Everything I Know About Leadership I Learned From Star Trek
Now is Star Trek’s 50th anniversary , and while I could admire the impact the show had on me, one thing that persists even now, every day, is how I’ve learned to be a good leader by watching the captains of Starfleet. Sometimes they were exceptional. In other cases, they really weren’t like that. I’ve always learned something.
I grew up on Star Trek: The Next Generation and dropped everything to watch Deep Space when it airs. I remember the first episode of Voyager when it aired, and I was one of the few people who put off (but didn’t completely hate) the Enterprise’s intro theme .
I happily admit that everything I learned about leadership and people management came from Benjamin Sisko and Jean-Luc Picard. I have learned to be firm when necessary, to be diplomatic even when I don’t want to be, and to be irritable when it’s important. I’ve learned to choose my battles, fight on my terms, and trust when that trust is earned. Here are a few more things I’ve learned.
Don’t be overshadowed by your predecessors, even if it’s tempting
There is something about being second on a team that gives you a level of freedom and flexibility not found at the top of the chain. It’s more relaxed, and while it’s still important work, it doesn’t carry as much weight as command. However, when it’s your turn to be in the spotlight, you need to do it.
In The Best of Both Worlds , the epic finale of season three or four, in which Commander Riker battled Picard-now-Locutus in a big chair and the fate of the Federation and Earth itself hung in the balance, Riker talks about it when Ginan is essentially , bursts into the Cooking Room – just when he really needs it, even when he doesn’t know it. She reminds him (in the video above) that the only way for him to move forward – or for him to do what he needs to do – is to let go of Picard – whichhe continues to do at the end of the episode .
The lesson here is pretty clear. Make your own calls, defend your own decisions, and don’t wonder, “What would X do if they were still here?” The more you do and the more you doubt yourself, the more often you fail, the more people around you will be interested in your vision, your direction and your style of command.
Even we as viewers got the same message in Q-Less , an episode of the first season of Deep Space Nine , when the show was still doing a fair share of The Next Generation’s popularity . However, in the video above, we, as the audience (and Q as our substitute), hear the message clearly and distinctly: Sisko is not Picard and we shouldn’t expect him to be. It wasn’t the best episode – in fact, it wasn’t even the best scene. This is problematic in every way, but the message is clear: Deep Space Nine will not be the same as the previous series, and luckily for all of us, shortly after the first season, this horseback riding stopped and the show began to evolve on its own.
Know When Your Ethics Are Flexible and When Not
If you save five dollars every time a Starfleet captain violates the Core Directive or violates (or outright violates) rules and regulations to his advantage, you will have enough money to retire. This is not surprising for Star Trek fans, but there is one persistent message in every episode and every character: the rules exist for a reason, but sometimes they are worth breaking.
In First of Duty , after Starfleet Academy had an analogue of detective procedure (seriously, why did we never have an Academy-based show?) Picard leans over to then-cadet Crusher over his lie of inaction, reminding him that his dedication to Starfleet is also his dedication to truth in any form. Sure, it’s an inspiring and stressful moment, but it’s a reminder to all of us too – Picard himself has distorted the truth more than once, as we all know – but flexible ethics are flexible only when you do what you think is right , not when what you find funny , even flashy or grandiose .
On the contrary, one of my favorite episodes of Deep Space Nine and one of my favorite episodes of television in general, In the Pale Moonlight , this gripping monologue at the end summarizes the very inner conflict that comes with enough emotion. a realist to know that idealism in an episode like First Duty extends only to a certain point – and when you need to go beyond it for a real, true great good (or you?), there is no way to look back.
Then there is the wild opposite extreme, where you are so busy doing what you think is right that you ignore the consequences of your actions. In Voyager two-parterre equinox , we saw an example of what happens when all of these guidelines are kicked out of the window, partly out of necessity, but also because these ethics are flimsier than they should be. The Equinox crew essentially imprisons and slowly kills other species for fuel, and when they encounter Voyager, their secret is soon revealed, and everyone pays the price. This is a classic example of rationalizing one’s own ethical violations, because the end justifies the means. Of course,in the end , all this happens, right?
But again, this is the main idea and takeaway: stick to your principles. Make the best decisions you can and let your ethics guide you. Until, of course, you have to deviate from them in order to do what you think – and you really, really need to think – that is the right thing to do. Maybe it’s for the common good, maybe for your team, maybe for the people you serve. But you need to know when your personal code of ethics is the pillar you stand on, and when they are chains you need to break because they hold you back – and you better be willing to support them anyway.
