A Star to Steer Her By* – A Contrast in Leadership Styles

PREFACE If you have never watched any Star Trek, I might suggest you familiarize yourself with at least some Star Trek to fully appreciate this article. Better yet, watch two shows directly related to this article. First, from the original Star Trek TV series (1966-1969), the 22nd episode, “Space Speed,” Original air date 2/16/1967. Second, the movie “Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan” made in 1982. In a pinch, one of the most recent Star Trek movies, “Star Trek: Into the Darkness (2013)” will do.  "Fitz"    

Last Saturday morning I watched one of my favorite movies that reminded me of a paper I had to write in graduate school about 24 years ago. I was working as a Manufacturing Manager and going to graduate school at a small Roman Catholic college in my hometown. It was early fall 1994. I was working towards a Master of Science in Organizational Behavior and Management. Three classes out of the past seven classes had been on Management Theory. The title to this course was Total Quality Management, however, the title was deceiving, whether intended or not, by the instructor. It turned out to be more of a capstone Management Theory / Leadership course. I had also taken many management classes at the undergraduate level so I certainly knew Management Theory, by that time. All that theory certainly had been tempered (literally) by many years’ experience managing teams, beginning in a hot, dirty, dangerous, and high stress ferrous foundry. One of the things I learned very early, as a 22-year old line Supervisor, was that understanding Maslow did not help you a whole lot when you had a critical situation going down and you needed an employee to do something immediately, and he did not want to do!  

Two of my fellow students worked at a large medical insurance company about 35 miles from home and school. On the next to last week of the course we were going to tour the company’s operations and then discuss their Management and Quality philosophy. The last part of class was to be a discussion on the Final Project, which to that point we knew nothing about. We all assumed the Final Project would be the last fifteen minutes of the four hour class. During the course of the tour and discussion our instructor seemed a little rushed and prodding. After about one hour and forty-five minutes into the class, during the discussion, the instructor said we had to wrap it up and go to the auditorium. The two fellow students from this company took us to this large room that looked very much like the large tiered lecture halls I remembered as an undergraduate. The instructor asked all twenty of us to sit near the front. As I sat down, I noticed a large movie screen hanging from the ceiling. He, then, did something all of us did not expect, he passed around cold Coke, Diet Coke, and several huge bags on popcorn!

The instructor then said we should sit back, eat popcorn, and watch a movie. The lights dimmed and the movie began. I was very pleased to first hear the music, as it was without a doubt, Star Trek Music. Then the movie came up and it was one of my very favorites, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan! I had been a Star Trek fan since I was 12, when the original TV show came out, with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. I had been one of the millions of kids and adults that wrote NBC about not canceling the show, after the second season. We were successful, but for only one more season. In college I had been to a Star Trek Convention and actually saw Leonard Nimoy, in person. I had probably seen this movie a dozen times and I thought, “Oh WOW if this is part of the Final Class Project this is going to be great!” I rubbed both hands together and grinned from ear to ear.

This movie has all the classic Star Trek Characters from the original TV series. As most of us Trek fans know, Captain Kirk’s number one nemeses is a character named Khan Noonien Singh or just “Khan!” It is not by accident the Star Trek writers used the name Khan after the famous Mongol Khans, Genghis and his grandson Kublai. Khan first appears in Star Trek in the twenty second episode of the original Star Trek TV Series titled, Space Seed. In this episode, Khan and Kirk encounter each other in the mid twenty third century with Khan’s ship drifting in deep space. The USS Enterprise comes across a robotic ship with Khan and 100 of his followers in a state of frozen stasis. As it turns out, Khan and his followers are genetically enhanced humans, with genetically enhanced “superior intellects”, that Khan seemingly reminds us many times. Khan also quotes Shakespeare to add emphasis to critical moments. As the story goes Khan and his followers are from the 1990s (remember this episode was written in 1966 and broadcast in early 1967). Supposedly, in the late 1990s Khan and his people try to take over the Earth which leads to WW III. Billions are killed, but good prevails over evil, and Khan and his followers are blasted into space to hopefully sleep for eternity. Before Captain Kirk can figure out what is going on, Khan wakes up several of his followers and attempts to take over the USS Enterprise. Captain Kirk and Khan have an epic battle of wills. Of course, in the end Captain Kirk narrowly prevails and Khan, his followers, and one of Kirk’s crew, a woman that had assisted Khan, are banished to a frozen planet. 

The movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan of 1982 starts up fifteen years later when another Starship, USS Reliant, comes across Khan’s planet. Khan captures the crew and tortures them the same way his wife died, by feeding brain eating worms into their ears. Khan’s intent on torturing the crew of the Reliant is to find out where Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise, are located in space. He takes over the Reliant and goes after Kirk. Kirk is now an Admiral but just happens to be on the Enterprise when Khan mounts a surprise attack. He disables the Enterprise and she limps into a large gas nebulae cloud. In the cloud, Kirk and Khan play a game of cat and mouse till Kirk gets the upper hand and gets some key shots in on Reliant and disables it and kills all the crew. Khan self-destructs the Reliant almost, fatally damaging, the Enterprise, over the new Genesis Planet. As Khan blows up the Reliant, he quotes Shakespeare, “Revenge is best served cold!” Mr. Spock sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise and her crew and presumably dies. As Spock is dying, Kirk asks him why he made the sacrifice. Spock responds with words, that bring tears to all Trekies’ eyes, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…….or of the one.” And, “Jim I have been and ever shall be your friend!” The 2013 movie Star Trek: Into the Darkness has newer, younger actors, and the plot is similar, but also has a few twists here and there, with a one huge surprise at the end of the movie.

When the movie was over, the instructor came forward and said, “For next week I want a Final Paper (which meant a minimum of 30 pages, no max), which represents 40% of your final grade, by answering there four questions.” The instructor raised the movie screen to reveal these questions:

1. Khan was said to have “genetically enhanced intellect and intelligence” but suffers two -dimensional thinking. Why is it necessary to reach beyond one’s paradigm to seek possible solutions and WIN?
2. “The good of the many is far greater than the good of the few …..or of the one!? How do separate the performance of the team from the performance of the one?
3. Compare the leadership styles of Admiral (Captain) Kirk and Kahn. Who was the more effective in the success of their mission?
4. What grade do you deserve in this course?

After I saw "The Wrath of Khan" last Saturday, I thought I would revisit my paper from 24 years ago, now after more management experience and the development of modern management philosophy. However, I do not think you are up to a 40-page paper, so I think I will just discuss the leadership question, number three; “Compare the leadership styles of Admiral Kirk and Khan. Who was the more effective in the success of their mission?” I will answer number four as well on my grade. We will save the first two for other articles. 

Let’s start with the things from my first paper, with which I still agree:

1. Both Khan and Kirk are charismatic leaders. However, their charisma is much different. Khan’s charisma is akin to Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. Khan is cruel, unforgiving and ruthless. Khan expects blind fanaticism from his people. As a subordinate, you must accept Khan’s inhumane actions without question. No one else is supposed to think. Orders and plans are not robust so that a subordinate cannot react to changing conditions or circumstances. The ends justify the means with Khan and his underlings! Khan does have some subordinates that will sacrifice themselves for him. However, few of Khan’s followers would say what Spock did, “The benefits of the many outweigh the needs of the few….or of the one!” With very few exceptions, Khan’s supporters would not throw themselves on to a live grenade! 
2. Captain Kirk (he gets demoted in a following movie) is charismatic as well, but his charisma is much different! It is not fanaticism, it is more like charm. Kirk is fun loving, exciting, animated, almost swashbuckling, and for sure, swaggering. The good of the team or crew is paramount, much more so than the means! Kirk will allow his subordinates to question his plans, instructions, and orders. Kirk will allow robustness to his plans when there are new or unexpected circumstances; and his subordinate commanders may change Kirk’s instructions, if it is the best course of action at the time! Kirk inspires his crew to take on impossible odds for the better good. Kirk’s crew is not blinded by fanaticism and is much better at thinking on their feet, with eyes wide open! If for the greater good, every one of Kirk’s crew would fall on the grenade or the sword, without hesitation. 
3. Both Khan and Kirk lead from the front. Neither is a coward and will lead people into tough situations. Both are cunning and very brave. However, Khan is constantly pleased with himself and reminds us over and over about his “superior genetics and especially his superior intellect” boastfully so. Khan is a one or two-dimensional thinker, and thinks and plans, laterally. It is almost like he just attacks with no consideration of what the other side may be planning or preparing. With his “superior intellect” he does it is possible that someone could out think or surprise him, and therefore, is less likely to take a risk or bet or test his luck, based on a hunch.   
4. Kirk can see the entire tactical and strategic situation. He does consider what his opponent will do. On the attack he is constantly on guard for his opponents counter punches and tries to anticipate them. Kirk does not care if he is out thought by his opponent, what does matter is winning for himself and the greater good! Kirk will definitely take a calculated risk! If cornered he will “bet the farm to win.” Kirk thinks and plans in several dimensions usually at the same time; he is indeed a multi-dimensional thinker. Because of this the more Kirk is in jeopardy and/or cornered the more dangerous he is to his opponent! I would have guessed before I saw this movie that James T. Kirk had been a Boy Scout as a boy. In the next movie Kirk’s ex-wife tells his estranged and disgruntled son, “Jim Kirk was NEVER a Boy Scout!” As I think about it that makes good sense! 
5. I said in the first paper I also thought Kirk’s style allows for more synergism with his team behind him. Kirk even uses luck in his leadership, but he believes luck needs to be managed and like the famous football Coach Bo Schembeckler said, “Real leaders do not just accept luck, they make their own!” In the Academy as a cadet, Kirk is the only person ever to ever beat the impossible Kobiashi Moru Scenario. Kirk made his own luck by changing the computer program that runs the war game before the game starts. In affect he cheats. He uses definite unconventional thinking which Khan cannot do only using “superior intellect.” Kirk won the war because although he did not have the “superior intellect”; Kirk was a much better overall commander and leading from multi-dimensional thinking! Kirk is not stuck in the paradigm that the smartest always wins. There is more to being a leader then only being the smartest; there is much more! In the following movie, Star Trek III: The Return of Spock, almost immediately after Khan is destroyed a Klingon War Bird becomes uncloaked and severely damages the Enterprise in a surprise and unprovoked attack. Just after Kirk and his crew escape to the planet below Kirk sets the computer to self-destruct. The Enterprise takes almost the entire crew of Klingons that come over to take her as a prize with her in her plunge into the planet’s atmosphere. As the Enterprise burns up in the atmosphere on the planet Kirk sighs and says to “Bones” the Ship’s Doctor, “What have I done to my crew and my ship?” Bones looks at Kirk and says, “What you always do! Turn death into a fighting chance to live!”  The first time I head and saw that, and realizing that was the Enterprise we all knew and loved was gone, I almost jumped out of my seat at the theatre to yell, “Howrah!” If there were any other Trekies in the theater I suspect I was not the only one!

The next part of my article is harder, how has my perspective changed in the last 24 years? To be honest my overall perspective about the contrast in leadership of Khan and Kirk has no fundamentally changed. If anything, from more experience in leadership my initial opinion on of the contrast in their leadership styles has been strengthened. There are some subtle enhancements to what I said in my paper of so long ago. In my opinion and experience now:

