services. (Photo by Seaman Travis J. Kuykendall)

Williams Jr., served as a submarine officer and aboard surface ships and aircraft carriers for 32 years. He achieved the rank of vice admiral and commanded the U.S. Second Fleet, leading sailors and Marines. He coordinated closely with NATO, where he helped develop and publish the first maritime counter-piracy tactics and contributed to NATO maritime security operations.

Williams Jr. recounts his childhood briefly in "Navigating the Seven Seas":

"I arrived on this Earth in November 1955, about one month before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. As an African American male who grew up in the United States when equal opportunity for all people was beginning, I felt a personal imperative to have the integrity and determination to fulfill the obligation that I truly believed I had to realize the dreams of those courageous African Americans who had come before me. I was not alone in this belief, which many African Americans in my generation shared."

Father and son discuss their book, "Navigating the Seven Seas"

Williams Jr. said his family instilled respect for hard work and education as well as "traits including integrity, determination, a positive attitude, fairness, a personable disposition, humility, and the elements of servant leadership."

Like all military families, there were moves and new schools. In 1968 the family moved to Washington D.C., where thirteen-year-old Mel Jr. "absorbed pivotal events of that year": Vietnam War, Tet Offensive, assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, racial riots, and Mexico City Olympics.

This book is part double-autobiography, part guide to good leadership. The "Seven Seas" is a "nautical play on words," representing the maritime global commons to show how to navigate as a leader through Seven Cs:

• Character: The first and most essential of the Cs, trumping all others –– "the commitment to take right and timely action repeatedly toward realizing the vision are central to leadership."
• Competence: "A leader must be competent as he or she guides the organization."
• Courage: "Leaders should consider the facts, opinions of a diverse group, instincts and intuition, and be decisive at the right time."
• Commitment: Developing people to their full potential, trusting others, and delegating authority are essential to being a good leader.
• Caring: Serving others is caring for others, ensuring they have "needed resources."
• Communicating: "People want to be inspired by the leader" who must "develop forward-looking plans with the team, and take action while creating a sense of urgency."
• Community: "With better-prepared and developed individuals, the leader works to create a cohesive team, so that the whole is greater than the sum of the individuals."

Williams Sr.'s great-grandparents on both sides were born into slavery. The veteran of the Korean War, Vietnam War and Cold War Navy nurtured a culture of love, empathy and servant leadership in his family and within his circle of influence in the Navy.

The authors provide quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Booker T. Washington, Thomas Paine, Lao Tzu, Albert Einstein, and others.

Among those they name in their acknowledgements (as listed): Barry Danforth, James L. Holloway III, Hugh McCracken, Elmo Zumwalt Jr., Chuck Beers, Skip Bowman, James Cartwright, Kirk Donald, Jerry Ellis, Malcolm Fages, Ed Giambastiani, the Golden Thirteen, Samuel Gravely, Mike Mullen, B.J. Penn, Hyman G. Rickover, Gary Roughead and Carl Trost.

Current and past Chiefs of Naval Operations (CNO) came to the Pentagon for the unveiling of the CNO portraits, 26 June 1986. Left to right: Admiral James L. Holloway III, USN (Retired); Admiral Carlisle A.H. Trost, USN, CNO Designate; Admiral Robert B. Carney, USN (Retired); Admiral Thomas B. Hayward, USN (Retired); Admiral James D. Watkins, USN, then-CNO; Admiral George W. Anderson, USN (Retired), seated; Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., USN (Retired); Admiral David L. McDonald, USN (Retired); Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN (Retired); and Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, USN (Retired). (NHHC)

Along with the Seven Cs, the authors highlight the Navy's Core Values (including two of the Cs): Honor, Courage and Commitment. "Courage" comes up time and again in "Navigating the Seven Seas."

Williams Jr. writes, "Throughout history, the men and women who serve in the armed forces in defense of freedom, human rights, and the rule of law have been leaders who routinely demonstrate courage." He adds, "We, the beneficiaries of freedom, should be grateful to these courageous leaders. I am."

In 2020, do we have the courage to confront inequality, achieve fundamental systemic police reform as well as protect the community by demanding nonviolence? In protesting injustice, anger is justified; violence is not.

John Lewis is a courageous leader in civil rights. He calls for peace and nonviolence in the face of riots happening in 2020 so we are not "lost in a sea of despair."

Rep. John Lewis (D Ga.) dons protective gear as he prepares to weld his initials into the keel plate of his namesake ship during the keel laying ceremony of USNS John Lewis at the General Dynamics Shipyard in San Diego, May 13, 2019. (Photo by Sarah Burford)

Statement by Rep. John Lewis, Congressman from Georgia's 5th District:

"Sixty-five years have passed, and I still remember the face of young  Emmett Till. It was 1955. I was 15 years old — just a year older than him. What happened that summer in Money, Mississippi, and the months that followed — the recanted accusation, the sham trial, the dreaded verdict — shocked the country to its core. And it helped spur a series of non-violent events by everyday people who demanded better from our country.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial (NPS)

“Despite real progress, I can't help but think of young Emmett today as I watch video after video after video of unarmed Black Americans being killed, and falsely accused. My heart breaks for these men and women, their families, and the country that let them down — again. My fellow Americans, this is a special moment in our history. Just as people of all faiths and no faiths, and all backgrounds, creeds, and colors banded together decades ago to fight for equality and justice in a peaceful, orderly, non-violent fashion, we must do so again.

“To the rioters here in Atlanta and across the country: I see you, and I hear you. I know your pain, your rage, your sense of despair and hopelessness. Justice has, indeed, been denied for far too long. Rioting, looting, and burning is not the way. Organize. Demonstrate. Sit-in. Stand-up. Vote. Be constructive, not destructive. History has proven time and again that non-violent, peaceful protest is the way to achieve the justice and equality that we all deserve.

“Our work won't be easy — nothing worth having ever is — but I strongly believe, as Dr. King once said, that while the arc of the moral universe is long, it bends toward justice.” –– May 30, 2020