Sailing the high C's

Ahoy, me mateys!

Today is #InternationalTalkLikeAPirateDay. The temptation is almost uncontrollable for the child that I am, but I want to put a different spin on the day.

I'm going to try to encourage you to lead like a pirate not just to talk like one.

"Shiver me timbers and scupper that!", I hear you say.

"Avast, ye landlubbers!", I riposte.

Counter to everything you might know about them, pirates were trailblazers in libertarianism, egalitarianism, democracy, and fraternity.

The following wouldn't be out of place in the US' Declaration of Independence:

Every man shall have an equal vote in the affairs of the moment.

In fact, it's taken from a document produced by pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy (1650s to 1730s). Pirates espoused "radical" principles almost a century before the American and French Revolutions.

Codes

Most pirate voyages began by establishing "articles of agreement", bylaws that shaped relations on board. They dealt with both the humdrum and the remarkable:

?? punishments for various offences (drinking, gambling, stealing, bringing women on board)

?? rules for how weapons were to be maintained and important areas, like gunpowder stores, kept safe

?? commitments to ensure that men who were injured in battle were cared for

?? arrangements for the sharing of plunder.

Command

The last of that list above is particularly noteworthy. Unlike military or merchant ships of the time, which were floating autocracies of hierarchy and control, the command structure on a pirate ship was remarkably flat.

There were designated roles - captain, quartermaster, sailing master, boatswain, master gunner, mates, cabin boys, powder monkeys, and so on - but equality was the central tenet. When it came to the distribution of loot, each pirate was considered an equal shareholder. Only the captain (with, perhaps, two shares) and the quartermaster (with one and a half) benefited more than the others. Compare that to corporate behaviour in the 21st century!

Even more intriguingly, the captain's was an elected position. Typically on the basis of specific skills - in fighting or navigation, for instance - pirates elected their leader from among their number. And, yes, just as the captain was voted in, so a captain served at the pleasure of their crew and could be voted out - typically for cruelty or cowardice.

And then we have separation of powers. Pirate governance recognised the risks of too much sovereignty in one person and so shared responsibilities between the two at the top. The captain had unrestricted powers during battle ("the executive") but the quartermaster adjudicated on most day-to-day issues, including the distribution of loot and food ("the judiciary").

Consensus

And finally, "the legislature". The ultimate authority on the ship was the pirate council, which included every man on board. The council determined where to go to find the best prizes and what to do with those they'd captured, effectively setting strategy and policy.

That meant that captains had to inspire with their ideas, to build alignment with the other pirates. In the absence of overall control, the captain had to seek consensus through coaxing and cajoling.

Call to action

Maybe we should rethink what is meant by a treasure map.

Pirates drew the route to good governance in ways that are rarely highlighted and therefore little understood. Way ahead of their time they operated to today's foundations of regulation, compliance, equality, inclusiveness, appointment, engagement, occupational health, pensions, profit-sharing, performance management, even health and safety.

Modern leaders can learn a lot from pirates. There's a phrase you wouldn't have expected to read today. But it's simple fact that many effective leaders are unsavoury people, and it's foolhardy to ignore their achievements and to fail to consider their methods just because they go "arrgh".

So weigh anchor and #LeadLikeAPirate. 'll crush your barnacles if you don't!

#GoodGovernance #PirateLeadership #Codes #Command #Consensus #CallToAction #HughesAMuse #TheGovEnhanceGuru

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