Captain Sandy Yawn’s Leadership Lessons and Girlfriend in New Book
You’ve seen out and proud Captain Sandy Yawn take over for Captain Lee Rosbach recently to navigate the superyacht St. David for charter guests on Bravo’s Below Deck. But today, she offers life lessons to fans in her new book, Be the Calm or Be the Storm: Leadership Lessons for a Woman at the Helm.
After more than 30 years of international maritime experience, the star of the reality show Below Deck Mediterranean weaves her personal stories into the book, including how she selects and sizes up her crew even before embarking on a charter, deciding whom to invest in and how to bring out their best. She also explains how authority and discipline are required to lead, but they must be leavened with compassion, understanding, and a desire to see your crew or team succeed.
As a captain, Yawn is constantly upgrading her knowledge and skill set, which is as much a part of her job as steering a vessel. Last year, Vacationer Magazine had an opportunity to interview her and asked her about her book, and here’s what she had to say.
“People think I’ve been this ‘together’ person for my whole life. So, I give readers the history of who I used to be, and boy, was I a messed-up kid. It’s about how I triumphed through all of that and learned my leadership lessons and basically, that’s it,” said Yawn. “It has personal stories, sea stories, and I didn’t go to a leadership academy or anything like that. It was through the leadership of life’s lessons. It’s geared for any CEO, mom or dad, teenager, or college student – it reaches everyone just like the TV show does. Honestly, I just want to help people, so that’s what the book’s about – helping others.”
In addition to leadership lessons, the new book also gives readers and Below Deck fans a rare look at Captain Sandy’s relationship with her girlfriend, Leah Shafer. In speaking about her girlfriend, Yawn says, “She’s God’s gift to me” and “I believe God has a way of preparing you for ‘the one’.”
She also speaks about how her relationship with Leah taught her grace. “Until she came into my life, I never fully understood the true meaning of the word. When someone is having a bad day, you don’t chide them or try to make them stop whatever it is they are doing that’s manifesting the bad mood. Instead, you give them grace and let them have that bad day without judgment. If I am doing something that’s not nice, I ask Leah, ‘Can I have a do over?’ That’s something I taught her. She gives me that do over, but she gives it with grace. She doesn’t constantly remind me, she doesn’t add it to a list of grievances, and she doesn’t hold me to court.”
You can read about that and more in Captain Sandy Yawn’s new book, Be the Calm or Be the Storm: Leadership Lessons for a Woman at the Helm. You can order it via online vendors such as Amazon.com or purchase it anywhere books are sold!
