Reflections from 24th Century Leadership

The Stardate was 42193.6 and the USS Enterprise (business) was on its way to the Morgana Quadrant. Upon their approach, they encounter an anomaly in the form of a black void, to which they cannot explain (business opportunity). Captain Picard, their fearless leader is suddenly thrust into an unfamiliar environment. At this point he has evaluated it with the team, identified it as a new opportunity and set course to travel inside. The team struggles to make sense of what they experience, including illogical and impossible mazes that Riker and Worf grow impatient from in addition to the inability for young Crusher to navigate. Picard struggles with an entity named Nagilum, who threatens the very existence of the crewmates, including the death of one. Picard gains information from the environment, sets auto destruct and waits. Despite distractions posed by alien versions of Troi and Data, Picard prevails and takes his crew to safety, all with 2 seconds to spare. In the 24th century, leadership has its challenges. Albeit different, and much less exciting that encountering curious alien life, we observe some classic and important leadership behaviors from our Captain.

Curiosity

As a leader, promise of new experience and opportunities can catch your eye. This was the case in the example above. After identifying the environment, Picard evaluates it with his team. His team continues by sharing their understanding of what is occurring but also raise concerns of the inability to identify exactly what this looks like for their business (the Enterprise). Data states that “The beginning of wisdom is I do not know”. A perfect quote for this type of curiosity. We must be curious of new opportunities but also cautious. Sure, we can gain wisdom from the exploration, but we must research the risk beforehand. Picard launches some probes, is still interested, and proceeds.

Resilience

Picard and his team quickly determine they may be in a bad opportunity. They cannot pivot their business, still cannot understand their opportunity and need out fast before it sinks their ship. Or deflates? or whatever the spacey equivalent may be. Regardless this is bad news. Picard is resilient. And he hasn’t just discovered this skill, every life experience he has had has led him to this point. While the opportunity may new, he’s been around long enough to know how to pivot/ translate experiences.

The Captain begins to interact with the opportunity testing certain responses, learning, researching and observing. If you are a leader in a bad opportunity, leverage your skills. You must learn before you can adapt. You must observe before you can learn. At this point his team is burning out as a leader, Picard must protect his team. He creates a solution and takes action to implement it. His team trusts him, even if Picard just set auto destruct. Trust is essential and Riker has to believe Picard has their future in mind. They’ve built this trust over numerous interactions, and it shows.

Timing, Focus & Learning

The captain knows the timeline and took the time he needed to assure his plan worked, down to the last 2 seconds of the auto-destruct sequence, to Riker's dismay. As a leader, take the time you have. It can be easy for a team to see a glimpse of success and want to promptly celebrate. However, sharpen their focus, teach them to gather information to prove their solution worked. This generates demonstrable value that the team has delivered and can be used in the future. Real, proven results are much more impactful than an anecdotal list of company accomplishments. One thing is for sure, the next time they encounter a black void, they have a lessons learned register to reference, or maybe through Data, wisdom. 

Thoughts below? Comments, Engage!