1. Leadership is still getting harder but also different. When I began my foundry management career in 1976 I learned the General Motors Leadership Philosophy blended with a lot of US Army 82nd Airborne, as most of my superiors were alumni of General Motors Central Foundry Division and somehow also the 82nd. It was all about “leading from the front, taking the hill, and in your face!” If somehow I got a dollar for every time I heard, “JUST DO IT”, or “If you do not like it, do not let the door hit you in the a__” my retirement would be much more secure now. Sometimes I found actually giving orders easy. However, it could be tough building trust and cooperation in your teams relying on only that type of management system. I did not find it a lot of fun either!
2. In the fall of 1994 when I wrote the paper the automotive business was converting to a new type of management. It started in the late 1980's. We had successes and failures. The longer you had been in the old the philosophy the harder it was to try to change. Fortunately for me I was in mid-career, and found the conversion easier than many. Unluckily for me, my boss was 10 years older and totally enamored in the GM Philosophy. We clashed often and about 6 months after the paper I was fired during an argument with him. I sometimes wonder if the new viewpoints I was learning in graduate school enhanced the deterioration of that relationship. 
3. The new management philosophy has been called many different things. I like to call it something like, “Team Oriented, Employee Engaged Management, or Finesses Management.” At least in the company I just left to go on my own, we were are all about Teams and working through their development. When I began my management journey we were called Foremen, then Supervisors, then Department or Shift Managers, then Facilitators (I often wondered “of what”), then back to Supervisors. Now in my former company the title for basically the same job is, “Value Stream Team Leader.” This new management philosophy can be very frustrating. Recently, if I had a $1.00 for every time I heard from my fellow manages, “This is like herding cats!” But for me when you help orchestrate a Team to achieve a goal, that are few better feelings of satisfaction. However, following this philosophy requires good old fashion tact and finesse. This can be very challenging for me, an old foundrymen. After all, “You can take the boy from the foundry, but it is almost impossible to kill the foundry out of the boy!” 
4. Relating to the above it takes a lot more energy to, “Herd Cats!” You have to be on top of everything and be more much activated. What is tougher for me is to LISTEN! To accomplish guiding teams, you just got to listen. For me that can be very tough. Sometimes when I am dealing with conflict within a team I find myself wanting to get on top of it, to quash the opposition. Sometimes it takes all my self-control to let someone talk, as long as they are in control. Admittedly, I was not good at it at first, but each time I do it, it seems to get easier!  

As I wrote this article I did some research by watching a few other Star Trek Movies and TV Shows. I discovered quite a few of them bring up leadership issues and problems. For example, I watched a couple of the old Star Trek: The Next Generation TV shows. This series takes place in the twenty fourth century with the USS Enterprise D & E and the main characters being new, like Captain John-Luke Piccard and Commander Riker (“#1”). Sometimes the old Trek characters show up. In the sixty second episode the Enterprise meets a former Enterprise from the past that has come through a time portal. Captain John-Luke is forced to make a decision totally on feelings and intuition (primarily by a character played by Whoopi Goldberg) where he can use no logic. I found it fascinating the predicament of making a command decision that will transform the entire Universe, one way or the other, based on only feelings? A decision to some is like a guess. How this Captain Picard does it is a great lesson I will save for another article.

Oh, I almost forgot to answer the 4th Question, “What grade do you deserve in this course?” I will not brag. Let’s just say for someone that never got anything higher than a B or 3.0 on any paper he wrote as an undergrad, I did exceptionally well. The forty second and forty third pages of the paper were an analysis of why I should not only get a fantastic grade but the best one in the class. Undeniably, partly because of my ability to, “dazzle with a little BS”, I got what I asked for in this question. I guess I bragged a little. Nevertheless, sometimes finesses is a touch of BS………   Amen!

If you like my articles you can find this article and several more, on my website, all with more images. If I can be of service either by just bouncing something off me or asking my assistance please do so under no obligation! Your feedback and comments are very much appreciated, thank you! - “Fitz”

https://tfitzpeopledynamics.com

Footnote*: Sea Fever                               

By John Masefield 

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Footnote*: Captain Kirk repeats this line in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as he takes out the Enterprise on her last voyage, and he as a Star Ship Captain. This was also the title of the original paper.