
In what seems to be a growing into a series, Forbes has another article looking at the leadership lessons from Star Trek. The specific challenges facing a Commander of the Star Ship Enterprise are probably a little different than those we face. Nonetheless there are some things we can learn.
This time, Jean-Luc Picard is in focus. Alex Knapp, the author, summarises his leadership:
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is the model of a great 24th Century Starfleet captain. On his watch, the crew of the Enterprise successfully defended humanity against the judgement of the Q-Continuum, defeated the Borg, prevented the Romulans from installing a puppet government in the Klingon Empire, and encountered countless new species.
Knapp then moves on to identify five transferable leadership principles:
- Speak to people in the language they understand
- When you’re overwhelmed, ask for help
- Always value ethical actions over expedient ones
- Challenge your team to help them grow
- Don’t play it safe – seize opportunities in front of you
All of these seem to me to transfer well to leadership both in business and in faith-based organisations. Consistently hitting every one of these is not easy, where might you need to alter your leadership style?
Here is the link to the full article.