Trust but hold people accountable
Trust is earned, not given, but when you have people you need to work with, you should be able to trust them, at least to the extent that you let them do their job, do what they know how. best, and letting them succeed or fail on their own – and then analyze that success or failure when they happen. Both praise and criticism take place when it comes to leading people, and this is especially important when you allow them to act independently.
However, this is not the same as sticking to the principle of hands-off with the people you work with, or setting them up for failure (or knowing they will fail), and then just saying, “I told you so,” when they do it. It’s about understanding the line between trusting someone when they seem passionate to do what they want to do and knowing when it won’t work. In Legacy , a season 4 episode of The Next Generation, the Enterprise’s crew stumbles upon Ishara Yar, the sister of their (too early) fallen security chief, Tashi Yar. They laugh, they cry, they approach her … and she betrays them. She’s (presumably) not going to harm them, but we learn a hard lesson in trust in this episode and how difficult it can be to recover when you are betrayed.
Likewise, in the episode ” Destination: Earth” of the original series, we learn a lesson about how beneficial it can be that you, no matter what, actually choose to trust someone to do the right thing and reveal your best nature. even if you are not sure what their nature really is. Once earned, this trust becomes extremely strong. In the final episode of Voyager, Janeway asks old Harry Kim to “take thelast time in her judgment” when needed – and honestly, it pays off.
But it’s cool. Learning to trust is important, and giving people the freedom to achieve, achieve their goals, and make their own mistakes is important, and because they prove they deserve that trust, you can allow them to take more risks and bet on bigger decisions. You will learn when you can trust your intuition, just as they learn. But in any case, whether they succeed or not, you must hold them accountable for their decisions. Does it mean praising their good work or reflecting on their failures. This is the only way to improve, grow and learn, when we can trust our intuition and when we need help.
Be close, give advice, but keep a healthy distance.
At the end of The Next Generation , in the finale of All Good , one of the things that Picard laments in the final scene is that he never took the time to get close to his team the way he always wanted. He felt that he had to keep a certain distance, and this theme was reflected in a number of other series. While Picard kept his distance, Janeway felt in an episode of “cloud” of the first season of “Voyager” that after she got stuck in the Delta Quadrant, she had totry to get closer to your team , even if it was difficult to (and they are uncomfortable).
This is what it means to be responsible in any organization: you must maintain a healthy distance from the people you work with, and especially from the people who work for you. You must be available to them, hear their concerns and ideas, and always be ready to give feedback – perhaps not in the way that the captains of Starfleet have always succeeded – but always a confidant, always a leader, but never completely equal. Also, the only way to maintain or create an atmosphere of authority is to be the authority people need when they need it. This is difficult to do if you are so mired in a personal relationship that it is difficult to reasonably judge.
The same episode, even though it was very early in Voyager’s work, demonstrated the importance of why it is so important to have a great, trustworthy person by your side to help you manage your affairs – someone you are you can really trust, and of course why the best leaders are those who are hungry and optimistic about the work they do and want to get started right away when possible.
Stay open to options, but don’t apologize for calling
Finally, and perhaps one of the most important lessons you can learn from working with (and leading) people in Star Trek, you should always be open-minded, be willing to consider options, but never apologize for that you make your own judgment. call – even if it means giving up options and following your intuition.
After all, this is one of the defining characteristics of leadership. You must explore the options in front of you, consider the ones that are not in front of you, and do what you think is the best choice based on the information available at the time, even when, as in All Good Things, the Next Generation “- you are the only one who really understands, and everyone else questions your judgment.
When you make a call, keep it, if you do not get new information that will make you change course – and sometimes this new information can bereally painful for adoption , but to correct their own mistakes better than losing everything that sticks to your guns when the wave turns against you. Even so, don’t apologize for your decision – you did it with the best intentions and with the best information, and as long as you do it with your best and clearest judgment, you have nothing to apologize for.
If you’re lucky, others will trust your opinion. Their trust is earned too, so don’t expect it to be granted just because you have authority. Sometimes people agree with you, and sometimes people wonder if you’re crazy, but as Janeway says, it’s more important to remember:if you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust ?