I first the quote in the title when reading "Good to Great." I doubted it at first, since I came from the generation that was told to pursue your passion and fall in love with your job. I figured that once you find the perfect job, you would never quit it.
And then, I nearly left the Navy because of a terrible Commanding Officer.
Talking with sailors that leave the Navy behind, I find that most of them enjoyed what they were doing. The two top reasons they leave are time away from home and bad bosses. Often times, these are one in the same, since a bad boss tends to manage his subordinates time very poorly.
While you personally may not be the reason one of your sailors leaves the Navy, you do need to remember that you carry a big influence in whether or not they stay. Not everyone should stay Navy, but it becomes hard for you to keep the good sailors if you make them all quit through terrible leadership. Manage your division well, maintain transparency in what you do, and care about your people, and your sailors will pick up on that and stick with you. Fail at that, and they'll leave in droves.
