Lessons on Leadership

What a Fictional Character Can Teach Us About Leadership

I have always liked Star Trek, but can't say I was a Trekkie. Star Trek: The Next Generation was my favorite, though I had never given any thought as to why I preferred it so much more. Then, in 1995, I read a book called Make It So - Leadership Lessons from Star Trek the Next Generation written by Dr. Wess Roberts and Bill Ross. It was after reading Make It So that I was able to articulate why I liked TNG so much more than the original Star Trek. It wasn't that the film's quality was superior, that the acting was more natural or that the ship and the aliens were more realistic. It was because I related to Picard and the dynamics he created. Captain Kirk just never did it for me. He had always reminded me of inflated executive egos. Pickard reflected my own management style - a belief in staff empowerment as a way for a company to achieve success financially as well as in terms of products and services.

When you watch TNG, a number of things stand out. The captain created a decent workplace environment in which people were proud and happy to work. Internal politics were not a problem. This wasn't a complacent or apathetic environment; on the contrary. It was a highly productive environment where people were given a lot of room to take initiative. Both the captain and his officers promoted open communication, trust, and confidence. Picard practiced a combination of consensus leadership as well as decisive leadership. Even in a time of crisis, he remained calm and asked for his crew's opinions. Through his actions, he was basically saying "if you're good enough to be in your position, you're good enough for me to listen to." Of course, this didn't mean he always acted on his crew's advice, but his people knew they would be listened to and knew that their opinions were truly important to him. Picard brought out the best in competent people - he made competent people better. He was someone that everyone could trust and rely on. He inculcated in his people a respect for life and an acceptance of people who were different and taught them that the unknown was not something to be feared but to be understood.

In the book, Picard records his legacy for the leadership training of Starfleet academy's cadets. He recounts his adventures and lessons learned and stresses the nine leadership qualities that apply to every level of command:

1. Focus - if you focus your efforts on the most important aspects of your position you will set free your crew's and your own initiative, power, innovation, and imagination all of which are inseparable from mission success.
2. Urgency - if you engage each mission, every duty, with a sense of urgency you will attain many marvelous accomplishments.
3. Initiative - it has often been the crew's initiative that has made a difference in the success and safety of our missions. When you are asked for approval of an action you should find it every reason to respond with "permission granted."
4. Competence - becoming a competent officer should be your top priority. But remember that there is always something more to learn, always someone with whom to share your knowledge, and always another whose knowledge enhances your competence. Competence is a force multiplier.
5. Communication - you can never become an effective leader without being understood or without understanding those upon whom you rely.
6. Politics - there is no success worth sacrificing the individual rights of any person, and no reason why one person's corrupted ambitions need corrupt those of others.
7. Intellectual honesty - one must not only act with integrity of word and deed, but of idea and principle.
8. Interdependence - the cooperative, collaborative, and corroborative effort of the entire crew is more likely to result in mission success.
9. Resilience - an officer must retain a sense of hope trusting in his own ability and in the competence of others to stand firm during periods of hardship.

Picard concludes his address by reminding the cadets that the merits of one's leadership will always be subjected to scrutiny. As such, the lessons contained in his address are worthy of review throughout an officer's career. He tells them that history will judge humanity, "in part, by your actions: by how each of you applies your potential, by what you make of your possibilities, by what you do with your discoveries, by your respect for life, by how well you understand others and how well you help them understand you, and by how you react to the unknown." Sometimes the judgment will be unjust, but "if we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are."

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